Who are You?

Why did I choose to study on this programme?

I feel like within the first minute of my interview that there was a common understanding of what I wanted to do with the course, what I wanted to learn and what I wanted to do after. There was never any sense of 'no, you can't do this because…' or 'that would be impossible…' or 'that sounds too impractical…' or 'you need to think like this…' . Instead what I got was the sense of 'So, what are you interested in?' and 'How can we make this happen…'. It seemed like they weren't interested in us thinking a certain way, instead they were more interested in us being passionate about what we're doing.

What do you want to learn during your time on the programme?

I feel I have the basic understanding of how to create an animation. For example I feel I know how to create a flip book or even a simple hand drawn animation where I use tracing paper. But the world of animation is massive so I know I have barely scratched the surface with what animation can do. In particular, I would love to learn how to create 3D CGI animation. In the past I have created animations but only with the resources I had access to which greatly limited creativity.

What skills do you think are your strengths?

I feel like I am able to work for long periods of time without getting distracted. Often I can easily spend four hours staring at a computer adding small details such as colouring to a character or caricature's hair. Then I look up and not realise how much time has passed. That's not to say this is entirely a strength because there has been many a time where I have spent too much time on something small that I have gotten behind on everything else. This style of working where I can focus on small details for hours on end is a strength, but only when I'm not approaching a deadline. 

For example, when I was doing my Final Major Project for Art Foundation I was going to make an animation about two characters who perform a tango dance routine together. But I had spent so much time on the walking cycle (where the characters walk into a building where the dance is going to take place) that I had left myself a limited amount of time to animate my dance sequence, the most important part of the animation.

What things that you want to improve?

One of the main problems I have had with animation in the past is that of effective time management. I have learnt that most animations are not created in a day. They in fact need a huge amount of time dedicated to them. This lack of time I have had in the past, particularly during my year of Art Foundation led to me having to wrap up my animation in a rush because I did not effectively plan out how I was going to use my time from the very start.

Another issue I have had with animation is that of staying on track. When I came up with an idea for an animation I would be keen about it at first, but maybe due to a lack of spending time on initial ideas I would find my interest would begin to fade and I would begin to take the animation in a different direction, often entirely off track from my storyboard.

What ways you will evaluate your progress?

In order to elevate my progress throughout the course I will try to keep organised. I will make sure I keep on top of my blogging, e.g. do it for every session, and basically everything I do on the course. I believe by doing this I will be able to make sure I understand exactly why I am doing on the course or with a brief because if I don't understand something, there is no way I will be able to then write about it.