About Michael "Mikecoal" Viera
Artist, Animator, Designer.
Michael is a self-motivated and passionate animator and independent creator. Born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Michael began his artistic career in high school taking several art and design classes. After moving to Las Cruces to attend college at NMSU, he started pursuing a major in Animation and Visual Effects. Michael has had the pleasure of working on small side projects in motion graphics for social media pages, storyboards, character rigging, and is actively working on a full-length animated music video. In the coming years, he hopes to work with a larger company and establish connections in the industry and gain valuable experience. When he isn’t animating you can find him playing video games, at concerts or festivals, or at local breweries with friends.
ABOUT ME
From a young age I always enjoyed the arts. I loved to draw and paint and I knew I wanted to create content for others to consume and enjoy in the same way that I had. In the last month of my second semester and I changed majors and the following semester began my path that I am on through CMI. I am currently finishing my Bachelors in Animation and Visual Effects where I focus in 2D animation with some 3D experience. What made me choose the path I’m on now was my admiration for tv, movies, and video games and the works of art that they are and how they provide a sense of escape to those who consume them.
I am grateful for my time here at NMSU and CMI as I have had the pleasure of working with some phenomenal talent. My 2D teacher for the past 2-3 years has been Edward Bakshi who is an accomplished animator and son of the Ralph Bakshi. Having Eddie as my teacher has been a great guide for me as I know where I need to improve upon to better myself as an artist. I am in the process of animating a 2D music video for a close friend of mine for not only my senior project but as a personal project and goal. I am the only person on the project so that means developing the storyboards, animatics, background, etc. by myself and I am doing this to get good practice in a little bit of everything, However I do enjoy team projects and I’m always open to them.
In my future I would love to be an animator for a major television, movie studio, or a AAA game studio. I want to provide the experience that video games and Saturday cartoons provided me to the next generation so that they have fond memories of their childhoods and spread that to their children. I would also like to work as an independent creator and deliver my art to everyone in any medium possible, such as the multiple pieces of clothing I designed for the fraternity I have the pleasure of being a part of, Sigma Chi.