Ran Sheng

Ran Sheng, born and raised in Beijing, China, has a rich background in various creative industries, including graphic design, animation, and photography. After moving to Portland in 2015, he pursued his passion for stop-motion animation, graduating from the Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. His thesis film, Karma Has You, won the prestigious William H. Givler Thesis Award and was selected for screening at Cannes, France, in 2019. From 2019 to 2020, Sheng worked as a stop-motion animator at a local animation studio, followed by a year as a freelance artist, where he contributed to various projects including online animation shorts and informative animations in feature films. His diverse experiences have shaped his unique artistic vision, blending physical and digital media to explore complex narratives.

Since 2021, Sheng has been the Lead Support Specialist at PNCA’s Animated Arts Department, where he shares his extensive knowledge and experience with animation students. In 2023, he began his journey toward the Low-residency MFA in Visual Studies at PNCA’s Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies, with a keen interest in projection art. Sheng continues to push the boundaries of animated arts, focusing on stop-motion and hybrid animation, and remains dedicated to exploring the endless possibilities of creative narration through various media.