Cameron Mandeville ‘26

Cameron Mandeville ‘26 | Studio Art major, Education minor

Though he transferred to Saint Anselm as a junior, Cameron Mandeville ’26 has made art, connections, and the most of his time on the Hilltop. By combining his love for digital animation with teaching, the Studio Art major aims to share his skills with students while developing a series of animated television pilots after graduating. 

What brought you to Saint Anselm College? 

I transferred to Saint Anselm from Manchester Community College (MCC) my junior year. I had a bunch of friends who were at Saint Anselm, and I’d hung out with them on campus since my freshman year. I knew I had to find somewhere to transfer to and I live right down the road in Manchester, so it just made sense. Saint Anselm is not too big and not too small, and there are a lot of fun activities to do, like the Anselmian Abbey Players. 

How did you know you wanted to become a Studio Art major? 

I’ve always liked drawing things, and I have a bad memory so I knew I couldn’t be a doctor or anything like that. Strangely enough, I’ve got aphantasia, which makes it so I can’t see pictures in my head – but I still do art. It’s like feeling around in the dark, so muscle memory really helps. 

What is your primary medium? 

Digital art and animation. I’ve been working with that for a while now. I’m not the best at rendering or shading, but I think sketching is the most fun part. I like making things move on screen and come to life. It’s time intensive, but fun. I’ve also worked on short films with rotoscoping, which is when you animate over existing live action video. Rotoscoping takes less time than hand animation, but there’s a lot more setup.

Can you talk a bit about your senior thesis project? 

I’m making an animated pilot for a television show. A pilot episode is proof of concept, normally shorter than a normal episode, and gives the main idea of what the show would be like. If people like it and it gets traction, it can be made into a full-fledged television show. If I can make one, then I can make more down the line (if this pilot doesn’t catch on.) 

Tell me a bit about the pilot.

It’s going to be cartoony, sort of like Adventure Time, and I’m calling the series “Wonder Scape.” I love the idea of fantasy, knights, and magic, so that’s the inspiration for it. I created original characters specifically for this pilot episode and have a storyboard that goes along with it. I draw them on a tablet that’s the size of a monitor. Right now, it’s just rough animation line art, but it’s going to be fully animated and rendered. I’m going to be using After Effects to put 2D lighting on to add shadows and light. I wrote a script, which is about a page a minute, so it’ll be probably around six minutes. I’ve cast a couple of my friends and a few other people as the voice actors. I’ve also got some other Studio Art majors who might help me with animation or backgrounds down the line!

What inspires you and how do you know where to start? 

When I storyboarded this pilot, I was doing it to a song that I would play repeatedly. When I listen to music, I get the feeling of what to draw next. Some artists storyboard to music because it helps keep a beat, but for me, I imagine how I would lay out the different shots. I see things that inspire me in different shows, videos, art pieces, and music. I like the look of cartoons for younger audiences like Adventure Time or Gravity Falls, which I think my pilot is very reminiscent of. I’m also inspired by James Baxter and Don Bluth, two very well-known animators.

Did your love for cartoons start as a child?

Growing up, my mom only let me watch PBS Kids and occasionally Phineas and Ferb. When I got older, she let me watch whatever cartoons I wanted and I dove into a bunch of shows I hadn’t seen before! I’d like to make my cartoons for a teenage audience, so I can explore topics that fall between kid and adult cartoons. I want to include adult themes like relationships, heartbreak, and tragedy, but also lighter topics with family and friends. I prefer clever, well-timed humor over crude or political humor. 

How have you felt supported as a Studio Art major at Saint Anselm?

Whenever I need help, have a problem, or need a resource, Professor Kersey-Asbury is always there. She’s super nice and an awesome person. Professor Mark Eshbaugh has also been a great mentor, showing me how to do things and how I could do things better – plus he’s a great guy and really funny. Professor Christian Gregory in the Education Department was also a wonderful and always there for me in my education classes.

What are some courses you took at Saint Anselm that stood out as favorites? 

Principles of Teaching and Learning was great, and I loved education classes with clinical experiences. You work with a clinical educator in a classroom and get to teach certain lessons. In mine, I taught caricatures and perspective and even taught a special needs class how to draw sea animals! In one class where students were learning to draw flowers, the teacher thought the flower I drew was better than hers, so she stopped her lesson and let me teach it! The next time I came in, the teacher said, “they haven’t stopped drawing the flower the way that you showed them!” In my art classes, I help tutor students on animation techniques.

How have you grown as an artist during your time on the Hilltop? 

I’ve had a lot of growth in general through college, and a lot more since transferring. I did an independent study with my advisor, Professor Kimbery Kersey-Asbury, which helped me learn structure and the human form. Each project I do here keeps getting better, but that’s art in general. You might make 100 bad things before you make one good thing, and that’s pretty cool. 

Tell me about your experience with activities on campus. 

I’ve auditioned for a couple of things with the Abbey Players and wrote for the 24-Hour Play. For the 24-Hour Play, you write a six-to-ten-minute play in one night and 24 hours later, the Abbey Players practice and perform it!

What are your postgraduate plans?

I’d like to be a middle or high school art teacher and work on my animated pilots on the side. I feel like those are prime ages for students to engage with art and see if they want to pursue it. I plan to finish a full episode of “Wonder Scape” every summer. When animating on your own, you do every part of the process. Two seconds of animation takes five hours if I’m doing fully colored stuff, and that’s when I’m going fast. If I keep working at it, I’ll be able to make a series that will stick and that people will really like. 

For someone considering majoring in fine arts but not sure what they want to do for a career, what advice would you give them? 

If you are passionate about teaching, I’d recommend combining your love of art with education – but it all depends on what concentration you’re in. The connections you’ll make at Saint Anselm are super important. Find someone who can mentor your artistic growth and introduce you to people in the art world. Studio Art majors are extremely talented and the mentorship from professors at Saint Anselm is amazing. 

As a commuter, what would you recommend for other commuters?  

Don’t be shy and leave campus immediately after class, try to meet people! It’s important to join clubs. One of my good friends introduced me to a ton of cool people, so I met a bunch of people through that. Find someone on campus, make friends, and you’ll have a good time!