Laysha Ramirez Cruz

Art Portfolio

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Meet the Artist

Motion Graphics

Demo Reel

I compiled clips of my best work using Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro.

Lout of Counts Family Title Sequence

Using After Effects, I created a title sequence for ‘Lout of Counts Family,’ a Korean webtoon written by Yu Ryeo-Han and illustrated by PAN4. Everything in the video below was made in After Effects, excluding the drawings of each character shown; those were made in Clip Studio Paint.

Ratty Tails

This stop motion was a collaboration with my best friend Emme Harrell using Adobe Premier Pro and Stop Motion, the app on our iPhones. My stop motion follows Richy the rat, who found a Cheeto tied to a string and ended up chasing it, ultimately encountering his enemy, the cat. Emma’s stop motion follows the cat that Richy encounters, tying both videos together. Both stop motions can be viewed as stand-alone, and Emma’s can be viewed here.

3D Models & 3D Animation

Personal Haven

Personal Haven was a project that had me design my own environment using the 3D program Maya: “If I were to spend eternity somewhere, how would I like my environment to look?” I decided on an environment loosely based off of the popular architecture in Mexican haciendas and filled it with items that I loved and considered pleasing to look at; hence the waterfall in my environment and the books upstairs of my favorite series, One Piece.

E-Doc

My first 3D model and animation in Blender, E-Doc was a personal project of mine and a mascot for the Game Development Club at East Carolina University, where I serve as one of the art directors. I created E-Doc to practice lighting, materials, and animation in Blender.

Horror Deer

The horror deer was my first sculpted and rendered 3D model that I made in ZBrush. The concept was to create a creepy monster, leading me to push the concept as far as I could. Below is a deer-like creature that has blades made out of its flesh protruding out of its body, further developing its creepy aspect.

Cloth Simulation Study

Using Blender, I modeled and added color to a quick character that I sketched out a few months back. This time, instead of focusing on just lighting and animation, I proceeded to do a cloth simulation study with a sheet falling onto my character and slipping off like silk.

Form Forge 3D Models

Form Forge was a student-led production that the animation concentration at East Carolina University puts on annually. This project allows the students to gain experience in how production works, from the idea to the concept art to 3D modeling and finally rendering the final video. With three student leads having multiple assets, they were responsible for volunteer students and alumni who signed up for assets to create and meet the deadlines for either the concept art, modeling, or both for the asset chosen. I chose six assets for the 3D model, with one of them being a centerpiece in the final video. All the 3D modeling was done in Maya, and the texture was done in Adobe Substance Painter, while the final video was created in Unity, which you can watch here.

2D Animation

Montage Animatic

Based off of my actual childhood pictures, I created this montage animatic to honor all of my cousins growing into their adult lives and mourn the end of our childhood. DTMF by Bad Bunny is an acronym for Debir Tomar Mas Fotos, which translates to “I should’ve taken more photos.” The song is a reminder to everyone that the present is precious; take photos to remember and be in the moment because time goes quickly.

Flour Sack Animation

This short animation follows a flour sack that chooses a book from the library and is trying to decide where to go for its next adventure. I created this using Adobe Animate for the animation and Procreate for the backgrounds.

Windy Day Animation

Windy Day is a personal animation I did inspired by the Day of the Dead. The girl is reading a book while sitting on marigolds, which are significant in the celebration of our ancestors because their smell and color are believed to lead the spirits to their altars.

Game Development

Dancing on Rainbows Demo Game

I had the opportunity to be a part of a team that included a coder, sound designer, and another artist, and we created a pixel horror game for Hack NC with a 24-hour time limit. The game follows Rick, who’s hiking throughout Scotland and stumbles upon a castle. Throughout the gameplay, Rick explores the castle and has to choose between candy and flesh, with one extending his life and one killing him instantly. Rick then ends up in the throne room with a cut scene of the Unicorn Monster at the end. The images below are the pixel art that I contributed to the final product of the demo.

Monopoly Rebrand

I decided to rebrand an existing board game, Monopoly, for this project. The primary change I decided to make was to replace the existing characters with new, fantasy-inspired ones. I created six new fantasy-inspired characters that each player can choose from. Below is a video introducing each character’s design, and below the video is each character finalized for the game. This project was created in Adobe Animate, Procreate, and Adobe Premiere Pro.

To Dream Is To Be Free

Our assignment was to create a game and the artwork for it, and I ended up using Adobe Animate, Premier Pro, and Procreate to create the art for my game. I chose to create a hypothetical RPG named To Dream Is To Be Free. My game’s theme is freedom, and we follow the main character on her journey to find it. Throughout her journey the protagonist will meet various people that will contribute to her overall definition of freedom.

Mimmy’s Adventure

I created the art, which was made in Procreate, for a basic platformer game using a template in Unreal. Mimmy’s Adventure is a basic platformer game where Mimmy is the character we play, and the only task is to collect the leaf tokens throughout the platformer by jumping from level to level.