Grace Hattendorf

Hey there! My name is Grace Hattendorf and I’m a digital artist with particular interest in film, animation, and video games. To me art is about storytelling and expressing emotion. The ways in which art facilitates emotional growth has always fascinated me. Most of the art I’ve made have been digital paintings and character design in a  cartoonish style with large emphasis on scifi and fantasy subjects. I’ve been working digitally since 2015 using programs such as procreate and photoshop, and have dabbled in illustrator, audition, premiere pro, and after effects. My biggest inspirations would be Miyazaki and animated film studios at large. And my personal works usually center around expressing or working through a certain emotion or feeling. I have a deep love for animated films, especially those that push the stereotype that all animations are made for kids or that animation itself is its own genre. I share a similar passion for video game design and storytelling as well. And while I believe all art has the potential to evoke emotion, film and video games have the greatest capacity to do so. Which is why I want to be a part of these industries to help create and bring meaningful and thought provoking stories to life. I think oftentimes people don’t realize how important and impactful good storytelling can influence their lives. But film has the incredible ability to invoke both new and old emotions. Film can help us process grief, understand new perspectives, and grow as people which I believe can be attributed by and large to its capacity to evoke empathetic responses not just sympathetic. There is a subtle but vital distinction between the two. Sympathy is to feel for someone, while empathy is to feel with another. Which is a large factor in how we are able to connect and identify with fictional characters.