Kelly White
21 August 2024: Oz Comic-Con showcases the best of entertainment and pop culture – it only makes sense that University of Canberra’s Faculty of Arts and Design (FAD) would be there!
For the second year running, the FAD Student Experience team will host a booth at Oz Comicon Canberra, taking place on 24 and 25 August at EPIC Showgrounds.
This year’s eye-catching booth design was the brainchild of two first-year Bachelor of Arts (Digital Media) students, Christina Sun and Ion Brown, who came together over the Winter Term to create digital magic.
“We had two initial designs – I was doing a sci-fi retro design, and Christina was doing a more comic book style retro design,” Mr Brown said.
“We realised we could easily combine those to make something really cool. It all just came together after that!”
The designers took inspiration from cartoons and anime, and branched out with a distinctive colour palette dominated by shades of pink and purple.
“Once we decided on a retro science theme, everything snowballed from there – we pulled together some concept designs and created the characters and logo. We both riffed off each other, and referenced each other’s work a lot,” Ms Sun said.
It’s exciting, hands-on opportunities such as this that drew Ms Sun to UC’s Digital Media degree in the first instance. Already with a strong background in design, the course provided the chance to flex her skills and create real world projects.
“A lot of our classes in college were theory-based, so it's really nice to do something so practical, and be in an environment that supports creativity,” she said.
“I’ve never had my designs on display like this for so many people, so it’s sort of surreal!”
A talented visual artist, Mr Brown has no shortage of experience in creating awe-inspiring art. Working on the Oz Comicon Booth design was an opportunity to try his hand at a new form of design.
“Much of the work I’ve done in the past had a gallery focus. With this project, I wanted to branch out a little, and try character design and environmental design,” he said.
“I go to Comicon a lot actually, I host a stall selling art with my friends, so it feels kind of crazy that there’s going to be a booth there with my designs on it!”
The University of Canberra’s Bachelor of Arts (Digital Media) prepares students to work with industry-standard technologies across virtual and augmented reality, digital photography, digital audio, interactive fiction, video and animation.
Due to its focus on practical skills, Work Integrated Learning (WIL), is a key component of the course offering. Lecturer in Digital Media, Dr Joel Bennett, is always on the lookout for hands-on projects, internships and professional experience opportunities for his students.
“It’s essential to gain practical, hands-on experience during any degree. this project is just one of the many opportunities available at the University of Canberra,” Dr Bennett said.
“This approach helps students build a deep understanding of how to not only design but also execute impressive projects before entering the professional workforce when they graduate.
“Working with Christina and Ion has been a true pleasure, their enthusiasm and dedication have resulted in an eye catching booth that will be featured at Oz Comic-Con and other events this year.”
For Mr Brown, it was the diverse application of the degree across creative industries that made it such an appealing study option.
“I had been considering my options for university, and came to one of UC’s open days. Talking to the professors and lecturers there, I just thought ‘Wow! This sounds really cool!’” Mr Brown said.
“I’ve got a background in visual arts that I studied through high school, and I have a diploma from CIT, but I’ve never had the opportunity to translate painting into other contexts. UC’s Digital Media course really spoke to me when I saw that it offered elements of game design and story creation.”
Ms Sun too, is excited for what other opportunities await as she knocks out more units of her degree.
“I was really interested in a career in design. I chose the Digital Media degree at UC because the course outline page showed me that there were so many career paths it could lead into,” Ms Sun said.
“Hopefully I can do more internships because this one was so fun! I'm hoping to dip my toes in deeper and take on more creative, practical projects.”
