Category: Progress

Tutorial with Maryclare

This week instead of a character drawing class we had tutorials. I wanted to make a short note of what I discussed with Maryclare as I feel it will be an important part of my animation journey.

I was a little anxious to show my drawings as I’m not very confident in this class and my drawing skills aren’t as developed as my peers. I spoke to Maryclare about how I was feeling and how I felt it was affecting my work. I explained to her that I struggle to practice as I am rarely happy with my drawings and it can have a negative impact on me.

Maryclare advised me to approach my drawings as if they are an animation exercise and not an observational study. So instead of getting stuck on drawing the details of the specific model, focus on their pose, emotion and perspective by drawing simple shapes. This was really helpful for me, as I really do enjoy the animation exercises we are given. I will definitely apply this advice to our next session and will hopefully enjoy myself more going forward!

Progress

Year 1 Goals

Last week I decided to write down all of the things I hope to achieve this year. I enjoy writing down my goals when I start something new so I can always check back on them to remind myself what it is that motivates me. I also keep a creative journal for time management and log keeping which I can share soon!

There are many things I want to do and these goals may change over time, but here is what I am motivated to do right now:

Attend life drawing classes and improve skills by practising a lot
Learn about character design and create lots of characters
Go to events, galleries and workshops to find inspiration and document it in this journal
Try out stop motion animation
Understand more about traditional animation – maybe make a flipbook
Become familiar with the industry and research companies, people and career options
Explore my personal style and strengths
Use every assignment as an opportunity to create a portfolio piece
Work on escaping from perfectionism – it really holds me back!
Connect with my coursemates and learn from their processes
Update my journal and blog at least weekly to stay focussed

I’m really enjoying this course so far as I have wanted to learn animation for so long. My main focus right now is to start practicing and creating without worrying how good the end result will be.

Progress

A little bit about me

Hey! I’m Soph. I graduated from the University of Surrey in 2020 with a degree in Digital Media Arts and now I am studying a Masters in Character Animation at UAL. I am super excited to get back into my studies and I will be keeping this blog to document my research, inspiration and processes over the next two years.

My BA allowed me to explore many areas of digital media from game design and VR to motion graphics and VFX. My notable projects include a 3D animated rollercoaster, a meditative VR experience and my upcoming graduation film ‘Ombrophobia’.

I’m looking forward to delving deeper into animation, specifically 2D animation, stop motion and character design. So far in my work I have looked at lots of different themes and genres, but the areas that are of particular interest to me are children’s illustration and animation and gothic themes in film. In my next post, I will talk about what I’m hoping to achieve and explore over the next couple of years at CSM!