Kelsey Powell

This is one of the earliest photos I have of myself playing. I would spend most days at my grandmothers house where I would post up in the living room and color all day.

This photo represents my Artist Play Personality because even when I was this young I loved to draw. Whether it was coloring in coloring books or drawing on the walls when no one was around, I was always always content with a box of crayons for hours.

When I was young we would have

family reunions at a park by a lake.

The lake had a playground and was

surrounded by woods. My cousin and

I would spend the whole day

exploring the woods and swimming

in the lake trying to catch fish.

This photo represents my Explorer

Play Personality. I loved being

outside and embracing the day.

Being that small, the world seemed

so much bigger and everything was

an adventure. I was always on the

lookout for new things to climb, new

hideouts, and new plants and

animals to discover. The days where

I was covered in dirt were the days I

considered to be best spent.

This is a photo of the 12 Days of Christmas play we put on back in my bible school days. My part was to sing “Three French hens”. Although, I had other plans on how I wanted to deliver my line. Every time it was my turn to deliver my line, I would use the most ridiculous voice I could make or scream it at the top of my lungs.

This photo represents my Play Personality as The Joker. I was still to young to grasp the concept of when to tone down the dramatics. I never took anything too seriously and was always trying to make people laugh; whether it be someone else or just for the sake of entertaining myself.

In this photo I was dressed up in

one of my favorite costumes. While

going through old photos, this

outfit reoccurred a lot.

This photo connects to my Play

Personality as The Story Teller. I

had a box full of costumes that I

frequently would wear. With each

costume I had created a different

character that I would become

when I wore it. Some nights I

would decorate the living room

and put on plays for my parents. I

loved creating stories and most

games of imagination would

involve elaborate worlds created in

my head.

Even as a young adult, play still has a crucial role in my

life. My play personalities as an Artist and Explorer have since grown and have been

what I have centered most of my life decisions around. My

Storyteller and Joker personalities can been seen through the photos of my

Artistries and Explorations.

The Artist

This photo was taken during the

period of time when I had a studio

in the city. This image means a lot

to me because it was a sacred space

for me to go to and just create. My

other creative friends and I would

meet here to collaborate on projects

and share ideas. Together we

created a lot of wonderful things,

shared a lot of memories, and

shared a lot of late night pizzas.

This image connects to my Artist

play personality because this studio

allowed me to have a place to freely

create artwork and surround myself

with inspiration. Here I was able to

create pieces of art that could tell

as story.

Every year I work for Kings Dominion amusement park. Here my job

not only lets me celebrate my favorite holiday, Halloween, five months

out of the year but also my job title fills many shoes that allows me to

express all of my Play Personalities.

At the beginning of the season I work as a set designer. As a team we spend many many hours working to build and paint mazes for the Halloween events. This usually means to make things look old and dirty on purpose.

After completing set build for the

season I work as a Special FX Makeup

Artist. Here I get to really push the

limits on my imagination. These are

“in-progress” images of me applying

makeup to two of my actors.

A few examples of completed makeups

can be found here!

These images connect to my Artist and Storyteller play personalities because here I get to build my own prosthetics, use different mediums of makeup such as airbrushes and cream based paints, design monsters and help create back stories for their characters.

The Joker and The

Story Teller

Before I started my job as a Makeup artist at Kings Dominion, I was originally on the other side of the chair as an actor. Every so often I would miss my roots and dress up to go out into the park for the night once the makeups were completed.

In this photo, a fellow makeup artist and I transformed into our characters Trixie and Dixie. We played a brother/sister twisted jester duo who roamed the entire park. Not only were we scare actors but we also did improv comedy where we interacted with guests.

This displays my Play Personalities of being The Joker and The Storyteller. We were required to quickly come up with jokes as well as create a thorough persona for ourselves while in costume.

This is a photo of one of the weirdest days in my life, but also the most fun.

In this photo, the two of us were dressed up as zombies and were taken to the NBC 12 Station to help report the news. Here we were told to wander around in character while the anchors discussed the news and we helped assist the weather man. When they were filming the cutaways we would pose as if we were regular employees answering calls, reading the reports or supervising the cameras.

Here I was able to express my Joker and Storytelling personalities. I was allowed to get creative and really allow myself to become that character. While filming cutaway scenes, I was able to switch gears and do funny things.

The Explorer

This photo means so much to me but at the time I had no idea how important it would be. This photo was taken in the summer of 2010 in Japan. The girl in the photo with me is my best friend, and later to be travel companion, Erin. This was the first time I had ever been over seas, much less the first time being away from my family. It was a surreal experience being completely taken out of my comfort zone and put into this beautiful country.

This connects to my Play Personality as The Explorer because this trip ignited a love for travel within me. It gave me a whole new appreciation for culture and the desire to see the world for everything that it is. The two of us (as well as my other friend who took the photo) would then travel to 12 more countries together with no intentional those being the last.

The following summer I traveled with the two of them to Australia. These photos were taken at the Great Barrier Reef. These pictures are important because it was the first time I was able to cross something off my Bucket List and also conquer my fear of open ocean.

This connects to my Explorer Play Personality because this was the first time I was able to explore a place that wasn’t on land. I always watched nature shows no the Reef but never dreamed of being able to experience the beauty of it myself.

Two years later, summer of 2014, the two of us as well as the guy in the Kings Dominion photos travelled to Europe for a month. In this photo, the four of us had just hiked up to the peak of Mt. Pilatus in Switzerland. It had been cloudy the whole way up but this was taken right when the clouds started to subside.

This connects to my Play Personality as an Explorer because I consider this day to be one of my most notable adventures. My goal was to get to the top when the sky cleared up. My entire trip to Europe was spent traveling through 11 different countries. In each we tried to experience as much of the culture we could.

Some extra photos of being in Europe at play

This photo was taken my first day in Europe in front of our hostel. Our plane had just landed in Ireland and we were greeted with this plaque outside the hostel door. We all agreed that this was a sign that we were going to have an incredible trip.

This photo connects to my Explorer Play Personality because this saying is a reminder that there will always be an adventure ahead of me. I sometimes worry about the possibility of not having the opportunity to travel again, but ever since I read this, it has encouraged me to remember to look forward to the future and all the adventures it will bring.

This photo represents what I am looking forward to in my learning experience here at Full Sail and my future career in Animation. I’ve waited a long time to get here, and through art, play, and imagination I hope to one day find success in the job of my dreams.

This represents my Artist, Joker, and Storyteller play personalities. My dream is to some day work for the companies that created the movies I found so inspiring as a child.

This photo represents my desire to someday be able to help write animated films. Recently I have started writing a short film of my own. As my journey with Full Sail advances, I will be learning the tools to bring these ideas to life.

This represents my Play Personality of Story Telling. With every experience I have had, I’ve wanted to turn them into stories to share with others. My dream is to be able to make beautiful films that are not only fun to watch but teach lessons of self confidence, self expression and kindness.