Debra Isaac is an LA-based visual artist, animator, educator, and the founder of Houdini.School.
Starting her career in the toy industry, Debra created 3D animations and test strips for Mattel, testing children's attention span for the early product development process. Eventually, she grew tired of the corporate scene and returned to school to develop her artistic side.
At USC, she received opportunities to work on various projects, including cooperating with scientists and researchers to create educational animation(above). There, she also started exploring the world of Houdini, a procedural software used for creating 3D animations and VFX
After graduating, Debra started a business and worked on small-scale projects with leaders of the entertainment and tech industry, including Disney and Intel. All the while, she taught as an adjunct professor for universities in LA and across the nation.
Debra never lost her love for Houdini, and believes Houdini artists should be able to gain more access to tools that help them grow; that is why she started Houdini.School, an online school that contains numerous courses taught by Houdini masters across the world, including herself.
The biggest takeaway from Debra's journey for me was that she was always out of her comfort zone. It was how she had the chance to work on all the different types of projects throughout her career. She was always trying something new and was not afraid to fail.
My favorite of her projects was a mobile game named Number Two(above). According to her, she made that project during a challenging time of her life and these cute poop characters really expressed her optimistic side. This project feels so different from her other projects; it is lighthearted and "animated", inviting the player to simply relax and have some fun.