Annelise Capossela
Student Samples
2020-2025
The following student samples are from a range of assignments for courses including:
Motion Illustration I, Continuing Education at MCAD
Illustration Process I and II (Freshmen), AAS at FIT
Studio Workshop, MFA at FIT
Survey of Digital Illustration, MFA at FIT
Children’s Book Illustration, BFA at CCS
This page is for documentation purposes and is for internal use only. Want to know more about the artists? With the permission of the artist, I will gladly connect you.
Portfolio Gaps Assignment
In a final semester course for soon-to-be MFA graduates, students were asked to assess the career-readiness of their existing portfolios in relation to their desired fields of work. “Gaps,” or opportunities for creating artwork that may be underrepresented in their body of work, were identified by students and resolved through the execution of a self-directed project.
Looping GIF Assignment
Provided with an introduction to 2D animation using paper and multiple approaches in Photoshop, students were asked to make a GIF with a seamless loop which both functions technically and communicates an idea.
Two final art pieces by different students
Sequential Narrative Assignment
Emphasizing storytelling techniques including framing, compositional variety, implied line, establishing mood with palettes, and character development, students were invited to tell a story from their life using sequential images. Writing exercises were heavily utilized to empower and excite students to tell authentic stories.
Two final art pieces by different students
Conceptual Collage Assignment
Afrofuturism
Students were provided a small selection of editorial texts, from which they chose one, to create a visual pairing using traditional collage techniques and conceptual ideation.
Graduation Announcement Assignment
A self-promotional project, students were encouraged to form a short contact list of creatives they would invite to their thesis show, and to create an image to announce their graduation that they could share on social media and in email invitations and marketing.
Two final art pieces by different students
Name GIF Assignment
An exercise to practice 2D animation skills including metamorphosis and creating looping animations, students were encouraged to make an animated GIF which incorporates their name, utilizing lettering, symbolism, and motion styles which align with their illustrative styles or brands.
Album Art Assignment
FKA twigs
Following a semester exposing freshman students to a wide range of illustrative applications and visual problem-solving solutions, students were invited to create album art using traditional materials. Making their own decisions regarding the utilization of conceptual, narrative, or decorative communication approaches, students were asked to articulate their choices and reasoning in the final critique.
Self Portrait Assignment
In this two-part assignment students, who were closing a semester of exploring many kinds of visual solutions, first completed a realistic self portrait, followed by a self portrait which told an intentional story using their choice of abstraction, surrealism, narration, or more.
Editorial Assignment
Designed to simulate a real-world editorial assignment scenario, students emailed their teacher as though they were an Art Director to practice pitching their work to a stranger, followed by asking necessary questions about the assignment, and submitting a variety of conceptual sketches for an essay about changes in how people perceive society. Clarity and communication of a strong idea were emphasized before proceeding to final art.
Two final art pieces by different students
Narrative Illustration Assignment
Responding to the story The Mice by Lydia Davis, students were asked to make a single image illustration which visually provides viewers with the key narrative components of “Who, What, Where, When, and Why” while also capturing mood. Text analysis and sourcing reference were addressed in this assignment, as was “see and say” – encouraging students to communicate visually in a way that adds to, or interacts with, the text, rather than redundantly repeating it.
Looping Background GIF Assignment
In this animation fundamentals unit, students learned how to make an object appear like it is moving by manipulating the background. Topics such as parallax and creating seamless, tileable images were addressed to provide students with numerous tools and options for completing the assignment.
Metamorphosis GIF Assignment
An early-stage animation fundamentals skill, students were asked to explore the concept of “in-betweens” when frame-by-frame animating one object transforming into another. Students were encouraged to choose two objects which could communicate a theme, relationship, or story.
Children’s Short Story
An introductory assignment to storytelling, students completed a series of exercises to find sources of inspiration from their own life experiences. Students were then invited to tell their story in three or fewer images, with no more than 10 words.
Promotional Self-Portrait
Students nearing graduation were invited to make self-portraits reflecting who they were as individuals, artists, as well as a brand. Choice of materials, representational approaches, and other critical visual decisions were clearly articulated and explained by students when presenting their final work.
Character Animation
Students were encouraged to design characters for a final animation. Design process included character explorations and turn-arounds, storyboards, and visual development of animation style choices, including busyness and complexity of motion, and choosing techniques such as frame-by-frame or other combined motion graphics techniques.
Comic Assignment
This is a select page from a student’s comic about going to a Halloween party. Invited to tell a story with a variety of compositions and with a clear beginning, middle, and end, this page in the middle of the 5-page comic brought relief after earlier pages described a voyage to the venue rife with pre-party nerves.