Art Degree Leads To Job In Game Animation
By Lisa Snowdy

Craig Harris ’98 has a passion for his work, which he traces back to a particular evening in a college dorm room watching the work of Disney, arguably the best animation studio in the industry. “One night, I was watching my friend’s Disney movies and I saw ‘Aladdin,’” said Harris. “I got a tic in me then, and I had to pursue it.”

After graduating, he moved to California to pursue his dream of becoming an animator in the House of Mouse. But the road was circuitous and Harris found himself in the high-tech world of video game animation. He has since worked on several high-profile games, including Shrek 2 and True Crime 1 and 2.

“I like to do animation for video games because they are interactive,” he said. “We also have a lot more creative freedom than animators who do film.” (More information about Harris and his projects can be found at www.piratoslocos.com.)

Harris also has put his art degree (animation emphasis) to work in collaboration with his father, Richard Harris, who graduated from Old Dominion in 1967. The elder Harris, a former physical education teacher at Norfolk’s Lake Taylor High School and currently a certified financial adviser, has written a series of children’s books.

One is a rhyming book to motivate children to live more active, healthy lives, and two were written to teach children about the value and management of money. Realizing that a crucial component of books for children is visual appeal, he turned to his son to illustrate them. Craig Harris illustrated “I’m Walking, I’m Running, I’m Jumping, I’m Hopping” and “If I Had a Penny.”

Although they live a continent away from each other, the elder Harris is hopeful that they can collaborate on another book in the near future. “That is, if Craig can find the time for me,” Richard Harris said with a laugh.