On her first birthday ceremony, Mai-Han Nguyen picked the pencil. There is a Vietnamese tradition called “Thôi nôi,” where on a child’s first birthday they pick from a tray of various items meant to represent their future career–a baseball for athletics, a dollar for finances, and a pencil for the arts. Mai-Han’s family has had at least one artist born into every generation—her grandfather was one, then her uncle and aunt, and now her. But she was always told, art is meant to be hobby not a career. 

However, Mai-Han was lucky enough to get accepted into Georgetown Day School (GDS) which had a generous arts program. At GDS, Mai-Han found herself surrounded by countless resources, from a studio filled with oil paints and easels to supportive teachers and peers. There she met her future mentor, Michelle Cobb, who taught her how to paint through plein air observation technique and that all good art stems from strong foundations. These became the values Mai-Han has carried with her ever since.  

Out of hesitancy to fully commit to a career in the arts, Mai-Han applied to Boston University’s Dual Degree Program and was awarded a full scholarship where she could study both painting and environmental science. The program gave Mai-Han the freedom to explore various career paths. Mai-Han ultimately landed on Printmaking and worked with fascinating mediums like Lithography and Woodcutting. 

Graduating during the pandemic, there were limited job opportunities and her experience with printmaking organically guided her interest towards the traditional process of 2D animation. Mai-Han’s passion for animation developed through the many online resources that became available during that time. She learned how to paint in Photoshop by taking courses on Schoolism and soon after found the opportunity to try out Visual Development through the CTN Production Experience Workshop. There she joined a small crew to help produce the 2D trad-digital animated short film, Cowabunga. Mai-Han kept herself motivated by joining online communities like Rise-Up Animation, WIA, and AIA to connect with other emerging artists. 

After the CTN Workshop, Mai-Han received freelance opportunities to challenge various visual styles and quickly built up a massive brush set library—one big enough to drag down the start-up of her laptop. As a Visual Development artist, Mai-Han aims to design beautiful worlds tailored to the stories that occupy them.