Tacoma based artist and writer. Currently working on as yet untitled video game with support from the City of Tacoma Artist Initiative Program. You can follow progress on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok: @nominestudios. E-mail: nominestudios@gmail.com.
Ten years ago today, I created the website for No, Mine! Studios. The history of this studio has everything to do with my journey as a mom just as much as it does with being an artist.
In June 2013, I graduated with my Master’s degree from the University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies with a 15-month-old Izzy on my hip. I had discovered I was pregnant with Izzy a week before I traveled to Ufa, Bashkortostan, for a Critical Language Scholarship. After losing my first pregnancy in Greece in early 2011, I didn’t think I could get pregnant again. When I started experiencing worrying symptoms beyond the unrelenting morning sickness, I made the decision to leave the scholarship program early and return to the States. I couldn’t risk a second loss. I went to school in the fall, took a break for winter, and then returned to school less than 6 weeks after Izzy was born (and only four weeks after he came home from the NICU). A few months after that, I was on a plane to do thesis research on guerrilla art in St. Petersburg and Moscow. When I returned a few weeks later, I quickly resumed commuting from Tacoma to Seattle every day for school via bus.
I didn’t know what to do post graduation that would allow me to stay closer to my little one. I interviewed for a few positions, but given the cost of childcare for kids under the age of 4, it didn’t make sense for me to return to a “normal” job based on the salaries being offered (despite having a Masters degree in hand). I didn’t have family to fall back on for support beyond my coparent.
With normal avenues seemingly blocked, I decided to take the leap and start figuring out ways to make art a career. Thank you to those who have supported me in this journey. And thank you most of all to Izzy, my now 11-year-old, for giving me a reason to embark on this journey in the first place.
Suzanne working and Izzy helping: January 2014. Photo by Tim Kapler.
Toddler headlock/ a.k.a., what working from home looks like. Photo by Suzanne Skaar.
Getting set up for Arts at the Armory 2021. Photo by Suzanne Skaar, 2021. All rights reserved.
My illustration “Money” (from the original “Pink Series” microanimations) is up on the No, Mine! Studios Redbubble shop! Available on Tshirts, hats, and most appropriately, this lovely iPhone wallet (pictured below).
Join the South Side Animation Club at The Grand Cinema the second Wednesday of the month from 6-8 p.m. Make art, collaborate, network, and share your projects!
All ages and free; children welcome to attend with adult supervision.
Join the South Side Animation Club at the Grand Cinema (606 Fawcett Ave Tacoma) on the second Wednesday of every month from 6-8 p.m.! Free and all ages. Presented by No, Mine! Studios, with support from The Grand Cinema.
Our entry to the Grand Cinema’s 72-hour 253 Film Competition premieres on YouTube this Friday, May 26 at 7 p.m. Visit https://youtube.com/@nominestudios and subscribe to be notified of new videos.
Because the weather has been in our favor lately, we are holding the next South Side Animation Club outdoors!
Join us on Saturday, May 20 from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. at Wapato Lake Park (6500 S. Sheridan Ave Tacoma, WA 98408). The exact location will be posted on the website (https://www.nominestudios.com/) and Instagram (@nominestudios) once we set up, but we should be easy to spot! Bring camping chairs, blankets, sunscreen, snacks, and cold drinks (non-alcoholic per club and park rules), as well as a sketchbook, pencils, pens, watercolors, or whatever else you would like to work with outdoors. I’ll bring some supplementary art supplies to share (colored pencils, sharpeners, loose flip book supplies). [As this month’s meeting is outdoors, it will be relatively technology free except for what attendees choose to bring.] Wapato Lake is a wonderful setting to work on background art as a group, but as always, everyone is free to work on their own projects and encouraged to share progress with the group.
For those who sign in on Saturday, we’ll have a drawing for some mini-door prizes halfway through the session. We’ll announce the drawing winners at the meeting.
The South Side Animation Club is all ages, free, and intended for artists of all mediums and skill levels with an interest in making animation: digital and traditional animation and stop motion, sound design, writing, directing, and more.
Children are welcome when accompanied by guardian. Please note: We are unable to provide supervision for unattended children. Thank you for understanding.
Please refrain from smoking/ vaping near the club meeting spot out of respect for individuals with respiratory and other conditions. We also still encourage masks and/ or social distancing as appropriate to keep our group as accessible as possible.
This Community Arts Project is made possible with support from the City of Tacoma Office of Arts and Cultural Vitality and the Tacoma Arts Commission. Please feel free to email any questions you may have about the club to Suzanne Skaar at No, Mine! Studios: nominestudios@gmail.com.
Thank you for your support, and we hope to see you this Saturday!
Starting in May, the South Side Animation Club will be changing locations. As a result, we may need to change the dates and times. More details to come!
This is a friendly reminder that our next South Side Animation Club meeting is happening this Saturday, April 22, from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. at the Tacoma Public Library Moore Branch (215 S 56th St). The club is free and all ages! Please note the shift in time by half an hour; if you try to get into the room before 10:30, you will be put to work. 🙂 (Thank you to everyone who helped with setup and tear down last month! You are all awesome!)
Saturday is also Earth Day, so this is a good time to remind everyone that the Moore Branch is accessible by multiple bus routes.
We do have a few free animation kits left, and they are available on a first come, first serve basis. If you need one and did not get one yet, they will be available at the front of the meeting room as you walk in. We also have newsprint, pencils, loose flipbook paper, and other supplies/ equipment which we will go over at the start of the club. As usual, we will start with a mini-lesson that is not dependent on whether you showed up to the previous lesson. This week, we’ll talk about the 12 Principles of Animation.
If you have work you’d like to share, please bring it! If you’d like to have your work projected, please email a link to nominestudios@gmail.com ahead of time, or bring a USB drive. (This is an all-ages event, so please share work that is PG/ General Audiences friendly.) The showcase will start at around 12 p.m. (or sooner) depending on how many participants we have. We will also plan a longer Showcase later in the year. More details to come!
Local game devs, you are welcome to share your work here as well! Message me ahead of time so we can make sure we have the necessary equipment/ cables.
Share with Friends! Please help us get the word out to as many interested community members as possible!
Acknowledgments
The South Side Animation Club wouldn’t be possible without the Tacoma Public Library Moore Branch, the City of Tacoma Arts Commission, the City of Tacoma Office of Arts and Cultural Vitality, and the support of the greater Tacoma community.
Thank you very much! We can’t wait to see you Saturday!
Join the South Side Animation Club at Tacoma Public Library Moore Branch (215 S 56th St) on Saturday, March 25, 2023 for our first meeting! Free and all ages. Presented by No, Mine! Studios and the Tacoma Public Library, with support from the City of Tacoma Arts Commission.
The date for the first South Side Animation Club is getting closer (March 25, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. at the Tacoma Public Library Moore Branch), and preparations are going well!
No, Mine! Studios Interns Jillian Schmitt and Sterling Kelly helped assemble 40 Animation Kits that will be given away to participants for free on a first come, first served basis. We’re also planning to expand the resources available for the stop motion station, so last week I trekked out to TinkerTopia to get some ideas. I highly recommend supporting this local business if you’re looking for additional stop motion set building supplies and figurines to use for animation.
Interior TinkerTopia.Interior TinkerTopia.No, Mine! Studios Interns Jillian and Sterling helping assemble the South Side Animation Club Animation Kits at the Tacoma Public Library Moore Branch.What 40 packaged Animation Kits look like.
Club Meeting Format
Each club meeting will be set up with multiple stations dedicated to different styles of animation. Participants are free to float between stations.
Digital
Participants can check out a limited number of Chromebooks at the Moore Library front desk, use Adobe products on the computers in the main area, or bring your own laptop/tablet. If there is interest in collaborating on a digital group drawing, I’ll make a Magma Studio link available the morning of the club meeting(s). USB thumb drives are included with the free Animation Kits.
Hand Drawn
The free Animation Kits include tracing paper, coloring pencils, sharpeners, and more useful supplies. We will have newsprint, pencils, coloring pencils, and a light trace box for general use/ collaboration, and participants are welcome to bring their own supplies.
Flip Books
Flip books are included in the Animation Kits. We’ll have some loose paper as well as a flip book size light box for shared use. Participants are also welcome to bring their own drawing supplies from home.
Stop Motion
We have Two Hue Animation Studio stop motion cameras so up to two groups can work on different projects simultaneously. We’ll also have some other set building materials for smaller projects.
Teardown of stop motion projects (returning cameras to the No, Mine! Studios team and materials to their proper bins) will need to be completed by 11:50 a.m.
Audio
The South Side Animation Club will have mini-lessons on audio editing and sound design for animation at a future meeting. Because noise may be a factor, there won’t be a dedicated audio station at the first meeting, but library card holders can check out podcast kits for recording ahead of time from the Tacoma Public Library: (Podcast Kit Style 1/ Podcast Kit Style 2)
The Tacoma Library’s Digital Media Labat the Main Branch (downtown) also schedules appointments for those who want to work on recording and editing.
If you have some basic questions about audio editing with Audacity or Adobe Audition, I will do my best to help at the club meetings after the mini-lesson and before the Showcase.
Showcase
As a reminder, we have access to the library’s projector! Those who want to showcase their animations should email a YouTube/ other link to nominestudios@gmail.com or bring a USB drive with the work. (This is an all-ages event, so please share work that is PG/ General Audiences friendly.) The showcase will start at around 11:30 a.m. (or sooner) depending on how many participants we have, so please get your digital files to me by 11 a.m. that day or sooner. We will also plan a longer Showcase later in the year. More details to come!
Local game devs, you are welcome to share your work here as well! Message me ahead of time so we can make sure we have the necessary equipment/ cables.
Share with Friends!
Please help us get the word out to as many interested community members as possible!
Acknowledgments
The South Side Animation Club wouldn’t be possible without the Tacoma Public Library Moore Branch, the City of Tacoma Arts Commission, the City of Tacoma Office of Arts and Cultural Vitality, and the support of the greater Tacoma community.
Join the South Side Animation Club at the Tacoma Public Library Moore Branch (215 S 56th St) on Saturday, March 25, 2023 for our first meeting! The monthly club meetings are free and all ages.
No, Mine! Studios 