Gordon Henson has always been interested in story telling through his art, but before Expression he didn’t know it could really be a career.

As a youth, he moved around quite a lot and was not always comfortable settling in to new surroundings. Generally introverted, he enjoyed drawing. After a few minutes with a sketch pad, he was able to completely tune out his immediate environment. The creativity was an outlet, “drawing was creating another reality, which was a really cool kind of escape for me.” Also a fan of comic books and movie soundtracks, it was not long before he expanded his penchant for story telling by learning more technical skills to accompany his art; eventually moving on to make and edit home videos. 

Working in the original Alias product 3DS Max at home, he met some people who were employed in the motion capture performance industry. Having even causal access to information about working in a professional environment dedicated to telling stories inspired Gordon. At the time he was working in a veterinary office after a series of other random jobs. One day in the veterinary office, Gordon was killing time drawing on the back of a flyer and one of his co workers suggested he check out Expression.

Gordon came to an Open House, and was really impressed by the intensive environment. The equipment was also attractive to Gordon, who was limited by what he could afford to purchase for home use. He realized with hard work, and the help of the Career Development Department, he could actually get paid to do work on projects that had only been a hobby.

At Expression, what was always fun became considerably more serious. As a self-taught artist the Drawing Boot Camp class was an eye opener, but a labor of love. Gordon’s favorite activity is turning story boards to animatics. The freedom for this essentially shy guy is compelling, “Making stories without having to talk people into being in your movie is fantastic.” The demanding schedule seem realistic and worthwhile to Gordon who often hears from friends who have graduated that Expression can actually be more demanding than a real job.

Before Expression, Gordon would get tripped up on a problem that would invariably wildly slow progress to a grinding halt while he had to research the topic on various forums. While in school, he knows there is always an instructor nearby who can immediately answer his questions. “The access to instructors really accelerated the learning process.” For Gordon the hard work is worth it, “The coolest people to me are into the same stuff. I meet people here like me, and there is nothing else I would rather do or be around.”

To see more of Gordon’s work, stop by his website