Illustration students in a survey course of visual development for film, animation, and game design have created concept and production art interpreting a story written by a peer as an animated short film. Their work will be on display Dec. 6, 2014 through Feb. 6, 2015 in the north lobby of One Beacon St.

The student team chose to interpret the story “N.J. Travel Stories: Moon Motel,” written by student Gabrielle Winant, as an animated short film. Winant, who is majoring in creative writing, wrote the “flash fiction” piece on the theme of “place.”

Professor Lisa French taught the Illustration Visual Development studio elective. Each assignment in the highly collaborative course represents a specialization normally covered by a sequence of courses in illustration, animation, visual development or entertainment arts. The exhibit is the culmination of the semester’s work.

In addition to drawings, the exhibit includes a digital 3D model, a sculptural model of the motel, a model of the rocket ship sign, and more.

A reception with the student-artists will be held from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11, at One Beacon St., which is at the corner of Beacon and Tremont streets in downtown Boston.

The student artists are:

• Meg Callahan
• Juliana Dagraca
• Katie Halsing (Turn-around sketch at top, with Patterson)
• Kelsey Jenkins
• Lexy Kramer (Maquette below)
• Nika Patterson (Turn-around sketch, with Halsing; Moon Motel image above)
• Catalina Rufin (Expression and pose sheet at right)

French invited outside professionals to advise the students and evaluate their work. The consultants were:

• Jessie Baxter, dramaturgy associate at Company One and co-founder and literary director of Fresh Ink Theatre
• Joe Serra, a senior video producer at D50 Media and a Suffolk Media Production program alumnus
• Will Weston, a visual development artist for Disney Feature & Television, Nickelodeon Studios, and Sony Pictures, and a professor and director of the Entertainment Arts program at Art Center College of Design

Visual development is defined as the broad category of preliminary art for entertainment media (feature films, animation, and video games) and advertising media (video, film, and broadcast). Media productions require creative teams whose members specialize in various types of concept and production art–story development, character design, scenic layout, backgrounds and matte painting, prop and production design, color and lighting design, and visual effects. Artists who produce this work are trained as illustrators.