When it comes to choosing a role in the animation industry, I still feel unsure of myself, to say the least. Since I failed to properly develop my art skills during secondary school or my undergraduate degree, it feels like I began from scratch only last year.
As much as I’ve realised my love for animation, I’m still learning through failure, again and again. For each major project, I make several massive blunders that set me back considerably. One step forwards and two steps back.
At the risk of venting in an online journal, it’s hard to consider myself employable in these circumstances. But time only moves forward! If I can’t think of anything I can do right now, it’s best to think of what I want to do and work backwards from there.
I’ve received some compliments for my storyboards in the past, so that’s where my mind goes first. I began by looking for available storyboard jobs in the UK, and referencing my skills against the required qualifications. Below is an application for a storyboard role at Fudge Animation Studios in London:
There’s nothing I can do about the first bullet point, but the others seem a bit more helpful. I do think I’ve developed a much better understanding of composition and pacing over the last year. I’ve never heard of Storyboard Pro, but I think it will do me good to at least download a free trial and try and learn how it works.
I find it difficult to objectively judge my own drawing skills, but when it comes to becoming a storyboard artist, I expect that my slow drawing speed may hold me back. As I learned in the workshop with Ariadna Fatjo-Vilas, storyboarders have a high turnaround date and especially strict deadlines.
At the moment, my drawings happen to be a bit too messy. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing- storyboard artists are one of the few roles that can focus on readability over cleanliness. But when bringing my pictures over to an animatic, I find that they look rather bad when seen close-up. I’ll make sure to keep this in mind when boarding for my graduate film.
Although I may enjoy drawing poses and expressions above all else, I plainly need more practice and life drawing experience to be able to draw faster. That is not something that will come quickly, and, realistically, I need to catch up by working on this every day. To make the most out of the situation, unemployment means I’ll have a lot of free time!