Texas A&M Visualization Program

That’s a wrap on the Visualization camp!

Throughout the week, high school students learned about digital painting with Cara Baxter, instructional assistant professor in the Texas A&M Visualization Program, as part of the Texas A&M University Youth Adventure Program.

Students presented their digital still-life paintings in today’s final session. They were provided objects to choose from including sunglasses, oranges and a plastic skull, tea kettle and rubber snake.

“This week, campers dove headlong into the realm of digital art,” Baxter said. “By combining the techniques of classical painting with powerful digital tools, the campers created vibrant works of art that embody the best parts of our program. I hope this camp planted a seed that will blossom into a lifelong journey of creative expression.”

Sounding the Republic: America’s 250th “Fort Sam’s Own” 323d Army Band in collaboration with Texas A&M Music, theatre, and Visualization Programs.

🎨 The Visualization camp has begun! 🎨

Twelve high school students have joined us this week to learn about digital painting with faculty expertise from the Texas A&M Visualization Program program as part of the Texas A&M University Youth Adventure Program.

Cara Baxter, instructional assistant professor, is leading the group and kicked off today’s session with guidance on form and dimensionality. At the end of the week, the students will present what they have learned through a digital still-life painting.

“I believe that painting is a practice, not a product,” Baxter said. “I hope all my students embrace this challenge, deepening their passion with effort, consistency and the willingness to grow. Every day is a new opportunity to create something wonderful in the endless journey of art!”

Heading to SIGGRAPH Conferences in Los Angeles?

Join us for a reception on July 21 at 8 p.m. at Sora Social Club on the 41st floor of the Figueroa Eight Building at 744 Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, California.

RSVP today tx.ag/VIZinLA.

In honor of National Camp Counselor Appreciation Day, we want to recognize our 2026 Texas A&M Visualization Program counselors for their incredible work during the inaugural Viz Summer Camp in June!

Camp Counselor Day celebrates the positive impact of camp counselors who inspire and support participants at summer camps.

Jill Honeycutt, senior associate program director and instructional associate professor, said the counselors challenged campers to grow through engaging studio experiences, and built a strong sense of community through social activities during the camp.

“They not only helped teach technical skills — they modeled the collaborative and creative culture that defines our program,” she said. “For many of our campers who hope to join the Visualization program in the future, these counselors became inspiring examples of what it means to be part of our community. I am proud of the impact they made.”

Visualization student counselors: Elijah Mendoza, junior; Lizzie Mateja, sophomore; Juli Herczeg, junior; Luis Reyna, junior; Drew Turner, senior; Sophia Guzman, senior; Morgan Taton, senior; and Shae Stafford, senior.

🎬 Lights, Camera, Virtual Production! 🎬

Over the course of 10 weeks this summer, Texas A&M Visualization Program students are working with Pixomondo Studios, Eyeline Studios and SideFX to create live-action short films using virtual production technologies.

The 16 undergraduate and graduate students have been collaborating with industry experts to develop scripts, design digital worlds, cast actors and source props. This week they began filming their projects on the Virtual Production Institute stage in the Langford Architecture Center, Building A.

"We are excited to have started our principal shooting for the Summer Industry Course today!” said Mayet Andreassen, instructional assistant professor and instructor for the course. “Our three student groups will be shooting their short creative films through the end of next week.”

Here are some behind the scenes photos from today’s session.

The inaugural Viz Summer Camp has officially begun!

High school students are on campus through Thursday creating projects with faculty expertise from the Texas A&M Visualization Program program.

Caleb Kicklighter, instructional assistant professor, is leading the animation group in creating robots from scrap pieces, then building an environment in Unreal Engine to bring those characters to life.

Anatol Bologan, instructional associate professor, is leading the web and mobile app design students, who will rebrand an existing business by creating designs and building a website and brand guide.

“We are super excited to have a group of creative high schoolers come to Texas A&M and learn about the Visualization program,” said Jill Honeycutt, senior associate program director and instructional associate professor. "They are excited and ready to learn. We are looking forward to a super great week!”