Rising Stars: Meet Madeline of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Madeline.

Hi Madeline, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was 10 years old, I would steal paper from my Mom’s printer and tape it to the box TV in our basement while reruns of The Lion King played. For hours, I would trace the characters on screen onto different sheets of paper. All I understood at the time was that I was making the characters move like they did on the TV. I had no idea what “animation” was yet.

At 13 years old, I saw Frozen in theaters for the first time, and it was like my brain exploded. I was finally able to grasp the work of craftsmanship, tenacity, and detail that went into this phenomenon I now knew as “animation.” From that moment on, I had my future figured out: I was going to grow up and become an animator.

For the next 10 years, that was the plan.

And that is the story of how I became a Graphic Designer.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It was 2023 and graduation from Savannah College of Art & Design with my Bachelors in Animation was just 1 month away. I was itching to apply for jobs, internships, and continue to improve my skills. I was about to graduate in June with a 4.0 GPA, and was excelling in what was considered one of the hardest animation classes of our degree.

I was on cloud-9.

And then The Writers Guild of America had other plans for me.

May 2nd, 2023 the WGA Strike began.

And it lasted 148 days. (Did it really end?)

Animation jobs practically disappeared. I could count on one hand the number of graduating classmates that had jobs in their field. Well, I would count on one hand, but now they have all been let go. (Yes, the terror still continues)

The future was officially grim as I sat in my Mom’s Insurance Agency, having been hired on as her secretary until I could find some form of a job.

6 months passed and I was in “the depths of despair” as Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables) famously called it. I was doing a job that I was anything but passionate about and felt absolutely miserable. I didn’t pick up a pencil or any artistic tool to make art those entire 6 months.

By the literal grace of God, I received a random call in the middle of November. It was my mentor, Aubrey Rodgers, from when I went to community college (shout out to Kalamazoo Valley Community College).

“So… I see you’re back in Michigan…” She said to me.

I was standing in the kitchen with my mom and my best friend from SCAD, Emily, who was visiting at the time. They both stared at me, brows raised.

“Yes..” I tentatively responded.

“… Do you need a job?”

I wanted to SCREAM. CHEER. ANYTHING. HOW DID SHE KNOW? I had never told her! (Thank you Mom for posting photos of me on Facebook).

I knew saying yes to her meant this job would involve art. She was the Chair of Animation & Game Art at my Community College. I didn’t even care if it had anything to do with animation. I just wanted, so desperately, to get my hands into something creative.

That begun the almost 2 year reign of me being an Adjunct Professor in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

This is actually hilarious when you know me personally and understand that both my Mom and Dad were elementary school teachers. I grew up hearing the beautiful and terrifying stories of teaching and would respond with. “I’ll never teach. I’d only consider it after I retire.”

I think God had laughed at me the first time I uttered those words.

Because little did I know that those 2 years of teaching were actually preparing me to get my job in Graphic Design I currently have.

Little did I know it was going to motivate me to move outside of Michigan.

Little did I know that those projects I had been doing for fun since I was 13, were actually small steps I was blindly taking to develop my skillset in Graphic Design.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
While I grew up doing traditional art, then added on 2D and 3D animation, Graphic Design has always been a quiet form of art that I always had in my back pocket. I have yet to share it outside of my website portfolio, but am planning on uploading everything gradually to my new Instagram @be.redirected.

God had taken this jar of plans I had for my life and emptied it all out on the table and said “We have a new plan. Let me redirect you.” Hence my brand name: “REDIRECTED”

Because that is what He literally did. He redirected me from animation to graphic design and I am still trying to process it.

My design work is now defined by a foundation in traditional art and animation, bright colors, and an insane eye for detail. I love creating work that feels bold and playful while still being incredibly intentional in the smallest details.

I’m always thinking about how things move or the texture it needs to feel alive and grab someone’s attention. When creating brands that have a character or mascot, you can see the animation and cartoon side pop out, it helps embrace the “minimalism” that a lot of designers are drawn to in order to create a strong silhouette in designs (and guess what, silhouette is ALSO an important element in animation too!).

One of my favorite parts of being a designer is when a project gives me the opportunity to step outside of what I already know and genuinely learn something new. The recent restaurant I helped design, “WU’s WOK” was inspired by Chinese culture and history rather than simply pulling from it visually. From the beginning, I made it my goal to heavily respect what made this culture so beautiful and captivating.

I spent hours, and eventually weeks, diving deep into its history and researching elements I had never encountered before. I taught myself the basics of calligraphy to better understand things like stroke order, and I connected with people within the Chinese community to help with translations and ensure they were accurate.

For me, that research is what makes the final design feel meaningful. I want the choices I make to have a reason behind them, rather than just choosing something because it looks good.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Working in art itself is a risk, especially in todays day and age. As an artist, you are surrounded by adults saying “Art doesn’t make money, so keep it as a hobby and pursue something else for a career.” With the introduction of AI, we’re bound to hear this more and more.

So for people who are actively pursuing art and yet are terrified of risk-taking (me!), let out a sigh of relief because you’ve already taken a huge risk in making the decision to pursue art.

But in terms of risks I have recently taken, the biggest risk I made was deciding to move to Atlanta.

I knew I was ready to leave Michigan. It felt suffocating and wasn’t giving me the push I needed to fully grow up. I lived so close to my parents and siblings, lived with my childhood best friend, and we only had 2-3 lanes of traffic on the highways. It felt like my soul was pushing itself out of my body because it was requiring so much more of me. My soul was ready to be expanded and stretched outside of the interior it was currently stuck in.

Secretly, my best friend from SCAD had been dropping subtle hints to get me to move to Atlanta. So by the time my third Hinge date broke it off with me at the beginning of April 2025, I threw my hands up in the air and said “Screw it!”

I started applying to Graphic Design jobs in Atlanta and had established the plan to move out before the fall semester began. So it was crunch time.

Every bit of the process I had people telling me it was risky.

“AI is taking over.”

“New companies are moving to Atlanta, there are already too many Graphic Designers down there.”

But I pushed through despite having absolutely no sense of confirmation or clarity that this was what I was meant to be doing.

I had even signed onto my apartment in Atlanta before I had a job. That alone was the biggest risk I had ever taken in my life! I was a planner by every means of the word. But up until that very moment, those “plans” I had established for so many years, were out the window entirely. So, what was the harm?

Luckily, God has a funny way of having your back.

The same day I had put in the deposit on my apartment, was the same day I had applied to the job I currently have at Halidom Eatery.

When you take a risk but do it knowing that you have faith to fall back on at the end of the day, from my experience at least, you usually end up just fine. Not without a few bruises, though.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mbrennanart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/be.redirected
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madeline-brennan-8a4703191/
• Other: maddiembrennan@gmail.com