BYU Continuing Education recently unveiled a new basketball T-shirt designed specifically for the ROC, BYU's enthusiastic student section. Over the years, BYU CE has designed and distributed themed shirts for various sporting events, fostering school spirit and unity while increasing awareness about BYU CE and the programs it offers.
The creation of the new basketball T-shirt was a collaborative effort led by the talented animation team at BYU CE. Tristan Brown, a junior studying computer science and animation, and Maren Jensen, a senior in the animation program, played pivotal roles in bringing this project to life.
Tristan, who has been with BYU CE for nearly a year, explained that the process began with a clear directive from their supervisor, Robin Conover. “Robin told us that they were looking to make a basketball T-shirt for the ROC. . . . They gave us a few specifics and let Maren and I just play with it and try different things,” Tristan shared. Tristan's role involved overseeing the 3D animation aspects of the project. He and his team of fellow student employees worked on creating various poses with their 3D model of Cosmo, BYU’s beloved mascot. “We had a bunch of different poses, from dunking to dribbling,” Tristan explained.
Maren, who has been with BYU CE for three years, took on the responsibility of translating the 3D designs into 2D artwork. “It’s not exactly tracing,” Maren explained. “You have to artistically interpret things when moving from 3D to 2D to make it read correctly.” This meticulous process was necessary to ensure the final design was both visually appealing and suitable for printing on T-shirts. “You have to be careful doing designs that are going to be printed because it needs to be clear, but not so detailed that it won’t all print on a shirt,” Maren commented.
Animation projects can be slow, with lots of collaboration and feedback at every step of the process. The team worked closely with various stakeholders, including BYU Athletics and BYU CE leadership, to refine the design. The process involved multiple rounds of revisions, with feedback from different departments influencing the final result. Despite the challenges, the team successfully created a design that met all the requirements and captured the spirit of BYU basketball.
The new T-shirt features Cosmo in an athletic pose, reminiscent of the iconic Air Jordan silhouette, but with a unique BYU twist. Though it is Maren’s drawing on the shirt, she emphasized that “it was definitely a team effort. The drawing is my drawing, but you don’t see all the work that everyone around me did.”
The BYU CE animation team works regularly on projects like this one. “It’s fun to work on the team. I think that one of my favorite things about animation is being creative and learning about new things,” Tristan said. “What I like about being an artist is that you’re a problem solver, a visual problem solver,” Maren added.
The creation of this new T-shirt for the ROC is just one example of the work that the student employees on the BYU CE animation team do every day to further the mission of BYU Continuing Education.
