Brand Me: Existing Social Media

For our new PPP brief, we are required to develop a creative presence, and as part of this presence we are encouraged to have set up several social media pages with channel art that will identify ourselves. Now, I've already got multiple accounts for different sites, and have actually updated my look somewhat recently, but I thought I'd take this as an opportunity to review my style and see what people think.

My Social Media Pages

It was pointed out to me that my first consideration should be the text that I use. The text I am currently using is very 50s Art deco, which is fine, but I should consider what this could say about myself and whether this is what I want my image to be. I'd never really thought about this before, and chose the font simply because I liked the look of it, though looking back over it, it might be a good idea to change. Whilst I am doing this, I shall also have to visit my YouTube page, as the links to my other blogs and pages have since been removed so now my art isn't actually pointing to anything. 

Other than that nothing was really mentioned, other than it might be nice to design some more characters like the ones I produced for onform to have on my channel art, which maybe something I explore, not only for my portfolio but for my online identity too, though I don't think this is a necessity because I like the channel art I have currently. If it is not something I follow through with now, it is definitely something I will consider for the future. 

Fettle Animation: A Talk With Zane Whittingham

Today I attended a surprise presentation by Zane Whittingham from Fettle Animation, a company that I had coincidentally researched prior to the talk for my Pitch Perfect project. He showed us a selection of his work - some of which I had already seen whilst I was researching, but it was nice to see the pieces I had missed - and talked to us about breaking into the animation industry. I thought it was interesting to hear about the freelance artists and animators that they had worked with in the past. Not all of them had been what Fettle had been personally looking for, and so they didn't end up working there very long, but it was nice to hear that they had achieved success in other companies, and that there are considerate people such as Zane in the industry that still found the positives in individuals to refer to other creatives and clients. It made me think more positively about the animation industry as it seems to be a closely knit network, and though you may not excel with one company, you may be comfortable with another, and that's okay; definitely reassuring.

After the talk, I took the opportunity to chat with Zane and show him some of my work. I thought my Responsive work related heavily to what Fettle were doing with their own, so I showed him and he seemed to like it, and even asked to see other work I had been working on, which was nice. When I asked if he had any pointers he told me to remember the principles of animation and try to incorporate them the best that I can, and that Anticipation might be a particularly good one to focus on with my current responsive project, especially when the character is working with the pitch fork.

I really appreciated the time Zane took to talk to me, and the tips he was able to provide. He had given me a business card, so I took the opportunity to email him to thank him again for his time, and show him some more of my work if he was interested.

Green Screen Tutorial: Part Two

In our second green screen tutorial we were shown how to key the green screen and remove it from our footage that we collected in the first session. The process was surprisingly easy, but then again we were only shown a very basic level of keying, it can obviously get much more complex than what we were working with. Still, I can definitely see how this process could be of use/beneficial to me in the future, if the opportunity arises.

Screenshots of Steps

As I said, the process was relatively easy. To start you drag the keylight effect onto the JPEG sequence then use the screen colour to select the green screen. You can tell that the screen has been removed as the red of my composition background is showing through, but there are still areas that remain due to the green screen being poorly lit to begin with. To correct this I played around with the screen softness and the shrink/grow until I was happy with how it looked. 

To remove the rest of the unwanted background, I created a mask. I played around with the mask expansion so I could get a close to my subject as possible without erasing any of it. From here I was able to add in a background and compose the piece. 

Final Product

Overall I found the session to be very interesting and informative, and I think I was able to do a good job with the source material we had. It was a shame that the windmill shakes due to the original photographs but it will do for a test. If I were to do this myself in the future I now know the importance of keeping the camera steady and keeping the green screen well lit!

Green Screen Tutorial

Today we had a very quick session on how to use green screens, which I found to be really interesting. We ran over the basics of how green screens work and how they were used. I also discovered that green screens are green (or blue) because this colour isn't a common colour found in skin tones. Who knew?

We were shown how to set up the light stands and LED lights, and I found that you would have a number of different lights to do different things. You even have to have a separate light - or lights - to light up the green screen, which I did not know. I also learnt the standard way for lighting up your subject.

My Beautiful Diagrams

The diagrams that I have created outline a standard set up for using a green screen. The Edge light imitates the sun and will shine on the object, in this case, from behind. The Key light is set up opposite the Edge light to act as light that will be bouncing from other objects onto the main object, IE reflections from the sun/indirect lighting. This is usually not as bright as the Edge light, and you can actually replace this light with a reflector, but sometimes it's better to be able to have the control over the intensity of the light if you have the option to. Lastly, the Fill light is simply there to get rid of any unwanted shadows that are created by the first two lights. This light will definitely not be that bright and it is usually just a subtle addition to make the aesthetic of the shot nicer. Having said this, it all depends on what kind of mood or look you're trying to create. If you're wanting to have a shot that is reproducing the effect of the moonlight on a scary setting, you might only want to use the Edge light. For instance, Sin City is a film that used Edge lighting for almost 100% of their shots, as that was the look they were striving for, so it all depends on preference. What is important to remember however is to light your object first, no matter what set up of lights you are wanting to use, as well as trying to not let the light for the green screen interfere with the lighting for your subject. Above this you also have to consider the space you have to work with, and the size of the object/subject that you're photographing.

Using a green screen is not something that I had even thought about using before now, but I would definitely like to give it ago, whether it be for a future project or just something I experiment with.

Lip Sync Lecture

There are around 9-11 main mouth expressions that are used in dialogue, and these can be broken up into both vowel and consonants. When creating a lip sync it's important to remember to animate the phonetics rather than each individual letter as the word would be wrote down. Instead, you need to study the phonetics of a word, or even how a group of words would be spoken together.

Examples of Lip Sync Charts

Some Golden Rules of lip syncing include:
- Animate vowel sounds
- Only add punctuation shapes where necessary. Too many will make the mouth movement seem un-natural and out of sync.
- You can be a couple of frames early your animation, but it will never work if the visuals are late.
- The shape of the mouth forms the sound.
- Exposure sheets are useful!

I wanted to quickly test my new lip sync knowledge as it is something I have not yet experimented with, as the opportunity has not arisen. I selected a sound clip from the audio for my responsive project (as it's the only audio I had with me at the time), and used Martin's prepared mouth shapes to try and create a lip sync.

Lip Sync Test

As a first try I don't think I did too bad. It was my first time using Hold Keyframes in After Effects too, and I'm so happy that I now know this exists as I can see this feature being very useful for future projects. Though I did have some issues that no one seemed to have the answer for; the mouth shapes were changing in between two keyframes that were exactly the same. With this being said I think the mouth movements look relatively accurate, and I would like to practice this further to see if I can improve this skill, as I definitely think I'm going to need it.

Pitch Perfect: Company Research

In order to gain inspiration for our own company and to find out who our competition was, I have researched a handful of 2D animation companies, both large and independent. I started my search by thinking of advertisements that were especially creative/narrative driven to accommodate for the interests of both Emma & Joe, and Ciara.


Adam&EveDDB
The first I thought of was the Christmas John Lewis advert "The Bear and The Hare", so I started my research there. The company that produced the animation is Adam&EveDDB and I soon found that they are not at all a small company, but in fact have around 200 employees.

They have worked for a large range of clients, the majority seemingly being for products but have done the odd piece for different charities. Though, it is not just animations they have produced for their clients. They have made illustrative ads for different clients and campaigns, and a lot of their work is also live action, so seemingly have a wide range of skills and capabilities.

Client List and Company Overview

Overall: The company doesn't seem to be focused in terms of media and their approach to briefs, but instead seem more inclined to produce advertisements. 

Martin Agency
I found out about Martin Agency from a featured ad I saw on one of my social medias about Oreos, and really liked the art style so wanted to find out more about who made it. I discovered that Martin Agency have produced many advertisements and illustration ads for Oreo before, but I just didn't realise who they were produced by.

Client List and Company Overview

Wonderfilled Oreo Advertisement

The company is again a very large one that employs over 500 people from around 27 different countries, and much like Adam&EveDDB they produce a variety of work that seems to lean more towards advertising, though they state that they have capabilities in strategic planning, digital work and data analytics.

Distant Future

An Animation company that specialises in 2D and 3D animation, producing work to ensure "audiences remember their experience". A large company that has produced work for the BBC, National Railway Museum, Twenty Twenty Films and other clients, ranging from logo animation to motion graphics and visual effects. 

Farnell Element 14 - Distant Future

Fettle
A small animation company based in Pennine Yorkshire, made up of three creatives that have a "passion for character animation, strong design and telling great stories". They have won a number of awards and produced work for clients such as Cbeebies and Citv.

Children of the Holocaust and DOG

Kilogramme

Founded in 2005, Kilogramme is an award winning animation design company based in Manchester. They focus on 2D and 3D animation and will "take you from initial concepts and ideas, right the way through to the finished product". 

Bitesize Logic Gates

Blue Zoo
Blue Zoo is an multi BAFTA winning animation production company that are based in London. They specialise in character animation, and produce work across all digital platforms.

Showreel 2016

Studio AKA
This independent studio is based in London as is known internationally for their "idiosyneratic and innovative work, expressed across an eclectic range of projects".

Sally's Story - NSPCC 

Jellyfish Pictures

A company that specialises in animation, CGI, motion graphics and VFX, with a team of more than 100 artists in their offices in Noho and Brixton. They provide a range of services from advertising to TV and film industries. 

Comic Relief

Golden Wolf

Golden Wolf is a "solution-focussed production company bases in London's Shoreditch".  

Vandroid - Graphic Novel Trailer

Here is just a small selection of companies and work that I like. I found when I was researching that generally the studios either specialise in a certain media or method, and apply this style to a range of different types of animation/briefs (for example, charity work, advertising, tv and film), or they have a particular client or output in mind but create the work in a variety of different ways. The latter was more common with larger studios, so I think we will be able to be successful by being open minded about the briefs and clients we take on as a company, yet being somewhat restricted by method. 

I also like these studios not just for the work that they produce, but because of how they presented themselves online. The way they introduced themselves was very professional yet friendly and inviting, especially Martin Agency. In their about me they say "We are creatives, UX planners and number crunchers. We are mustaches, fixed gear bikes and cardigans. But we are also Jeeps, top 40 lists and the occasional selfie. Our goals are not just about dollar signs or rewards for our shelf (though we like those, too). Our real goal is to help clients find and tap into new energy for their brands", and I like that they have been able to get across their values and goals as a company while keeping the character and 'funness' of the company and employees. I would very much like to encorparate this into our own company, especially as we are striving to be fun and narrative driven. 

Pitch Perfect: Making a Start

Myself, Joe, Emma and Ciara have decided that we are going to work together on our new PPP brief that requires us to set-up and pitch an animation company. I thought this was a good group to be in as we all seem to have similar work ethics and the work we produce doesn't seem to be drastically different in terms of media and program preferences. We also didn't particularly have preference for what area of animation we want to specialize in either, which I thought was initially going to be a good thing as I thought this would allow us to be quite broad with what work we could produce as a company. We soon realised that because we didn't have a preference our options we TOO broad, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to think of what we could do as a company.

We sat down and made a list of all the things we were interested in and what skills we thought we possessed, and we realised that 2D was a common element in all of our lists, and that we all liked using Photoshop and After Effects, so thought it was a good idea for our company to specialize in those areas. We also decided that we will tackle all areas of animating, as we are all capable at post and pre-production as well as the animating itself.

Now we had decided how we were going to make work, we then had to decide on what it was we were going to produce and who for. We discussed what it was we were passionate about and what it was we wanted to make, and I soon realised I have absolutely no idea. I have so many interests in so many different areas (Eg. games design, stories and film & TV, advertising, info graphics) that I was willing to go with group majority vote on this one; I basically just want to create. Ciara mentioned that she was interested in advertising, but was more interested in the adverts that are creative and get their information across by using a story, whereas Joe and Emma were both interested in storytelling. In the end we have chosen to be open-minded with what kind of genre the work is, but it must be narrative driven. We are going to be STORYTELLERS, that are "serious about having fun".

Onform Sketches

For responsive I saw that a lot of students were submitting drawings to Onform as one of their individual practice briefs. I really liked this idea but I had already completed all of my individual briefs, so instead I thought I would submit a couple of entries for my own entertainment, with hopes of developing my Photoshop skills and broadening my portfolio and the range of work that I featured on my social media. I actually managed to gain a couple of followers across my different accounts when I posted my work too, which is always a bonus!

Onform Submissions Weeks 26, 27, 28 & 29

 I definitely thought that these were beneficial to me, as it really made me use my imagination and got me thinking how the shape could be incorporated into a character or design. I found that I was also not jumping on the first idea I came up with too, and I would come up with many different ideas for each shape as I wanted my drawing to be unique compared to other entries (there were multiple entries that had more-or-less the same idea for the same shape, just executed in different ways).
Onform also limits you in terms of colour, and sketches that include anything other than grey-scale and the colour of the shape won't be considered, and I have never been constrained by colour before so it was a new experience for me.

I also took this as a good opportunity to work with the pen tool in Photoshop (for some of my designs). It has been suggested to me before because you can create smooth lines but is something that I've always avoided as I haven't had success with it with other programs. I soon found that it was a lot easier to use than say the pen tool on Illustrator, and I definitely think using it improved the look of some of my pieces. I found it especially useful when I was trying to trace the shape I was given, as the pen tool allowed me to do this accurately without creating a wobbly line.

You are also time constricted, and each shape is only up for a week. Though this is more than enough time to complete the task, it did further teach me the importance of submitting in good time, as my first design didn't actually end up getting showcased on their website, as it was submitted just too late.

Creating Game Art: Jim the Annoyed - Character Walk Cycle

The second game I am currently involved in producing art for is Jim the Annoyed. James came to me with the idea of a platformer where the character is being forced to move around and complete levels, and he wanted me to create the characters and backgrounds for him. Once again I accepted, and it is proving to be much more of a challenge than the previous game I helped with. This time I'm actually putting my animation knowledge to use in a way that I have not done before. Again, I'm working at an extremely small scale to what I would typically work at, and I really have to think about the movement of the character and pixels.

Though I have a lot of creative freedom with the art, this time around I have been given certain guidelines and characteristics to work with, unlike when I worked on Berry Picker. When he asked me to design the sprite sheet for the main character, he asked me to bear in mind that the character is disinterested and is being forced by the player to move around.

Example of Walk Sequence

Bearing this in mind, when I drew the character walking, rather than having him stood up-right, I had him curled over with his arms drooping in front of him to try and make it look like he couldn't be bothered and was putting in no effort. You can't really tell because of how small it is, but I also gave the character bags under his eyes to try and emphasize the aesthetic we were aiming for.

Sprite Sheet

Because I only had to draw out 8 frames, this process didn't take too long, though I did initially struggle with the shape of the character and how it should have been drawn. Once it was completed, I was also confused at how the sprite sheet should be laid out. When I initially drew the animation I worked around the planted-on-the-ground foot, but the frames will not be able to work in this way as he will take too much of a step forward when the player makes the character move. In the end, I thought it made sense to make each image line up by making sure that his neck was central horizontally throughout. I am still awaiting to see how this looks in game-play.

Creating Game Art: Berry Picker

My boyfriend is studying computer science at University, and once again he has asked me whether I'd like to create the art for the games he is making. Though the scale he was asking me to work at was much smaller than what I was used to, I accepted the challenge as I'm always up for gaining experience and trying new styles. 

The first game I had to produce art for was very straight-forward as there weren't too many things to design as it was an incremental game; I only had to create a background, title and a few visuals. Usually this would have been a very quick job, especially as he required the art to be quite basic, but it took a bit longer than expected as I was working at such a small scale, the background being around 800x800 pixels, and components being a maximum of 100 pixels wide/tall. 

Screenshot of Berry Picker

GIFs Showing How The Components Change In-Game

(Poor Quality Due to Being Scaled Up)

Even though my experience with Pixel art is limited, I was able to produce components that both he and myself were happy with, so much so that he has asked me to produce art for his next project, which I happily agreed to work on. I really enjoyed the challenge of creating pixel art. and it was a nice to create work for a game for a change rather than animating. Game design is something I have definitely been interested in for a while, and as I'm still not sure what I want to pursue, I'm willing to continue to explore to try and narrow my choices down, building up my skills along the way. 

Manchester Animation Festival: My Overall Experience

I really enjoyed my time at Manchester and I definitely think it was worth the money that I spent on the trip. Not only were the events and screenings very interesting and entertaining, but I really pushed myself to try and talk to new people in-between the events, rather than just sitting and waiting (though sometimes I did do some sketching, so at least I was productive at times).

MAF Sketches

On one of the days I sat with a group of students during lunch, who turned out to be studying at Manchester. I got to know them all a bit, and we talked about what our courses were like because I was genuinely interested in the work that they were producing and what was happening in the world of animation outside Leeds. We later exchanged social media's so we could stay in touch and keep up to date with the work we were producing.

Manchester Students: ShivPhelps BellaWatsonArt CassandraSketches Nês Peres

I also got talking with two other students, one of which was studying at Bournemouth the other at Canterbury. Again I exchanged social media so I could see the things they were up to, and I actually ended up going to a couple of events with these two students, which was pleasant.

SinéadStoddart LucyJenkins

All in all my experience at Manchester Animation Festival was a pleasant one, and I'm really pleased with myself that I was able to go out and talk to new people, especially as it's something I usually struggle with. 

Animation Studio Research: Follow up Networking

Since my presentation I have started to look at trying to gain connections with people that work at DreamWorks. I have attempted to connect with some artists on Linkedin - I shall post my progress with them if I see any - but I don't want to stop there. I'm going to set myself a target to get into the routine of spending just a few hours a week doing some SERIOUS social media networking, whether this be on Twitter, Linkedin, Instragram, the lot. I don't want to just limit myself to this one company, instead I shall reach out to different people that work for different animation studios that I am interested in. I hope to build my network, but also try to get some advice and information about work along the way.


Update:
A while back I was able to get in contact with a girl called Elie on Twitter, who is a skin concept artist working at Riot Games, a company I am very much interested. I knew of her because my Boyfriend had met her at an event the company held in October time of 2015, and I used this as a grounds to introduce myself on. She was very happy to answer the questions I had about her work and what it was she did, and she also gave me advice and tips with my own practice.

I found it interesting to know that she believes it better to master a skill first and then branch out, especially as I have had mixed responses when it comes to that area. I think it would be nice to have a specialty, but as it stands I'm still not 100% certain on what it is I want to do, so I shall continue to explore until I find the thing that is right for me.

Animation Studio Research: DreamWorks Animation

As part of our study task we were required to choose an animation production studio to make a presentation on. As well as talking about the studio's history and key works, we had to demonstrate that we had made an attempt to contact the studio or some of it's employees, in an attempt to expand our network.

The twist with this task is that we were not allowed to duplicate studios, and were required to post on our animation forum/board which studio that each of us were going to look at. I attended the party too late and the studios I had in mind had already been assigned (for example, Disney, Aardman, Pixar, your general larger studios). It was a hard task for me to think of another studio that I was interested in, and there weren't a lot of small studios that I was aware of, so I literally looked through my library of animated feature films in my DVD collection until I found one made my a company that hadn't already been selected.

That company just happened to be DreamWorks, and the fact that it hadn't already been selected shocked me a little as it's a very large company that has produced some very successful movies. I was happy to proceed with this company as it had produced some films that I am very much fond of. Whether they are a company I would like to work for is a different matter, especially because I'm not sure what it is I want to do yet but CGI is definitely one of my interests at the moment so that's a start.

My Presentation Slides

I made a start on trying to contact the studio before I made the presentation, and on the DreamWorks Animation website I found an email that I could contact. In the email I outlined briefly who I was before I went on to ask if there was any information they could provide me with regarding things like internships and what they personally look for in new employees. When I put the slides together I included a screenshot of my email and at that point I had not received a response, though when I came to give my presentation today I had, though sadly it was just a generic stock reply:

I feel the presentation went well and this opinion is solidified by Martin's feedback, who outlined that I had undergone good research and had a good focus on twitter and social networking. He suggested to me that I should look at Linkedin profiles and have another go at emailing different "folk" which is just what I plan to do. I would like to have a genuine response to some of my questions, and it can never hurt to build connections, even if I can't really picture myself working for DreamWorks. 

Manchester Animation Festival: Tim Searle's Masterclass

I think this presentation was by far my favourite event of the whole festival, and I think it's mostly down to Tim's character. From the get go (or rather not, considering he experienced technical difficulties before he had even started) you could see that he was a down to earth guy which made his presentation very interesting and entertaining to watch, and not only this but I found it to be very beneficial.

Like most of the other speakers, Tim started off by telling us about his background and it was interesting to learn that he was initially studying Photography at Farnham. He got into animation by going to Annecy "for the laugh" which "changed everything" as he discovered he "needed to entertain". From here he worked on a number of different projects with a number of different companies (including Triffic Films, Baby Cow Animation,Viz) before he began working at Tiger Aspect Productions (previously known as Tiger Television) and working on Mr Bean.

To make it an "official Masterclass", every so often Tim would throw in some top tips, these are a select few:
- Don't be a dick.
- Keep your shower short.

On a more serious note:
- Create a business plan. Be aware of finances and keep cash coming in.
- "How many times have you heard 'I can't draw'". It all requires PRACTICE. Don't rush straight to the computer, instead draw first as "the illusion of it being all natural" takes practice.
- Be an enthusiast. "If you're going to do it, DO IT".
- Have a plan.
-Take a few chances.
- COLLABORATE, and again, don't be a dick.

In all seriousness though, his points were very valid and this talk - as well as the majority of the others I attended this year - have really stressed the importance of getting your work out there and showing your enthusiasm in the animation world. To put this to the test, I approached Tim after the talk hoping to chat with him and I was lucky to do so. He was a very friendly man and was happy to answer all of my questions. He told me that it's not so much as important to specialize but to do whatever it is you're doing well, and advised me to keep my animations short and precise and to not try stretch my resources too far. It's better to have a short, well made animation than to try to make it seem more impressive by making it longer and dimming the quality.

I have since added Tim Searle on Twitter and he is now following me too. He also requested to see my project once it is finished, and I can't wait to show it to him!

Manchester Animation Festival: Making it in Manchester

Speakers:
Phil Chalk - Factory
Leo Casserly - Flix Facilities
Chris Bowden - Mackinnon & Saunders


The Making it in Manchester talk that I attended on the Tuesday was also really insightful. The speakers all talked about their experiences and how they made their way into "this crazy business" and I found it really useful to hear about these different ways. It seems that the general theme running throughout these talks is to just get your work out there, but here are a few more things that I took away from this talk in particular:

- Don't say no. (Debatable depending on the client and the brief, but on a whole don't say no to projects. Some maybe a little challenging and different to the work you're used to doing, but it is all experience and it gets you doing work and building your skills).
- It "doesn't hurt to have more than one string to your bow". Not all clients are looking for someone who is specialized in one area, sometimes it's also useful to know how to perform in a variety of different areas.
- It isn't always about "raw talent", sometimes it's about the understanding or being able to project manage. Sometimes it's about the CHARACTER.
- "Get your foot in the door, it's a people business".

On a slightly different note: It is very rare that you see text in a pre-school animation and this is so it can be easily translated for other languages and countries. This also means that there doesn't tend to be puns, instead the humor is more universally understood.


This talk definitely made me feel less worried about not knowing fully what I want to do/specialize in, as it was made clear that different people are searching for different things, and in front of me sat animators/creative professionals some of which had a variety of different skills under their belt.

Machester Animation Festival: Will Becher's Masterclass

On Wednesday, I attended Will Becher's masterclass and it was truly fascinating. I had always loved watching Aardman's work growing up, so it was great to hear what Will had to say. I know I had met Peter Lord at BAF last year, but Will showed a lot of clips that were from 'behind the scenes' and the inner Aardman-fangirl in me was unleashed once again.

Will went into a lot of detail about how the puppets and sets were made, and how important it was to make them as sturdy and solid as possible. They would do a lot of planning ahead to make sure they would only make what they needed to in order to be time conscious, but also think about the camera camera angles they were going to use and how they would maneuver in more awkward sets. This usually meant making the sets which detachable parts so they could make their way around the set.

Positioning Models on a Shaun the Sheep Movie Set

Will talked a lot about the company's history and their production progress (he would tell us things like they would typically animate 3 seconds a day on the Shaun the Sheep movie) but the part of his presentation that I found most interesting was the section on Live Action Video. Sadly I don't have an clips that I can show as we were asked not to photograph this section of the presentation, but it was great to see where the team got their references from. Usually the producer and other members of the team would act out different scenes so that they could "capture the essence of the performance". You can tell that this was a huge benefit for the team as the animation clearly captures the emotions that were acted out in the LAVs, and is definitely something I'm going to take away from the presentation. Not only does it look like a great way to collect reference material that is going to benefit animating, it also looks like a lot of fun and a good way to interact and build relationships with co-workers. Hopefully one day I will have built on my confidence and people skills enough that I can be as crazy and outgoing as the people displayed in the LAVs that we were shown.

Will ended on a note that can be summarized in just one sentence; GET YOUR WORK OUT THERE. He said that he got his job at Aardman by being persistent and ever so lucky. By showing his enthusiasm and persistently contacting the studio he was able to find work as a runner where he got experience in model making and it was from here that he was able to work his way up.

Manchester Animation Festival: Making Friends and Animating People - The Art of Crowd Funding

This is an event that we didn't actually have a ticket for, but we had a lot of time throughout the day to ourselves and I thought this event sounded like it would be benefical to me so I picked up a ticket and attended the talk. I was hoping it would be more about how to approach people and networking, but it was very much focused on crowdfunding. Though it wasn't so much what I was expecting, I can definitely see the information I received being useful/helpful for in the future, not so much now as I'm not in a position where I need to raise money to complete a project.

The talk was presented by Emma Burch, Merlin Crossingham and Jon Turner. Emma started by introducing herself and explaining how she and the rest of her production team were looking to raise money in order to produce a Simon's Cat film (Off to the Vet). They were debating whether to go with Kickstarter and IndieGoGo and in the end went with the latter as they thought their system worked better for them. She then went on to dicussing budgets and how you can work them out so that they are sensible.

 Emma's Slides (Terrible Quality Photos, Sorry)

Merlin spoke next. Merlin Crossingham is a director at Aardman and he spoke about their Kickstarter campaign to Bring Back Morph. The crowdfunding came about because they were getting a lot of suggestions from fans to see new morph episodes, so they put out the campaign and it was their pitch video that sealed the deal for them in Merlin's eyes. They were able to reach their target budget within 8 days of starting the campaign, and were able to do this as they received good publicity from different newspapers but also because they were giving good rewards to their backers. Everyone that gave a pledge received access to a production blog so they could see behind the scenes footage and production, but you could also get yourself some special gifts if you pledged a certain amount of money, for instance old plasticine that was once an Aardman model, T-shirts and even a tour around the studios.

Aardman Kickstarter Pitch

The last to speak was Jon Turner from Kilogramme. He had started a campaign on kickstarter as he was interested in producing a part two to his Tall Tales 'series', and needed funding in order to do it. He thought the crowdfunding route worked the best for him and his company as with crowdfunding he had complete creative control; He didn't have to work towards the needs of a client, but instead he had pitched an idea and questioned his audience "do you want us to make this?". He knew the audience was out there from the success of his first animation, but by pitching the second idea he could get a general idea of who would be interested in seeing it, and the pledges on kickstarter confirmed this. 

 Tall Tales 2 Trailer

The presentations were really interesting and informative, and it made me realise that crowdfunding could be an option for in the future as it's not something I had thought about before; I hadn't needed to. The answers to the crowd's questions were just as helpful too, as it made me realise the benefits and issues of using crowdfunding. For instance, I found that it may not always be useful to use crowdfunding, as it can depend on the time you have and what you are wanting to do. People are more likely to back your idea if it is DIFFERENT and NEW, and whether your idea is interesting and well pitched. The panel had a mutual thought that you had to wait a while inbetween each crowdfunding campaign too. 

Manchester Animation Festival: Masterclass with Tomm Moore

Today marks a very good start for MAF, and I definitely think that listening to Tomm Moore's presentation has been the highlight of my day. The graduation film screenings were lovely to watch (even if some were quite weird to say the least) and it was interesting to see what is happening currently in the world of animation outside university, but I think Tom's presentation was the most beneficial to me/the event I was most interested in.

For starters I learnt more about the company he works for - Cartoon Saloon - which was formed in 1999, and once we had learnt a bit about this background and their first feature film, Tom went on to talk about "Song of the Sea", the company's second film. I was absolutely blown away. The film looked absolutely stunning and I'm actually upset that I haven't already seen it. 

I found it really interesting to learn about some of the decision making that was undergone, and more about the process of making the film. I would really like to try to talk to him more about this, so I hope he sticks around for the remaining days of the festival as I didn't get the opportunity to speak with him today. If not I shall ask him on his social media that he provided (which I am now following) to show my interest and to hopefully gain some more insight.


Update: Unfortunatly Tom didn't stay for the remainder of the festival as he flew out to LA for another event, which is a shame as it would have been really interesting to chat with him about his work. Still, I really enjoyed his presentation and it was uplifting to know that he isn't too great with perspective drawing (he said this himself, this isn't me critising him) yet he has still been able to produce an amazing feature film. I should really try to not get worked up over my weaknesses, instead try to improve them where possible, or just play to my strengths. 

Golden Rules of Social Media

In today's PPP session we talked about the importance of having presence on social media sites, and how we need to start thinking about keeping our professional and personal lives separate. We were considering what social media we already have and thinking about how we could use these websites to help us in our studies/career paths.

Our agreed 'Golden Rules':
- Associate with care. If we allow certain people to associate with us on sites, this could allow access to our profiles by people we want to keep our information private.
- Post carefully. Be positive.
- Post Frequent.
- Post Relevantly.
- Consider the work you choose to document/post.
- Build and maintain using all of our accounts, not just one.
 -COMMUNICATE.

The session made me reflect on my own social media. In the holidays I had actually set up a couple of blogs/social media but it openned my eyes to keep using them all. Now that I have an Instagram account I tend to update all of my other social media (Tumblr, Twitter) through this app when I post updates of work, when really I should think about posting separately BUT cross reference my different sites.

I have also revisited my Facebook profile that I use personally, and made sure that my privacy settings are set to friends rather than everyone. By doing this I can keep my details and personal life private and more importantly keep unwanted information away from potential employers or professionals if they happen to try and find out more about me.

I am also going to create a Linkedin account so I can build up a network of professionals in my field of interest, and use it to potentially communicate with them to help build said network.


My aim is to continue to use my social media sites, but to make sure I post more frequently.  I also aim to at least try to double my follower count on said sites by posting often and expressing my interests in my field of work.

Personal Development Tools and SWOT Analysis

In our PPP seminar we looked at the development tool that is known as SWOT; our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. We looked at these characteristics in ourselves then looked at how we would be able to develop these and play our strengths to help us as practioners, but not just our strengths and weaknesses in general but in specific areas; Personal, Interpersonal, Technical ad Artistic.


I found it quite hard to think of things to write up, but once I had started to really think about it I was able to think of things that I thought were fairly accurate. Generally I found that;

Strengths: Good listener, I don't leave things until last minute, easy to work with, comprehensive, 3D modelling, digital work is improving, good at working with computers.

Weaknesses: Confidence is lacking, A bit of a work-a-holic that can cause me to stress even when it isn't neccessary, my communication, drawing characters in different poses and drawing correct perspectives.

Opportunities: I can drive so I have the opportunity to travel to events and festivals easily, finance doesn't necessarily hold me back, good at social networking in the sense that I get my art work out there and across a number of different websites, critiques.

Threats: Prone to stress out easily, go through periods of putting myself down, lacking in confidence, mental 'wobbles', not knowing how to approach people to create networks, competitors.


Once we had done this we had got into groups to find out what other people thought our SWOTs were, as practioners it is common to overlook strengths and ignore weaknesses. A common strength that people had pointed out was that I was good at technical things such as Maya which was nice to be told, not only because it is something I have recently picked up but because it is also something I am interested in taking further. Ciara also suggested that I try out Maya without the instructions/tutorial, which is a fair point and it is something that I am planning of doing (not just because my brief requires me to).
A weakness that had cropped up in all three of my assessments was that I get distressed too easily so it's obviously something that I need to address. It's also been made clear to me that I need to try harder on approaching people and starting conversations with others as this was again something that all three people had picked up on. It was obvious to me that this is something I needed/wanted to change/address but I hadn't really realised that it was so obvious to other people that I'm cripplingly shy and find it hard to get the conversation going.


I found today's seminar extremely useful and it was nice to see that others are agreeing with my strengths. It's also made me think about some other areas that I hadn't even considered myself to be good at. It's given me a clear guideline of things that I need to work on, and what would be beneficial to me to continue to practice and build on.

A New Year: Who am I now?

What have I learnt so far?
I've learnt so much in the past year that it's quite overwhelming. I've actually got some knowledge in all of the areas that I set out to learn about at the start of my first year; I've learnt how to create animations in different programs such as After Effects and Photoshop, as well as touching on how to use some Maya tools. Not only this but I've learnt that sometimes it is far easier to use a combination of these programs to create animations as they have different strengths and weaknesses.
I've also learnt how to properly render my animations, and learnt more technical aspects such as frame rate and frame ratio, which is something I didn't consider when I was first starting out at foundation level.


What do I want to know more about?
Now that we're back we have started a brief for Studio Practice that is looking at creating Maya 3D models, and so far I'm really enjoying it. I only know the basics of Maya, but I'm hoping that as the brief progresses that my knowledge will widen along side it. Maya is something I wanted to explore when I first started University as the idea of 3D work has always interested me, and now it is potentially something I'd like to pursue.
I'd like to learn more about the creative industry and how I can get my work out there, as well as other things like properly pricing myself and my work. It's not something I have ever thought about and I wouldn't know where to start (other than uploading my animations to YouTube and other social media) and I feel that this would be something that would benefit me greatly. Not only this, but I would like to start attending animation conferences and festivals to experience first hand what is happening in the world of animation and practice getting involve in it.
I'd also like to learn more about lighting and how it can be used to change the atmosphere of an animation. On a similar note I'd also like to learn more about the influence that colour can have, and how I can use both of these aspects to change how the narrative/character is perceived.


What are my strengths?
I'd definitely say that working with computers is a strength of mine, especially creating 2D animations in programs such as after effects. I got a lot of practice at this in my first year so I'm getting more comfortable producing work in this way. I've also got better at understanding what the tools do in both After Effects and Photoshop, and I know when they're appropriate to use.
I'd also say that life drawing is another one of my strengths. I really enjoyed the briefs we were given in our first year where we were to look at the human form, and I'm hoping that we will be given some more, and if not I'm definitely going to continue life drawing as not only do I enjoy it, it will benefit me and my work greatly.
Project management is also one of my strengths, or at least it is becoming one of my strengths. I've never been one to leave all my work/blogging to end and rush to get it finished before my deadline. I'm good at keeping on top of my work, but i'm not good at allowing myself to take a break. I definitely improved on this towards the end of my year, but I've still got a way to come yet.


What do I want to improve?
Following on from my last point, I want to improve on my outlook of my working practice. I need to allow myself to take breaks and not stress out about little things. Having said this though, I do still need to keep on top of blogging about the lectures I attend, as this was the one area that I seemed to leave more towards the end, which sometimes made it difficult.
Animation wise, I would like to continue to build my existing skills in all the computer programs that I have been using over the past year, to hopefully continue to create successful animations. In order to do this I feel I also need to practice drawing characters in different poses and from different angles. I feel this is one of my weaknesses, as I tend to design characters head on and just in a normal standing position. I sometimes find it hard to visualise how they would look from different angles, so I definitely think life drawing and practicing sketching will help with this. On a similar note, I would also like to improve on perspective drawing and drawing more accurately in terms of proportions and angles.
As said before, I want to improve on creating lighting in my work. For starters I would like to create a greater atmosphere in my animations through the use of lighting and colour, but I would also like to learn how to use lighting better in Maya as well. I know vaguely how to create different lights and how I can direct them and change their properties, but I don't know how to set them up so that I'm using them to their full potential.


Practitioners that demonstrate my interests in Animation

Raspbeary

'Raspbeary' is an Illustrator/Comic/Pin-up artist I like his work due to how bright and cheery it is, and because of how he creates characters that I know and love in his own style. That isn't particularly the reason I want to talk about him though. Rather, I like the range of positions he draws the characters in which is why I chose to feature it. This an element that I'd like to bring across to my own character designs to make them more interesting and to give them more life. (raspbearyart.tumblr.com)

Studio Ghibli - Kazuo Oga

Studio Ghibli is one of my favourite animation companies, because I love the art style as well as their ability to transport me to another world through the use of unique characters and stunning background design. I also love that they are so imaginative and very much different from most animators/animation studios that I am used to watching, which is what I would like to aspire to achieve; Imaginative story lines and stunning visuals (although maybe not to the extent that Studio Ghibli does at this stage).

Evgeny Lushpin

Evgeny (Eugene) Lushpin is an artist from Moscow who paints beautifully realistic scenes, and I've chosen to talk about his work because he is often recognized as "The Master of Light" and this is something I would like to touch on myself. I especially like how he paints his night scenes as he manages to capture the cold weather, yet the warm glow of lights from houses and street lights nicely contrasts with this. 

 Amanda Macfarlane (TheAnimatedLife)

I recently discovered TheAnimatedLife (Amanda Macfarlane) on Instagram and I really like the work she posts. She is a stay at home mum and Freelance Artist, who does a lot of character design that shows a wide variety, both in the media used and in the style and personality of her characters. For instance she has recently been drawing zombies and monsters but in the past has been known to create studies of her children. This is why I have chosen to feature her in this post. I want to continue to explore with my media to see the different effects these will have on my character design and I want to keep my options open in terms of style.

Ira Sluyterman van Langeweyde

Ira Sluyterman van Langeweyde (Iraville) is another artist I discovered on Instagram, whose character and environmental design is beautiful. She works predominately in water-colours and her style is consistent throughout her work but she still manages to create unique and different characters and landscapes.


Online Resources that demonstrate my interests in creative industries
theartofanimation.tumblr.com is a great blog that features work from a wide range of artists and animators, so ultimately has a massive range of styles. The work that is featured is usually of high quality and detail, and I like that the artists have considered the colour palettes that they use, much like I would like to. It's also great inspiration for background art in particular, as some of the space the artists have created are stunning.

zestydoesthings.tumblr.com is another blog that I am very fond of. The blog belongs to Toby Allen or "Zesty Does Things" and features all his work with the occasional post of inspirational work. He is very much inspired by Pokemon by the looks of things, and will often create his own interpretations of the characters, and as cute and well drawn as they are, I very much prefer his own work. I like his working style and how it is consistent across his pieces, yet he still manages to make each character unique.

Tumblr.com in general is a great website to use to find inspirations or to generate ideas, that is, if you follow the right blogs. It is a nice way to gather a range of different artists and art work into one space, as well as get your own work out there

Pinterest.com is another website that is great for this purpose, especially if you follow 'boards' that are relevant to you. It is full of concept art, character design etc. which is great for finding inspirations, but it is also very useful for finding good models to use as a reference for drawing.

Shortoftheweek.com is a website that I had stumbled across back on Art Foundation, but is one that I keep coming back to as I think it is brilliant. The team at Short of the Week discover and promote short stories/animations and feature one on their website every week, and you can even submit your own films/animations to them and it may even get promoted. They have also recently added in the option to search for topics/genres and different styles of animation making it much easier to find the types of things you are interested in.

Instagram.com - though more commonly a smartphone app - is a website that I have only recently got myself onto. I avoided it for so long as it had this reputation for a website filled with "'white girls' posting photographs of their food and Starbucks", but eventually gave into peer pressure and created an account dedicated to the work that I am producing. Again, now that I am following the 'right' people, Instagram is now a website/app that I can use as a source of inspiration and is actually something I find very useful.