MA Character Animation

Throughout this degree, one of the main questions I’ve had to try and continually find an answer to is the question “How Will I Fund Myself Through This Course?”

I have tried to answer it many different ways. I first picked up odd shifts working as a Technical Teaching Assistant at LCC, helping to assist in the delivery of stop motion lectures for the BA Animation course. The shifts were not regular enough to be sustainable, so I started to branch out and apply for other roles. One of which was to be a Specialist Digital Media Technician at CSM. I was shortlisted from about 50 Applicants down to 1 of 2 who made it to interview, however I was unfortunately unsuccessful. I reached out to the interviewer afterwards, asking for feedback on how I could improve. This prompted him to recommend me for a similar role at Camberwell College of Arts, being a Specialist Animation Technician on the Illustration course. I worked there part time for 6 months, working on Thursday and Friday, and fitting in uni work in the rest of the week. This was definitely a challenge throughout LIAF, but my team was amazingly understanding and communicative, so our work didn’t suffer as a result! Unfortunately, my position was only cover, and when the interview came around for a permanent position, I was unsuccessful. This was a huge knock to my confidence and I felt like I’d really failed and messed up a perfect career opportunity. It felt hard to push myself to be vulnerable and apply to other roles going forward. Through the period of August 2023-February 2024, I struggled to find another job, and the financial pressures of funding myself through the course got more intense, facing more and more rejections from job applications. Eventually, a friend who works at LCC as a technician reached out saying she wanted to reduce her evening shift hours, and asked if I wanted to pick them up. I started working 5:30-9pm, Monday and Friday’s, and 10-4pm on Saturdays. The hours were the most annoying thing, especially while trying to balance my grad film! But I was incredibly grateful to have a job again, especially one where I could catch up with my old BA Animation tutors, now as peers! There were some downsides to this role, it wasn’t permanent, I was on a zero hour contract, and I was only due to work during term time, which meant that through any breaks or holidays I went without income. I started to apply for other, more secure roles, with the safety of knowing that I already have a job, so the stakes aren’t as high if I mess up!

This is when a friend sent over a job post asking for an Animator/Illustrator to help run workshops for clients. I had experience in animation, and in running workshops due to my time as various technicians, so I applied. I got through to the interview round, which was a 9-5 day in an assessment centre. I went into it with an attitude that I was there to learn and have fun, and to not put pressure on myself about whether or not I got it, because I already had a job. Ultimately, I think having that confidence really helped as I was offered the position!

Since April 22nd 2024 I’ve been working fulltime, and I’ve been taking meetings in the stop motion studio in uni, or coming in in the evenings after a day in the office. It’s been the hardest of all of my jobs to balance with my uni work, but an exciting challenge and has taught me a lot about the corporate world, client work and making graphics and assets. Its been incredibly valuable as an opportunity!

We last left off with Aardman saying they would keep my details on file for upcoming positions, and they stayed true to their word!

The recruitment team reached to let me know about a new job post!

I have been editing my showreel and website with my new work from the graduate film, and preparing my CV and Cover Letter which I shall attach here.

Even if I do not get offered the position, the fact that the Aardman recruitment team have reached out to ME has been such an exciting update by itself. This alone has helped to strengthen my confidence as a stop motion animator, and as a professional as a whole.

I have been keeping an eye on any potential stop motion animation jobs coming up as that is my ultimate dream career. I have always had a love for stop motion as it’s my favourite medium and something I feel I have a natural affinity for. I noticed some jobs at Aardman were posted (for a Shaun the Sheep project!), so I got in contact with a woman I know who currently works at Aardman – Steph Marshall. I asked her for any advice on helping my application to succeed and here is what she said:

I applied for 3 different roles within the team: Art Assistant, Assistant Animator, and Puppet Maker. Here is the first that I heard back from:

So, not the best news, but hey there are still the other roles to hear back about! Who knows.

Time passes, and I eventually get this back:

While another rejection, I don’t feel too sad about it. I count it as a win that they’ve said they’ll keep my information on file. I replied back enthusiastically, hopefully conveying my determination to be successful in future!

And so far this is where this journey ends! I still haven’t heard back about the final role, which has a later start date than the others. I am hopeful about being contacted in future, and shall send occasional emails myself chasing up about any upcoming positions. It’s been incredibly helpful to be able to lean upon the network that I have built throughout this course, I have felt endlessly supported as I navigate this exciting yet tumultuous time.

In order to set myself up for the best chance at success in terms of breaking out into the animation industry I have taken the time to carefully curate my online presence and portfolio.

Instagram

Attached to the title is my artist Instagram page. I have spent time showcasing a range of my skills, from my illustration and drawing skills to my ability to create short animations and motion graphics, to updating my followers on my progress in creating my graduate film. I believe that this display of a wide range of my abilities markets me to future employers as a capable, creative and determined individual who is able to pick up new skills easily.

Portfolio

This sentiment is further reinforced by my portfolio, which showcases my films, as well as a more in depth look at the short animations and detailed illustrations I have created. I have also recently adapted it to include my work in prop design and puppet making, as that is a career path I am determined to go down.

I believe that my show reel will need adapting and changing with each new project I have under my belt, and I’ve learnt that its often good to have several show reels on rotation, each specifically demonstrating skills in the specific role that I am applying for.

I have been researching into the possibility of starting a PHD since September 2023. I have numerous reasons for this interest:

I strongly enjoy being in education and would love to develop my skills and knowledge of animation further in depth.

I feel passionate about a specific research area and believe I can contribute new ideas to the field.

I am very interested in pursuing lecturer roles and completing a PhD would enable me to achieve that goal.

I spent the majority of October researching different PhD courses available and ultimately decided to apply through CSM. I wrote a research proposal, explaining my initial idea, aims, methodology and theoretical and ethical considerations. My chosen topic is Decolonising Animation Through New Technologies – looking at how we can utilise the emergence of upcoming technological releases within the field of animation to diversify and decolonise animation, making it more accessible.

I attended tutorials and meetings with various tutors and sought the advice from various academics both on my course and from a wider net of universities. I also called upon people I know personally for their anecdotal experience of doing a PhD. I felt well-equipped to complete my application, and had time pressure to do so in order to also qualify for a studentship application to fund my studies.

Sadly, my application was rejected, however I received thorough feedback relating to how I could refine and specialise my proposal, having put more research into the specific area of colonisation I wished to focus upon. This has been incredibly helpful and has not deterred me from applying again, as well as looking at other PhD opportunities at other universities such as the RCA and Bristol. I shall continue to do further research into the New Year, and shall think about applying for the second round of applications, as well as re-applying for the next academic year, as having some time post-graduation to approach the animation industry and work within it would be equally as beneficial and will give me a stronger foundation from which to base my research upon.

Throughout my time on this course I have been supporting my studies through working as both a technical teaching assistant, and a specialist technician, providing animation support to students. This has helped to provide me with an income while on the course, and has expanded my own practice and knowlsdge as an animator while gaining experience in supporting others.

My first role as a technical teaching assistant at London College of Communication began in January 2023, and is due to continue until January 2024. The role has included responsibilities such as delivering briefs to students, teaching them stop motion softwares such as Dragonframe and Stop Motion Studio and encouraging them to explore the boundaries of accessible materials such as paper and cardboard.

My specialist technician role began in February 2023 and continued through til August. I was working for the Illustration Studios at Camberwell College of Arts. It was unfortunately temporary as I was providing cover for the role. My responsibilities included providing both on-site and online support to students, delivering animation workshops relating to Dragonframe, Adobe Animate and Stop Motion Studio, specifically discussing stop motion techniques, frame by frame, motion graphics and rigging. I was also responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of specialist technical equipment such as computers, drawing tablets, cameras, lights, studio spaces, stock rooms, VR headsets and 3D printers. In my time at Camberwell I built four Prusa 3D printers, also building enclosures around them and installing add-on features such as air filtration devices, LED lights and mechanical locks on the doors to avoid tampering or student injury. I thoroughly enjoyed this role and all responsibilities given to me within it, I learnt a lot about the compassionate delivery of education and technical support and the importance of safeguarding. I was lucky enough to be able to work there while students prepared for their graduate show and I had the privelege of playing a key role in the AV set up of the screening of their animated films. I edited the showreel together, balanced the audio, coded a HTML website for an online exhibition of their films, and set up the cinema, projector, speakers, and seating for audience members to enjoy their films. I also sent out Moodle schedulers, communicated important info regarding workshops via email and provided informal 1:1 support per students requests. I 3D printed armatures for the students to utilise in workshops and as part of their own practice as it was more cost effective than ordering metal ones. I helped to manage the budget and inventory costs and worked collaboratively with other technicians to ensure the best technical support possible.

This is a role I would adore to do again! I am continuously searching on job boards such as Arts Temps and UAL Internal Jobs for similar opportunities as I think the experience is thoroughly enjoyable and one I could do alongside developing my own projects and practice as an animator.

To kickstart my investigation into different roles within the industry that I am interested in, I started initially with a medium I am extremely passionate about: Stop Motion.

I started my investigation by emailing Christina, both for advice surrounding the final film and what direction I should take it, as well as to ask for career advice for getting into stop motion as an industry. She connected me with alum Stephanie Marshall, who was able to answer a few different questions that I had about her experience on the course, as well as her journey to becoming a stop motion animator for Aardman, and also freelance/independently.

Here’s what she had to say:

“Hi Jess, 

Lovely to hear from you. 

So great that you’ve found a passion for stop motion, it’s a long and tough journey to go on but as long as the passion is there then the hard work will eventually pay off. 

I studied at CSM back when Christina was on the course and for me this was very much the beginning. I had done a few basic self taught stop motions whilst I was doing my BA in Fine Art but I knew stop motion was what I wanted to focus on. I was then lucky to go to NFTS to study directing. Whilst directing is an amazing role, I realised quickly whilst I was there that it’s very rare for new graduates to become repped straight away. That really should be a long term goal rather than an immediate one as it really requires a lot of industry experience, a strong understanding of how each department works and a particular, unique, well established style that’s distinct but also adaptable depending on the project. 

Since I graduated from NFTS, I’ve been developing personal projects and whilst that’s a very fulfilling thing to do to keep that passion alive, it’s incredibly difficult to get funding and even with funding, you as the director are likely not going to get paid and you will most likely act not only as director but also as lead animator. This is why as important as it is to keep your own personal creativity fulfilled, it’s good not to depend on that as a full time job. 

My advice to you would be to first and foremost concentrate on developing your animation skills as best as you can. There’s nothing stopping you from writing and creating pitches on the side for your personal more complicated projects, but I would dedicate your final project as an opportunity to really show case your skills as this is what’s gonna get you work. You want to create a very short, concise showreel as production companies are so incredibly busy they won’t have time to watch a long showreel let alone a short film. You want to make sure that your showreel demonstrates that you have a strong understanding of the animation principles also convey some of your style and show any modelmaking skills you have. Basically you want to impress them in the first 30 seconds. 

Once you graduate, I recommend contacting any email you can find on production companies website (places like Blink Ink, Nexus, A+C Studios). Maybe see if any of your tutors at CSM have any direct contacts they could put you in touch with. Then I would send them your showreel and instead of asking for work straight away, ask if you can meet them for a coffee and a visit of the production office/studio.  Once you get an in, then you can start asking if there are any projects in production you could assist on. I would basically get onto any project, doing any role. So if they’re not looking for animators, ask if they have anything in art department or even if you could be a runner. Make sure you have a basic understanding of modelmaking but don’t worry too much because a lot of the skills needed you will learn on the job, as long as your showreel demonstrates some kind of creativity you’ll be fine. I know it’s not ideal but even if they said they don’t have any positions available, ask if you can do some work experience and once you’re there, make yourself needed and memorable. Craft skills you will learn on the job, but the main thing productions are looking for is someone who is confident, works hard and efficiently and gets along with the team. That’s what’s going to get them to hire you again. 

It’s a tough game to play, there will be wins but there is also a lot of rejection but it’s just about making sure you have that drive. Keep checking in with all these companies and just keep repeating the process. When there are gaps between projects, just get a part time job and that’s when you can focus on your personal projects. Meaning if you get asked what you’ve been doing between jobs, you can show that you still take initiative. 

That’s essentially how I’ve gone about things since I graduated. I got some work experience at Aardman a couple of years ago and I’ve been lucky enough to be employed ever since as an assistant animator. I’ve had a few small gaps between projects but it’s great jumping back into my personal stuff and the experience I’ve had with each project I’ve worked on is only making my own work stronger.

Hope this has helped and feel free to send me your showreel. Would love to see some of your work! 

Good luck and just keep going!”

Steph has provided a lot of useful insight into how I can go about trying to approach the industry, and has given me the confidence and courage to pursue the medium I am most passionate about and feel I have the strongest affinity for.

In terms of other stop motion connections, during my undergrad I had a few lectures by a man who worked on both Fantastic Mr Fox and Isle of Dogs, who I have since connected with on Instagram and have asked questions about the industry. In terms of career goals, having the opportunity to work on a big stop motion film, such as one directed by Wes Anderson, would be an absolute dream!

In terms of studio I have researched, I would love to work for places such as Aardman, Nexus, Picturesmith, A+C Studios, Kerrupt, Mockduck, etc.

This is my second version of my Pull exercise. I feel that I am a lot more effective in stop motion than any other medium, I understand timing and physics a lot better with physical assets for me to interact with. I really enjoyed the process of making the puppet and filming the pull, and the feedback I received for this exercise was useful and something I shall apply to future projects.

This is my lip sync of my partner, Yujie, for the exercise where we animate someone who’s native language is different to our own. I was hesitant to complete this exercise as I was nervous to animate words I couldn’t understand, especially given I would hear sounds I am relatively unfamiliar with. I was nervous to animate the character with the potential of placing emphasis in the wrong areas, but my partner reassured me that she liked my outcome. This exercise, while challenging, has been both incredibly fun and extremely beneficial as it forced me to break the lip-sync down to the basic phonetic sounds I heard, rather than how I think the mouth should be shaped based on the words.

I really enjoyed the collaborative nature of this exercise, from planning what we’ll say to recording sound and acting, to ultimately animating each other and sharing our films, this has been super fun and I’m very excited to see the whole class’s work compiled together! This has both strengthened my connection to my course mates as well as prepared me for the collaborative nature of animation within the industry.

I also took the feedback I received for my last lipsync exercise – which was to both pre-make the mouths so I could swap them out as I needed them, and to make them solid and whole, rather than an outline. I feel that being receptive to this feedback has improved my work as the solid mouth feels like it more effectively sells the illusion of my puppet talking, and it made the process of changing the mouth a lot simpler and less fiddly.

I really enjoyed the character design workshops we had back in the first term. The lecturer was informative and friendly and I received valuable feedback on techniques to improve my character designs. It was good to do these exercises over a series of weeks and revisit the sessions with new work to show each time as it allowed for me to look at my own work more objectively, with a fresh pair of eyes. I also thoroughly enjoyed being able to see others work and it was both motivating and creatively inspiring. I think if I were to do this exercise again, I would add guide lines to my turnaround in order to keep my drawings and proportions more consistent with one another.