The title for my senior project animation, HENshin, is a play on words and language. Henshin (変身) means ‘transform’ in Japanese but with the first part ‘HEN’ emphasized, it also refers to the strange little bird. I wanted to create a fun little 2D animation that captured part of the simpler times of childhood; the days when you had all the time in the world to do nothing but play with everything, go on make believe adventures, and run wild with your imagination. HENshin is the story of that kind of moment.

 

HENshin was drawn digitally and was done in a frame-by-frame method to emulate the feel of a traditional 2D animation. With the combination of this frame-by-frame method and the choice of utilizing a rougher crayon/pencil look, I believe it best expressed the aesthetic of ‘childhood’ and imagination.