Meet Our Team Members--Benjamin Van Gorkom
Red Willow Art has a wonderful team that keeps the wheels turning behind the scenes. In this blog, we introduce Benjamin Van Gorkom. Ben plays an important role in taking art into the next decades by employing cutting-edge technology to bring the art experience into your home. Red Willow Art is grateful for all our interns and is proud to present our team members with blog posts so you can get to know our team!
Hi! My name is Benjamin Van Gorkom, and I work primarily as a 3D Modeling and Social Media Intern at Red Willow Art. I’ve been focusing most of my time on a 3D modeling project that is attempting to bring the same technology we use for our 2D art gallery’s AR (augmented reality) program, and use it for 3D artists as well. Using an AR program, customers can view a 3D artists’ work in full 3D from the comforts of their own home; customers will not only be able to manipulate the viewing angle of the art to get the best possible idea of its size and shape, but will also be able to “project” the object in their own space! This technology and approach to art shopping will provide a fully immersive and accessible experience for those wishing to buy art. My job is to digitally recreate the work of 3D artists (such as ceramics or sculpture) so that the recreations can be placed in our AR program, as well as some concept work and other research.
I grew up in a rural community not far outside Yosemite National Park, and spent most of my childhood without any interest in art. I was a very outdoorsy kid, but even then, I deeply loved anything animated/story-driven. It wasn’t until my junior year of high school, during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, that I started taking some interest in digital art. Over time, I found a real appreciation for digital art, specifically in the world of animation and video games. Animation and video games provided a much-needed escape during a very uneasy time, and with nothing better to do, I sank many hours into learning and honing my skills in digital arts. I received my associate's degree in digital media in December of 2024, specifically targeted towards animation and 3D modeling; I hope someday to work in the animation industry, as either an animator or character designer/visual developer.
Both my artistic interests and skill sets are geared towards TV/Premiere animation. When determining what makes “good animation” or “good digital art”, I typically create those definitions through the lens of storytelling. Do the visual representations of this story serve to better communicate it? Is it engaging and enjoyable for the audience to consume this content? Do the character designs properly convey the thoughts, cares, worries, interests, and personality of the character they depict? Is the animation understandable and eye-catching? Something I like to ask myself when watching animated content is: Did this need to be animated for it to be this enjoyable? Looking back at popular animated movies and TV shows, something like The Incredibles is a fantastic example. Sure, as far as the story goes, it would probably be just as entertaining if the movie were live action instead of animated. A family of superheroes has to go into hiding from a world that now deems them dangerous, despite their urges to use their powers to save others, is a very fun and interesting concept! However, there are countless examples of how the art of animation helped define this movie as an all-time favorite for so many people. The character designs are built with incredible shape language, that help us easily identify the characters and give us sneak peaks into their personalities. The story and its conflicts breath creativity, having been taking place in a world not bound by real life logic or possibilities; a man single handedly holds back and then throws a robot the size of a sky scraper, all because he has “super strength”. The best part is that we don’t even question that logic, but choose to believe it because of how fantastical and engaging the animation is. And of course, they couldn’t have animated those characters without 3D modeling them first.
Follow Ben on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/benjaminvg
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https://www.instagram.com/redwillowartlovers/
