T.J. LaLonde ’24 is an avid storyteller who says he typically has several different creative projects in process at the same time. From writing fiction and creating comics to exploring animation for film and video games, he has taken full advantage of the opportunity to hone his talents at UMass Amherst’s College of Humanities and Fine Arts.
A senior recipient of the Robert D. Gordon ’48 and Nancy M. Gordon ’49 Scholarship in the Fine Arts, T.J. began his time at UMass exploring multiple humanities and fine arts courses. He also took two semesters of computer science courses, which sparked an interest in coding for games. As he worked through studio art courses, he realized that animation was the medium through which he could best express his ideas. Since then, he has served as an intern at Ferry Godmother Productions, an event-planning and advertising firm, and Castix LLC, a game-design company. He and four UMass peers also co-founded the UMass Animation Collective, a collaborative animation group. As part of this project, they hosted the first UMass Animated Film Festival.
Looking toward the future, T.J. has established his own freelance business, where he works with clients from all over the world on projects ranging from video games and advertisements to music videos and original character design. In his Art Entrepreneurship class at UMass, he was able to craft a vision plan for the future of his business. At every step along the way, he says, UMass and its arts departments have supported his endeavors.
