Studio Brief 2 - a Creative Presence - Response

I eventually received a reply from one of the free-lance practitioners that I contacted. I am quite disappointed at how late my reply was, however because it was replied by a different person, it has made me think about how free-lance artist must have other people helping them during their busy projects.

Studio Brief 1 - A Creative Strategy - Mike Mognola talk

I attending a talk that Mike Mignola was doing as he was in Leeds for the Thought Bubble weekend. It was held in the lecture Theatre.
He is mostly known for his graphic Novel, Hell Boy, which is been created into films.
I found his talk very interesting. I noted how he mentioned how he strives to create work that "Reflects me". He admitted to being a workaholic and how he is constantly thinking about different stories. Mike Mignola said multiple times that he does things because they're fun, and he enjoys them and that it never really feels like work to him. He also touched up on how frustrating it could be working in the industry. He spoke about how annoying it could be to pass on his sketches and images to another artist to ink or colour, and have them completely mess it up. When he spoke about his style, he said that " your style finds you" which i found is reassuring as I still haven't found my style yet.
I found this talk to be inspiring and interesting. As a big fan of the Hell Boy comics, it was really fun to sit and listen to the creator, and have him talk about his approach to certain tasks.

Studio Brief 1 - A Creative Strategy - Oh Willy

Oh Willy... from Marc and Emma on Vimeo.

Oh Willy is an animation that I discovered not so long ago. It is probably one of my favourite animations as it's funny, quirky and also quite jarring. I really enjoy stop-motion animation and really want to create a stop-motion animation in my final year studying animation as I haven't created a decent stop motion yet.
I really like the colour palette in this animation, and the lack of dialogue because it emphasises the strange visuals. The tone of the animation shifts throughout, but maintains an eerie and comical feel, which is something that I would like to try and emulate some day in my own work.

Studio Brief 1 - A Creative Strategy - Presentation

Studio Brief 1 - A creative Strategy - Daily Doodles

I decided to take part in a daily doodle practice. Everyday I decided to draw an image of anything. Some days I used one of the many daily doodle task sheets, but the majority of the time I created the doodles based on anything. I decided to do this practice in order for me to stay creative on a daily bases. Some days I found it difficult to doodle and other days it came easy. I started my book at the end of February and have managed to keep up. There were times when I missed a few days, but the majority of the time I kept up with my daily doodles.

Here are a few of the many daily doodles I did.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoy this practice. It can break up my work flow and help me warm up if I am going to sit and draw for a while for a project. I also feel as though this has helped me to understand that my style is quite fluid and that I enjoy a lot of various mediums. I hope to continue this practice as a way of loosening my approach to creative freedom, as well as pushing myself to create.

Studio Brief 2 - Creative Presence - Creative Report

Study Task 2 - SWOT analysis.

I feel as though I have been aware of my strengths and weaknesses for a while now. I have quite a practical and hands-on approach to a lot of task that are given to me. I tend to use practical mediums rather than technology, and I feel this approach has hindered my progress. I tend to void learning about certain programmes and technology because I always feel like I don't have the brain to understand them.
After doing this SWOT analysis, I understand that my lack of confidence can hinder my progress creatively and could also affect my progress in my career. I want to pursue either a small studio or go into free-lance work when I finish university, however I know that I need to work on my confidence in order to excel.

Studio Brief 3 - Life's a Pitch

My collective consists of Myself, Meg and Jay. 

As a group, We wanted to create a small piece of work that would be a collaborative effort across our course. We wanted to use the opportunity of our University exhibition at the end of the year to get our names out there, and create a piece that signifies animation as a whole.

I came across this gif by an illustrator called Mikkel Sommers. I was drawn to the idea of having so many different styles and mediums compacted into a simple gif of a walk cycle. I showed this to both Jay and Meg and they seemed keen to help create something like this for the exhibition. The idea is to create a basic walk cycle template that we would distribute to people on the Animation course, and have them design on top of the template. We hope that the distinctive styles will stand out, but the gif as a whole will flow quite nicely.

(example of a walk cycle template)

Another idea that we had was to have 3 seperate animations that demonstrated a certain aspect of animation. For example, the walk cycle would be one of them, a bouncing ball would be another and a character turn around would be the final one. 

The idea is that each frame would be drawn by a different person, so a different character would be created. 

This was a sketch I created of what the exhibition space could look like. We would project the 3 animations on a wall and have a contact sheet on the walls with the persons name underneath, as well as their contact details so people who were interested could contact them if they wish. I feel as though this concept could be a perfect way for us to demonstrate what animation is, as well as helping our peers to network. 

Another idea was to create our walk cycle into a Zoetrope. I think this could be a cool way to demonstrate a modern approach to animation in an old-fashioned way.

 The roles - I feel as though it would be a collaborative process that would require a lot of organisation on our part due to us having to depend on other people to create what we need. Obviously, we would contribute a frame each, but I feel as though it could be hard work to stay on top of it all when this would require a lot of people.

Our Target Audience - at the end of the presentation, Mike asked if people would part take and everyone in the class put their hand up. this was extremely encouraging as I was worried about putting forward my idea. Because our piece would be part of a large exhibition that includes work from our class as well as illustration and graphic design, we want it to stand out to practitioners that would hopefully be attending the event. We also want to target young creatives like ourselves.

Studio Brief 2 - A creative presence - Reasearch/Interview

After being briefed about having to interview a practitioner, I found it quite daunting as I am still unsure about what route I would like to go down when I leave university. Part of me would like to become an Animator for a studio and another part of me would like to become a character designer. I am also drawn to the idea of becoming a free-lance artist, but I am unsure how I would go about this. 

I decided to brainstorm what practitioners I would be in with a chance of receiving a response from. I considered character designers, however a lot of their websites didn't offer a lot of information on how to contact them, and some of them didn't offer a messaging service on their social media accounts.

I follow a lot of free-lance practitioners on instagram and various other social media accounts. I feel as though I am a lot more drawn to supporting free-lance and independent artists over well-known ones. I decided to mainly target Illustrators rather than Character Designers as I feel as though the Illustrators have more of an online presence and more ways to contact them, I also know for definite that I will continue to create Illustrations when I leave uni but am unsure about what route Animation wise I would like to pursue.

I also decided to create a few notes on how I would maybe open my email. I feel as though messaging them through their social media accounts could be a better way to contact them. I would also email them if i am able to find an email address.

Charlavail

Charlavail is a free-lance Illustrator/Designer. I have been a fan of her work for a few years now and I have also supported her by buying some of her prints. She tends to create Illustrations and sell them as prints, as well and creating clothing with her work on. She has also created a couple of stop-motion animations that promote her craft meet-ups around America. I am considering interviewing her to ask how she transitioned into a free-lance artist, and how she managed to get her name out there without the help of a studio/big names.

I decided to contact her via Instagram as well as email her. Because I am aware that she is quite a shy person, and isn't an extremely serious person I decided to be quite light-hearted and casual.

I sent the same message to her Instagram account.

Sad Ghost club

I have followed this group of people for a while now. I enjoy their comics because they deal with serious issues by expressing them in a creative outlet. Their little web comics are probably my favourite thing they do.

Their work is light-hearted and cute, and I feel as though after uni I would like do create things like this and use social media as a means to get my work out there. I do want to become free-lance, however I am unsure how I would go about this after university. In the end I decided not to contact Sad Ghost Club as I couldn't find information on who I would have to address.

Anastasia Tasou

I chose this illustrator as she managed to gain a good following on instagram. Her artwork varies from detailed to abstract and involve a lot of meaning that sometimes I do not understand.

I decided to contact this practitioner as I feel as though our styles are quite similar. We both seem to demonstrate a decent set of practical skills, and our work doesn't come across as extremely thought out.

RubyETC

I found this free-lance Illustrator on Instagram a few years ago. I enjoy her work thoroughly. She creates silly little comics and drawings and has successfully created a large following for herself. I know for definite that I would like to continue to create comics/illustrations when I leave university, so I feel as though she is a good person to contact. 

Again, I decided to message Ruby via instagram but also by email.

If I was to hear back from these Practitioners, I would ask:

• How do you communicate with other free-lance artists?
• From being a free-lance practitioner, how do you manage your work life as well as your personal life?
• What inspires you to create work?
• Do you set yourself deadlines for your own work?
• What key steps did you take towards being a free-lance artist?
• What are the perks/downfalls to being a free-lance artist?
• What made you go free-lance?

I feel as though these questions do need refining before I ask them. I feel as though asking questions about how they got their would be good for me to know because I have no clue how I would go about being a successful free-lance artist. I also am looking forward to knowing how they go about distinguishing their work from their own time.

The Happy newspaper.

"The Happy Newspaper celebrates all that’s good in the world; a platform to share positive news and wonderful people. The first issue launched in December 2015 thanks to 73 people who pledged towards a Kickstarter campaign, which ended up reaching the target of £500 in just two days. This was an extra-special, extra-large edition, encapsulating as many positive stories and inspiring people from the whole of 2015 as possible. All subsequent issues are released quarterly, containing happy news which has been collected over a period of three months."

Emily Coxhead is the main person in charge of this project. I have considered contributing to this project a few times, but haven't really gotten round to it. I decided to email her because her work inspires me a lot, and the idea of having a magazine for creative people to contribute to seems nice to me. I also quite like how it is a collaborative process, and almost like a collective so I feel as though I could pick her brain about how to organise peoples and how she organises herself.

If I was to get a response I would ask:

• How do you manage to organise distinctive bodies of work?
• How do you communicate with other free-lance artists?
• From being a free-lance practitioner, how do you manage your work life as well as your personal life?
• What do you look for when choosing work to include in your magazine?

I feel like overall my choices of practitioners are decent. I decided to choose these people because their main role is being young creatives on their own, and I feel as though I would like to go down this route when I finish university. I like the idea of being a free-lance artist. I also really enjoy character designing so there's the possibility that I could become a free-lance character designer either instead or also. At this point in time I am still quite unsure what I want to do but I hope I here back from these practitioners soon in hopes that their responses can guide me.

Study Task 3 - Plymptoons presentation

I decided to base my presentation around "Plymptoons" because they create Animations that appeal greatly to me. I enjoy their style as well as the short narratives that they create.

From what I found in my research, Plymptoons mainly consists of just Bill Plympton. Bill Plympton was born in Portland, Oregon and he is 70. According to his website, the weather wasn't very good growing up, so he was encouraged to stay in doors a lot, which in turned encouraged him to practice being creative. he has created over 40 animated shorts, and six animated features as well as a few music videos. He has animated The Simpsons opening "couch gag sequence" 3 times. He is probably best known for his 1987 Academy award nominated short, Your Face.

I chose to research into Plymptoons because of the sketchy and expressive aesthetic of the animations.Plymptons shorts are quirky, crazy and kind of gross at times, but overall are very entertaining. I also feel like I am drawn to his animations because I have quite a short attention span, and his animations are quite spontaneous. I couldn't find anything about what software is used to create his animations, however I presume he just uses traditional pencil and paper.

Because there is quite a lot of money in advertising, I don't blame Bill Plympton to contribute. He has created unique commercials for Taco bell, Nike Gieco and various of businesses. His Nik Nak advert is probably his most known commercial work in the UK.

Your Face is a fun and experimental short, that is weird and sketchy. This short I feel almost captures his whole aesthetic and aim. It's free-flowing and interesting transitions explore the fundamentals of animation and successfully depict textures and movements.

This animated short is set in a restaurant and captures a weird and quite insane series of events. It's visually driven as there isn't a lot of dialogue. According to an interview with Bill Plympton with Sguiggly, The lack of dialogue was down to the translation cost.

This animated film had 2 stars on IMDB. It was a Mockumentary that was "A re-imagining of the life and dreams of Hitler, it explores his unfulfilled animation career. Apparently 3 of his staff quit early on in the production process due to the tone and subject of the animation. Even though it clearly is satire, it is quite a sensitive subject to base a feature length animation on.

Plymptoons has created many animations but here are a few of the well known ones. Guard dog is an Oscar nominated animation that demonstrates how crazy and silly dogs can be, whereas Cheatin' is about couples rough and patchy journey in their relationship. 

Overall, Plymptoons has created various animations that have various different subjects. 

Study Task 1 - Who am I now?

Identify 5 things you have learned so far on the programme

1. Feel as though I am have a clear understanding of process and production of an animation.
2. I have understood the importance of the design production.
3. I have learned the importance of communication when working in a group.
4. I have learned what I tend to enjoy doing eg character design, concept design.
5. The basic principles of animation.

I tend to enjoy character designing and creating concept art more than actually animating at the beginning of a project, but then once I start animating, I usually start to enjoy the process. I enjoyed working in a group for responsive because I figured out that I enjoyed organising jobs for my group and also for myself. It helped me understand what I enjoyed doing when working in a group and also how to gauge and listen to other creative people.

Identify 5 things that you want to know more about

1. How to create an online presence
2. How to create a professional portfolio for when I leave university
3. How to put myself out there and network
4. What kind of events should I be attending
5. How to draw digitally successfully

I would like to create some sort of website that is a portfolio of my work. I do have a professional Instagram but I don't tend to keep on top of it. I enjoy creating Daily Doodles to further my practical drawing skills, however I would like to develop my digital drawings skills. I find myself feeling uncomfortable when drawings digitally, however I do feel like I need to push myself to develop my digital drawing skills.

Identify 5 skills that you think are your strengths.

1. Visually developing a character
2. Feel more comfortable using practical materials e.g watercolour, inks.
3. Feel as though I am open to experimenting
4. Feel as though I am good at critiquing my own work
5. Idea generation

My strengths haven't changed much since 1st year. I feel like I have developed my understanding of why I do certain things or use certain materials, but I do feel like I have a comfort zone that I tend not to venture out of when other people or presenting my work is involved. I am quite confident in what I feel looks good, and I feel as though I am good at engaging with what I enjoy.

Identify 5 things that you want to improve.

1. Using technology in the post-production stages
2. Developing story lines
3. Directing and conducting my own time
4. Translating my practical use of mediums to an animation rather than doing things digitally in the end
5. Time management,

I am fully aware of what I would like to improve about my work flow. I know that these things are possible and achievable however I can find it quite difficult to apply myself. I feel as though I am not experienced enough to create a practical and creative animation because of how daunting the work load can be. My time management skills shift from time to time, some days I am good at conducting my time and others I'm not too great.

Identify 5 practitioners that demonstrate your interest in Animation

1. Don Hertzfeldt - weird and funny 
2. Bill Plympton
3. Georgia Kriss
4. Jan Svankmeyer
5. The Brother Mcleod

I chose the practitioners because their animations appeal to me the most. They all have a unique aesthetic that vary from in depth concepts to simple, 1 second animations. I find that I am more drawn to quite silly animations but also visually interesting and funny ones too.

Identify 5 websites/online resources that demonstrate your areas of interest within the creative industries.

1. Late Night Work Club 
2. Georgia Kriss
3. The Brothers Mcleod
4. Ruby etc - Illustrator
5. Anastasia Tasou - Illustrator

I have always been inclined more to the design side of the animation production process, and I enjoy creating my own illustrations and drawings in my spare time. I don't really put a lot of thought behind them but I enjoy creating silly drawings. I am also more attracted to animations that have simple concepts but are effective visually. I appreciate free-lance artist more because of how unique and individual they come across. I am quite inclined to be a free-lance worker when I finish University, however I am not quite sure how I would go about this.