JOe lowsma
A DIGITAL PORTFOLIO
ILLUSTRATION • ANIMATION • CHARACTER DESIGN • VISUAL STORYTELLING • CONCEPT ART • DIGITAL ART • STORYBOARDING
Hi, I’m Joe Lowsma, a lifelong artist and University of Utah graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Animation. I started drawing when I was a child and quickly become devoted to the arts. My love for drawing has progressed throughout my illustration journey and has evolved into a love for film and animation. For that reason, I passionately continued my education at the University of Utah to refine my skillset and enhance my abilities post-grad.
Now post-grad, I am an aspiring animator looking to pursue roles within film, specifically for character design, storyboarding, and other highly technical and illustrative-based roles. Outside of this endeavor, my personal works and skillsets are offered for open edition prints and custom design, ranging from concept art, branding, character designs, paintings, 2D and 3D animations and other technical and abstract paintings.
From sketch to vision
Class and Personal Project
”Smelling Flowers”
Personal Project
”Heist”
Personal Project
”Conquest”
A collection of works created in graphite and pencil
A collection of works created Digitally to replicate pencil
A collection of works created Digitally in color
Senior Capstone
For my senior capstone project in animation I wanted to showcase the artistic foundation that has always been at the center of my work; drawing. Because of this, I chose to create a traditionally animated short film that not only demonstrated my animation skills but also reflected my personal illustration style.
The story was inspired by one of my favorite original drawings, which was an artwork I felt had both the visual character and narrative potential to be expanded into a short film. Throughout the project, I intentionally maintained a rough, sketch-like aesthetic while balancing thoughtful design choices, realistic movement, and careful use of lighting and shading. This approach allowed the animation to feel expressive and handcrafted without appearing unfinished.
The title, Drawn to Crime, serves a dual purpose. While it refers to the story's attraction to crime and mystery, it also reflects the film's hand-drawn visual identity, reinforcing the intentionality behind the sketch-inspired style that carries throughout the project.
Short Animations
These clips are taken from Dreams in Red, a short film I created within college. While they represent only a small portion of the film, I selected these scenes because they showcase some of the movement, timing, and visual creativity that I enjoyed exploring throughout the project. In particular, I am proud of the dynamic strike of the snake and the impact of the blast effect that reduces it to ashes, both of which allowed me to experiment with action, energy, and visual storytelling.
Another excerpt from Dreams in Red, this punch scene remains one of my favorite scenes from the project. As I developed the scene, I continually increased the frame rate and added additional drawings to improve the fluidity, weight, and realism of the movement. This scene alone contains well over 200 individual frames to truly emulate the natural and fluid movements of the human body.
This was one of my first attempts at animating a convincing punch, an energy blast effect, and more realistic character motion. The process challenged me to focus on timing, anticipation, and follow-through while pushing the overall quality of the animation. Even today, it remains one of the pieces I am most proud of, both for the effort invested and for the growth it represents in my development as an animator.
Let’s connect
Interested in my work? Reach out for collaborations, commissions, or inquiries.
