LAUAN602-Study Task 1

Going into Third Year 

1.    Explain my chosen practice, what do I want to do? What are my options? How will I do it?

My chosen practice is not yet clear to me however, I enjoy many areas within animation that I would like to explore throughout the year. By exploring each area this will hopefully benefit me when deciding what my chosen practice is going to be. I have a group of possible options that I am interested in and will be working on throughout the second part of the year. My chosen practice topics are: Conceptual Artist, Background/Layout Artist, Colour Key Artist, and Production Runner/part of the Production team. To decide which one/or multiple things that I could inspire to do, I decided to create a final film for my Extended Practice. To become part of a production team I will need to have better time-management skills. My final film will give me the opportunity to not only develop many new skills, but I can also learn how to effectively plan out a timetable and manage a team of people. As well as my own project, I will also be involved in projects run by my peers in order to practice technical and practical skills. I will be creating some concept art for the backgrounds of Briony Caswell final film as well as, concept and background/layout design for Gabby Slater. Lastly, I will be doing the background designs for my own animation, using Eloise Wayling’s concept art as inspiration.

2.    Explore my skill set. Are my skills practical, technical, or both? How am I a specialist or why do you want to be one?

Throughout my time at Leeds Art University I think I have gained and learned many new practical and technical skills. For example:

·      I have the ability to supervise a design team/group of people as teachers have encouraged us to collaborate in group work throughout University. I am able to communicate effectively as part of a team as well as, a director of a film. I can confidently discuss concepts and production requirements throughout the production stage. Create an effective time-management plan in addition to efficiently following a time-management plan given by a director.

·      Knowledge of a variety of software’s: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, After Effects, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, pen tablet, Procreate, Animate CC, and Tv paint.

·      I am able to work according to certain rules, demands and to meet rigorous deadlines.

·      To work under many different styles of animation: paper cut-out, 2D digital animation, stop-motion, and hand-drawn animation.

·      The willingness and passion to learn new skills and gain practical and technical skills through new processes within a studio.

·      Presentation skills

·      Problem-solving skills

·      Designing logos/booklets and websites.

3.    What are my plans for the end of the university? Do I want to get a job in a studio? Or work as a freelancer? Do I want to be apart of this world? Do I want to go into teaching? How can I achieve this goal?

My plans for the end of University is to start applying for jobs in the industry. I have looked into a studio job as a junior runner. This will give me my first step as well as, guiding me into the animation industry almost having to work my way up while learning the ropes of a production team along the way. I will gain many skills such as, time-management, organisational skills, knowledge on how a production team works, and completing tasks given to me by management. I will also be applying for design jobs such as, background/layout and concept art. I hope to use this time in University improving on my drawing skills by practising perspective drawing of environments to enhance my concept work by using photos or using the natural environment to study from as my inspiration when drawing. By improving on my drawing skills this will strengthen my work and will push me to become more professional when designing a concept or background art.

4.    Do I need to change my response to social media? How can I improve my social media and make it more professional?

At the start of University year, I had created a social media on Instagram and LinkedIn. However, I did not fully complete either profile on LinkedIn or Instagram. I also did not keep any platform updated on what was happening. Furthermore, I also didn’t upload any posts onto Instagram or follow any other art accounts. I think this was down to my own self-confidence as I felt like my work was not good enough to be posted. I decided to fix this by deleting all my current creative social media and restarting them from scratch. This would benefit me because I make these platforms more professional by taking one platform at a time. I wanted to completely re-brand myself from: ‘The Lazy Sloth’, as I think this was not true to myself and came across to the viewer like my work will be completed to a substandard result. I think my brand for my online presence could be more professional if I found a way to incorporate my name, so the viewer knows who I am. As well as this, I have to start thinking about the impact these social media platforms will have on getting a job. Instagram gives me the opportunity to use the platform as an online professional portfolio where I will be able to make posts about work and showcasing what I have been up to.