For this part of the course we were tasked with continuing the exploration of our professional roles in the creative industry, developing from the Professional Practises work done in year 2. My main points from year 2 were that I wanted to specialise in character, environment design and animation simultaneously however while these are my strengths I realised through research that artists I looked up to all had specialisations down to one or two skills, having alot would lead to a ”jack of all trades” making it hard for myself to stand out to potential employers as someone with a focused skillset.
Starting this project I wanted to break down (from ground zero) what I really enjoy within animation and what I want to put myself as moving forward.
When i started researching artists I look up to at the same time I curated a moodboard of my work, this not only helped me recognise my most identifiable works but it also helped to highlight how I can reach personal goals I have of working as a character designer in the creative industry.
From the artists and Ip’s I chose I’m particularly inspired by the wide range in diversity of shape language, colour and character styles. One of my aim’s is to create work others like me can see themselves in as well as appealable designs which feel organic and fun, I find this important especially today as when crafting works or characters you have to ask yourself questions like: who is this? what do they do? and why? There are always reasons and explanations behind good design, whether it is to appeal to a target demographic, to empower or to just be a funny experience without looking into this while my work looks nice it’ll lack the needed flavour which would really enhance it’s impact!. How I can do this moving forward is to study said artists work, why it is I find it enjoyable and to go further research into videos, blogs ect these artists may have and take onboard what they have as tips regarding their positions, how they developed and how i can grow by learning from them.
While watching these videos (at different points across this project) I noted down multiple tips which I can use to further improve my style and work ethic. Most notably I found a resounding focus on the types of questions you would have when creating a character, the who’s, what’s, where’s and why’s ect. but different from what I had originally thought these artists all developed different voices in how they go about answering said questions not why they answer it. My art had focused alot on answering the why as not only is alot of my work based on original ideas, there would be little traction behind the audience understanding said idea outside of using cliches, trends ect. What I found most helpful was seeing the exploration behind these artists creating these designs. While not groundbreaking, it’s helped me break this view that these artists are hugely better then me, at an unobtainable height, when really they had also started at rocky beginnings.
What really helped to push my work forward was to create work as I’m watching these videos, pausing to listen to the feedback and trying again. This has helped refine my output and key reflection skills when creating work such as for the tv series project or for my character design portfolio, an example being the recent changes i made to my portfolio by organising my existing work so they are presented in a better light over creating more. Effectively this has helped to refine my focus and direct my research around character design to what a potential employer would look for but also what would help me stand out against competition.
For my exploration into employment and potential avenues to take after Uni I curated my Linkedin profile, reorganised my cv to include recent work and updated relevant works on my portfolio such as my showreel, and made sure all my contacts/links were secure and updated. Knowing I want to be a character designer (with a generalist role in visual development and environment design) i knew especially with recent events in the creative industry alot of design roles are heavily competitive, i sought out to explore what existing artists in the industry offer and what I can do to better reach my goal.
https://melissamartin111.wixsite.com/melissa-martin?fbclid=PAAaZzi920KHTREfiGn8nNdFwUnhVz0CVLshWzZTUwBgX6koKd0iwcjkzoIgw
https://youtu.be/LZQ0xSRKE4k
Through linkedin I was able to discover helpful tips from recruiters and artists alike in the industry on how to network, curate your portfolio and many more. Through Lcc I’ve been able to attend different events such as the recent women in animation, lecture talks by animade or strangebeasts or the ba graduates meet up, it’s been incredibly informative to know first hand through talking with industry professionals, freelancers and students of the work and requirements needed. Using the information I gathered I had been able to reflect on my portfolio and showreel to showcase my strongest work and to also explore why they work so well. Compared to the start of my journey in animation I have been able to effectively enquiry into the type of skills needed professionally to be a character designer but to also develop my exsisting skills to apply to other avenues such as post production editing or compositing.
For my cover letter I focused on creating a versatile draft which feels human to read through and would effectively state why i am reaching out and how I would be a good fit (if i’m applying for a job) I did this by inserting optional guidelines which can be swapped or rewritten given the context. What works well is the straight to the point style of the draft which not only respects the readers time, but does not waffle and over-blow myself. While I haven’t used this draft just yet, a weak point i see is the lack of personality shown throughout, starters like ”hello ___” while respectful would be a commonly used starter, so moving forward i would attempt further drafts to be used in different situations instead of one with multiple choices
Tv series project, The Escapers pitch pack:
Working together with Jay townshend- Sheriff, Billy Fellows, Liam Murray and Cyia Maher we are creating a pitch pack for Jay’s pitch called ”The Escapers” to be presented professionally. The Escapers is about a group of three animals: Pen the penguin, Kanga the kangaroo and Murtle the Turtle, who make attempts to escape the confinements of their zoo enclosure, through chaotic plans and even greater wacky attempts the escapers make daring escapes to break out such as making a hot air balloon out of plastic bags or a catapult out of wooden chairs and tables, or even riding an icecream van to bust out in style.
At the start of the project I was in charge of initial environment concepts aswell as designs for Kanga, this evolved into me being the art director for all characters, environmental artist aswell as a concept artist (eg pages visualising key aspects of character ideas like pen’s hat).
What I especially enjoyed was creating a body of work with a heavy emphasise on character and a comedy centric design. I have a comfort zone in writing/drawing expansive narrative based stories, so to have this opportunity to help create an idea thats focused on the simple fast-paced, looney and downright crazy antics of cartoons allowed me to explore my own personal interest in media such as who framed roger rabbit?, crash bandicoot or even short form humour across the internet which I knew is lacking in my portfolio.
I also found it successful that our team is able to work well together, overall we were able to communicate freely and give helpful feedback where necessary. Aswell as this we were able to learn from the MA screenwriters of what goes into the creation of a tv show at a higher level, while me and Cyia were in charge of the art it was incredibly informative to learn of the pipeline from a writers perspective. I essentially learned firsthand of the process that goes into creating a pitch and the skills needed such as presentation skills (charisma and improv are a huge benefit!) organisation and planning among others.
As the art director what i felt works best overall is the spontaneity shown of the escapers and their methods of escape done by cyia and myself (one of the main selling points of the idea) taking inspiration from looney tunes, animaniacs and older cartoons I feel the designs while simple showcase how effective using exaggerated body movements and expressions can lead to strong and widely appealable designs. Another success i recognise is the strong impact having a team was, when given feedback such as certain character ideas lacking appeal, backgrounds not making sense or logical gaps in the writing we all were able to collectively have input into the idea from both ends, while we mainly focused on the art we were able to explore the impact of creative writing to inform certain reasons why the escapers would escaper and put an emphasise on how.
One thing I upon reflection had lacked in was my deligation of work to cyia in the project. notably we were at different points in our fmp project which was running alongside this one, however as I was able to complete work at a fast pace I took on alot more work which become notable once our other team member, Yang, left. Notably throughout the presentation alot of the work visually is my own, and while not bad I should have recognised this much more then i did and pushed even more to encourage cyia to produce more content so we had a fair share of visibilty, though i did speak to them about this i realise having a more organised pipeline and more solid deadlines to talk things over would have been helpful such as finalising a logo design for the hand in.
Overall the tv series project has been an tremendously fun experience, I’ve been able to push my visual style to the max and apply it to a idea that has helped me explore other avenues within tv animation. I have been able to take onboard a professional mindset when working as part of a group, I recognise how my role as an art director has helped lead our small team into fully embracing the chaotic and wild nature these escapers bring, this has been shown through how we put a focus on not only exploring the characters but their methods of escape and breaking the usual limitations of logic such as using plastics bags to make a hot air balloon while realistic unachievable by holding your imagination your able to place your mindset into tge escapers aswell as their audience who would expect wild escapes to unfold each episode without the steam dying down.
In relation to the overall professional portfolio development I’ve found it incredibly insightful to realise my strengths and weaknesses in the eyes of an potential employer. I’ve been able to successfully direct and curate myself on multiple platforms both social media and professional employer networks to keep up to date with recent events in the animation industry, to learn from other artists and recruiters what the fundamentals are to get hired and to fully embrace my goal of being a character designer for tv animation. While I have looked at multiple companies for potential internships or jobs over the summer due to personal circumstance I have started my job search quite late, recognising this I will be using the last few weeks of Uni to fully utilise reaching out to potential companies, studios or attend events to network the best way I can so the transition to leave after the third year is bearable. One problem I was able to overcome was my ability to network in person with people, through attending the lcc based events I’ve been able to discuss with certain people about their roles and tips they would have to get into the industry, as someone who is often shy through the presentations during the tv series project and the fmp project (which was running simultaneously) I have been able to overcome little by little the nervousness i see in myself when doing public speaking. I found the overall experience freeing as I’ve been able to learn tricks i can use to make the act of reaching out to network or to just chat with my peers much easier then what I often feared it to be. Ultimately this experience has been incredibly fun and with the skills developed over this project (both visual and socially) i await future opportunities!