Montserrat Student August Packard Heads to Blender Conference 2026 with Suzanne Awards Nomination

Montserrat College of Art senior August Packard is heading to Amsterdam, Netherlands to attend the Blender Conference 2026. August, an animation concentrator in the Class of 2027, has dedicated their studies to 3D art and animation. Their journey to the international conference began after learning about Montserrat faculty member Dirk Tiede’s presentation at the previous year’s event. Following a summer of research and grant applications, August was awarded Montserrat College of Art’s Professional Development Grant to help fund their travel expenses.

In addition to attending the conference, August has major news regarding their junior year animation project titled Eye Of The Needle. Created during the spring 2026 semester, the animated short film has been officially accepted into the Blender Conference Suzanne Awards film festival 2026.

The short film features an original tomato pin cushion character named Guy, who demonstrates adorable determination as he embarks on a mission to pick up pins across a sewing desk. August crafted the entire project from scratch, handling modeling, texturing, rigging, and animation in Blender 5.0, with texturing and lighting rendered in Cycles and final post production completed in Adobe After Effects. The animation is set to the song Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor, combining August’s love for sewing and animation through a complete 3D production pipeline project.

While in Amsterdam, August plans to connect with industry professionals and advocate for the addition of a dedicated student section in future Suzanne Awards film festivals to encourage more student submissions.

Members of the Montserrat community and animation supporters are invited to vote for Eye Of The Needle in the Suzanne Awards. Voting can be accessed directly on the Blender Conference website at https://conference.blender.org/2026/festival/entries/vote/#717. You can also watch the animated short film on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mO0uz5ZnFk&t=5s.