ARTIST STATEMENT
JOHN O'NEILL - ARTIST STATEMENT


Storytelling is what I love. It has always played an important role in my life and has defined me as an animator. My own life molds the color, visual experiences and imagination into a personal storyline that gives birth to the works I create. Each emotion, thought process, memory or fantasy becomes a plotline.

The digital game, Persona, shows the journey of a fictional character named FATE that does not display a rounded personality until near the end when the character seems to have fully functional human morality. FATE encounters several people on his journey that happens to either inflict good or evil emotions and personalities to the character. FATE must battle with evil demons that want to possess spirits and create only chaos within human morality. FATE encounters friends who join him on his journey to sop the devils and also form deep relationships, which touch on many personal experiences.

Another piece is Peepers: a story about four little chicks that cross a road while parodying the age-old question, why did the chicken cross the road? This digital short shows the various possibilities of what could happen through humorous depictions such as one chick getting squished, another falling down a hole and etc. Each event represents the various possibilities humans endure on a daily basis.