Heather Surprenant is an animator, illustrator, and horror movie addict known for her silly dessert doodles.
Here's a brief history of who I am, what I do, and why we should get to know each other:
I grew up in New Hampshire, raised by two people who didn't quite understand what the whole art thing was about, but always kept enough paper in the printer for me to pilfer for my own projects. When I wasn't getting in trouble for drawing in class, I was taking walks through the woods behind my house, being inspired by the nature around me and incorporating those elements into my art. If it was the weekend, I would normally beg my dad to take me into Boston so I could soak up the chaos and vibrancy that only the city could provide.
I ended up attending a wonderful art school thanks to a few amazing high school art teachers and admissions counselors that took a chance on my under-developed portfolio. While I wanted to take every major available, it was the movie "The Road to El Dorado" (and The Angry Beavers, I won't lie) that solidified my resolve to go into animation and use my own brand of humor to make people laugh. While in college and subsisting on bagels and energy drinks I was able to strengthen my understanding of the field and when I graduated in 2009 with honors I was fortunate to immediately find two studios in Washington DC who took a chance on someone so green, and helped push me into the commercial aspect of animation. I owe a lot to them in those few years, as they not only needed an animator but a graphic designer and storyboarder among other things which helped me become more well-rounded.
Leaving the land of the DC cupcake, I started working with a game studio in Chicago for a few years learning the basics of mobile games, and then found myself sliding over to California to work on the same kind of media, but with more freedom, in a senior position while I tended to the individual games I worked on, allowing me to refine my leadership skills. Within the first two months of working at IGT in California, I was permitted to work on my own slot game, "Apollo Rising", which did very well. So well, in fact, they allowed me to make a second game with all original art, titled "Isle O'Plenty" which went on to make millions for the company.
While I loved the time I spent in California (and if you have never been to Sushiritto, I highly recommend it) and the incredibly talented people I met there and will never forget, I decided to pack it in and make my way back to the east coast, deciding to continue my career while also seeing my family more than once a year because they wouldn't stop calling me to tell me to come back home. I also missed the clam chowder, so I had little choice in the matter.
I settled in the picturesque town of Alexandria, just on the outskirts of Washington DC where I can once again get those amazing cupcakes, and I keep myself busy animating and illustrating fun and dynamic stories for clients across many disciplines. Passionate about finding the best way to engage my audience, I like to take what I learn from my past as well as my myriad of hobbies that include but are not limited to biology, gallery shows and painting, baking, hiking, colors so cool you want to eat, videogames and subjecting myself to cheesy horror movies, and play with those themes to bring a deeper richness to my creative content.
I'm currently working on a children's book about selkies and toying with room escape ideas as long as I can integrate creepy desserts into them somehow. I'm also on a quest in D.C to find the best pho.
If you would like to chat or are interested in my work (or know where that pho is hiding), shoot me an email! I always love new projects- and new people!