This is the 109th article in Bears Doing Big Things, a weekly column celebrating the stories of notable M-A alumni.
Since building a skateboard in Mark Leeper’s Woodshop class at M-A, Grace Baker ’15 has been drawn to creative projects. Exploring animation in college led them to pursue it as a career—Baker now works as a freelance animator for Wolf Den Studios.
Baker grew up in Menlo Park, attending Las Lomitas Elementary School and La Entrada Middle School. Throughout their childhood, they were involved in a variety of sports, including baseball, soccer, and basketball.
At M-A, Baker’s favorite subjects were English and Environmental Science. “I really liked my English and Environmental Science teachers, and I think that through their excitement about the topics they were teaching, it made me excited to learn,” Baker said, noting English teachers John McBlair*, Elizabeth Placencia, and Lisa Otsuka as some of their favorites.
M-A was also where Baker first discovered their interest in building and inclination for creativity. “I really enjoyed Woodshop with Mr. Leeper. I came back a few times to see him after I graduated, and built some things during the summer,” Baker said. “I was really interested in building worlds and building little things with my hands, so that kind of came naturally as I went into animation as well.”
Outside the classroom, Baker played lacrosse and soccer all four years at M-A, and began rowing in their junior year. “Most of my community were friends and teammates on the sports teams. I think there is a lot of pride at M-A, especially behind sports teams,” Baker said.
Baker viewed M-A as a place to explore interests and future career fields. “I was definitely not into math or science, so going through high school was a way for me to figure those things out and set me up for college. I knew a little bit more about what I wanted to pursue as I continued on in my education,” Baker said. “I think M-A was a lot of trial and error through the different classes and electives I took.”
After graduating, Baker attended the University of Oregon, where they majored in philosophy and minored in psychology. “I find words very powerful, beautiful, and transformative. One of my favorite classes at M-A was sophomore English with John McBlair*,” they said. “He introduced us to Nietzsche and logical reasoning and fallacies. Philosophy and writing sort of felt like a creative puzzle to me.”
Baker’s decision to major in psychology was similarly inspired by a formative M-A class. “In my senior year I took AP Psychology with Lisa Otsuka. I wanted to learn more about human behavior and my own behavior,” Baker said. “I was originally a psychology major at Oregon but found the clinical studies and scientific experiments boring—I was more interested in the theoretical side.”
Baker also began animating as a hobby in college. “I had some friends and roommates that were in bands, so I would make animations for their songs,” they said.
At Oregon, surrounded by other students with similar passions, Baker felt encouraged to experiment with animation. “When I was at M-A, I didn’t necessarily have friends that were interested in trying things creatively or exploring creative realms. When I got to Oregon, I was able to find friends who were also interested in those things,” Baker said.
Baker began with stop-motion animation, creating physical sets and characters, and later moved into 3-D animation and motion design for advertising, which is their current focus.
After discovering a passion for animation during college, Baker went on to earn an additional degree in Animation from Middlesex University in London. “Going to school in London was a pretty big culture shock, in terms of British culture and in the way that British schools are set up compared to the U.S.,” they said. “There was never an option to choose my classes or different teachers, and I was given a three year long course schedule and studied with the same 30 classmates for all three years.”
Struggling to find employment in motion design—their desired field–in London, Baker relocated to Oregon to take on temporary work in the wine harvest industry. I worked in wine harvesting—sorting and crushing grapes—and did some manual labor for a few months,” Baker said. “During this time I was also building up my portfolio to make it more applicable for motion design jobs.”
Baker returned back to the Bay Area last year and has since connected with various animation studios and companies. They are currently a freelance animator, working for Wolf Den Studios. “It’s been great. The studios I’ve worked with are very small, so there’s been a lot of good connections and mentorship them,” Baker said. “I’m hoping to work with Wolf Den for some more time.”
Looking ahead, Baker hopes to explore different types of animation. “In the future, I’m looking to find something that could allow for more 3-D animation, which I think is a really creative space,” they said.
Baker’s advice to current M-A students: “Take some time to figure out what you enjoy and to prioritize that. I think it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do, and I think that that came easier to me when I had a space that was collaborative. Really try and find like-minded people because a support network is definitely needed.”
To those interested in animation: “You’ve really just got to start trying to do it and see if you like it. Just start animating today. The internet can be very helpful for that and there’s a lot of amazing resources out there.”
*John McBlair is the advisor of this publication
