Artist: Howard Hao-an Tsai

Name: Howard Hao-an Tsai

School: Art Center College of Design

Category: Motion graphics

Project title: Hungry Planet

Born in Taiwan, Howard started making moving images using paper cartons and rolls of paper to tell stories when he was six. Howard’s work has been credited with being innovative in both concept and style. His work never conforms to a trend because he enjoys experimenting with new methods of creating motion. The diversity in his work also comes from his exposure to Japanese, Taiwanese, and American culture. To pursue his love for motion design, he is currently studying at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. His work is deeply inspired by the graphic design master Saul Bass.

Objective: I wanted to use the visual language of organic food to challenge organic food consumers to rethink, “What if there’s a world without genetic modified food?”, and to acknowledge a long-forgotten hero, Dr. Norman Borlaug. The project uses all the woodcut illustration done by myself as a graphic design major student. The concept/irony is conveyed subtly in a fun and storytelling way.

Adobe tools: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects. I scanned my sketches into Photoshop and traced them in Illustrator. Then I brought traced images/parts into After Effects and animated them.