The Wisconsin Alumni Association (WAA) featured Art Department alumnus Rodney Lambright II in a recent story that is headlined, “The Art of Story: Rodney Lambright II Uses Visual Media to Sketch Out Narratives.”
Lambright, who graduated in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in art and communication arts, is a storyboard artist, designer, and animator for BUCK, a creative and brand-development firm. He also does his own storytelling, and recently published the first chapter of his debut graphic novel, “Phantasma,” on the site GlobalComix.
In the article, Lambright shares that for him, art is all about narrative: “It all derives from story for me,” he says. Ever since he was a student, he has been seeking out ways to tell stories using different mediums.
Lambright’s first major animation project, while he was at UW, was a collaboration between Wisconsin Public Television and WCER’s Field Day Lab to create a game called Jo Wilder and the Capitol Case, the article notes. “Jo Wilder in the game is exploring how to be a historian and a student,” Lambright says. “It’s an adventure game, and I was doing a lot of world-building.”
Lambright shares that his experience at UW–Madison has given him a perspective unique to those in his field:
“Unlike a lot of my current colleagues that went to art schools like Savannah College of Art and Design or Ringling College of Art and Design, I have found that my journey in my career has been a bit unorthodox,” he says. “But my experience at the UW has afforded me a different level of hunger and versatility in my artist endeavors. This can be contributed to the communities I built on campus and in some ways the necessity to curate my own path. This journey is one that I wouldn’t wish to change, even if I can.”
Learn more about Lambright’s artistic journey by checking out the full article at uwalumni.com.