Update!

So I handed everything in on time- Commercial Animation Production, Work Based Learning, Personal and Professional Development and Contextual Studies- however I'm not quite off the hook.

I still have Digital Skills Application to work on and submit next week, so this weekend shall be spent getting that work done (I have to do a piece of digital concept art complete with a making of guide and evaluation).

After that, I'll also need to start thinking about what sort of work I'd like to produce for the final show which takes place on 9th June.

So basically I'll still be quite busy for the next few weeks, but having the pressure of the other units lifted is certainly going to be a great help to me.

Year Evaluation

As an artist I have definitely improved this year. This shows mostly in my latest storyboarding and model sheets, which bear a striking improvement to the work I was producing last year. However I still don’t feel as though I’ve found my area of skill as an animator, and the actual animated work I’ve produced has been fairly limited; this has led me to decide not to further pursue the education route for the time being.

Having said that I still wish to develop my knowledge as an animator, and will definitely seek out opportunities for internships or job placements in the future; I would also feel quite confident in applying for positions in the Graphic Design field or simply working as a freelance designer while honing my animation skills in my own time.

Over the year I’ve had many outside problems that have prevented me from realizing the full potential of my ideas and so most of them aren’t quite finished, but even so I find myself quite pleased with how I’ve managed to turn things around nearer the end.

Plan: 23/04 - 25/04 [EDITED]

The two main units I need to work on are PPD, Digital Skills Application and Commercial Animation Production. There's also a few other loose ends for WBL and the Contextual Studies essay that I need to address-- quite a lot for just under two days, so here's a breakdown of what I'll need to do and when:


Wednesday (23rd):

• Creative CV- I've decided for this I'm going to lay it out like a comic strip, since this is most relevant to my skills as an illustrator and comics fan.
• More research on job progression.
• Addition of more direct quotation to my CS essay, complete bibliography.
• Choose portfolio pieces, begin write-up (though that can potentially wait until tomorrow or even Friday, in case I end up changing my mind about anything.

Thursday (24th):

• DSA unit- digital concept art, making of, evaluation. NEEDS to be finished one Thursday so it doesn't end up a rushed mess! [EDIT: it turns out that I have some extra time for submissions that are already late, so I can take more time on this over the weekend and focus on making it good without worrying about the other units~]
• Write up portfolio commentary and final evaluation.
• Finish Creative CV
• Final evaluation (PPD)

Friday (25th- FINAL DEADLINE):

• Tie up any loose ends
• Print out portfolio stuff along with any other documents etc. I need for other units
• Buy A3 sleeves for my portfolio
• HAND IN FOUR UNITS (PPD, Commercial Animation Production, Work Based Learning and Contextual Studies)!

LoopdeLoop submissions details.

An animation challenge where we are presented with a theme, and those whose loops pass the initial quality control are accepted onto the blog will have them screened at Loop in Melbourne, Australia. They accept entries from across the world and in any media, so long as it's a loop.

The current theme is 'Rainbow', and is in honour of International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia on May 17th. I think this would be a great theme to explore, both as a means of exposure and because it's for a great cause! I've already had a few ideas that would suit both the visual theme and the theme of sexuality and gender, so hopefully I can get the time to produce something in time, but if not I'll post any developmental sketches here.

Here are more details on the competition.

Final Storyboards and Evaluation.

Finally completed! I think adding the arrows really helps to give a better idea of how the camera will move in this short, and I've added the text digitally because I think that'll look a lot better than just hand-writing it with pen.
For presenting, I would also add this piece of artwork-

-which is actually one of my first pieces of concept art- to my pitch. It's a nice visual representation of how dark the story is, and focuses on the mysterious 'Scavenger' character some more, as I feel it's a character that may need to be explained more and could be a good selling point.

Though there is still a few days until hand-in, my evaluation of the 'work-based learning' unit so far is as follows:

In this unit I have learned more about how it might be to work in the actual illustration/animation industry. This has entailed taking on various jobs, from writing and storyboarding to creating visual aids and full illustrations. I've found that my strengths lie heavily in storyboarding, as I'm quite good at visualising how I want things to look in my minds eye and translating it into drawing. This shows in the dramatic perspectives exhibited in certain panels of my storyboard. Screenwriting was also very enjoyable; though I had somewhat more difficulty putting my thoughts into words, it was definitely a good way to organise my concept before drawing it down. Unfortunately, due to the time constraints created by periods of illness and other personal problems, I have thus far been unable to actually present my proposal to others, though writing down my pitch has given me a taste of what is expected in the industry. The knowledge I have gained is adequate enough for me to be able to consider how I would pitch other ideas to an audience. As far as live competitions go, I have mostly been entering into free live challenges as money is currently an issue when there's a fee for entering certain larger competitions. Even so, submitting weekly to Illustration Friday has been a great way of doing some fast-paced artwork and gaining exposure online.
Overall I'm very satisfied with how this unit has developed my skills as a writer and illustrator, and definitely feel well-equipped to showcase my work as either a freelance artist or part of a team, or in a presentation scenario.

Storyboard Progress

I've finished painting up my storyboards now (finally)!

I think this story works very well in monochrome, but I felt adding the splashes of colour really added to the mystery of the forest clearing and the ancient tree. I'm quite fond of the sketchy style, too, and think that would be a nice aesthetic if this were to be a traditional, frame-by-frame piece, though it could work well with cut-outs too.
I'm going to add some arrows to each shot to give a sense of the camera's movements and how the characters will move on-screen, like so:

After this, I'll add some more specific written descriptions in the spaces beneath the frames, then they'll be ready to print!

Progress and Thoughts.

During this week I've found myself moving a little slower than last.

As far as projects go, Work Based Learning is very close to completion! After I've finished the last two panels of my storyboards and written the evaluation (which will also be posted here with SWOT analysis), I can cross it off my list. This needs to be done before the end of this week. 
Since the Digital Skills Application unit is a late submission, this is coming as second priority to WBL and PPD, which will both be handed in on time on the 25th. Of course, I still intend to produce high-quality art for this, as best as I can do, but I'm thinking I'm going to allot a solid day or two for this project, which includes making of and evaluation. That may end up being next week, which might be a rush... but still doable.
Another job for next week will be putting together my portfolio, including written commentary for each piece and an overall evaluation.

Aside from that I have been looking into potential jobs I could apply for when I'm finished with my course. There have been a few Junior Graphic Designer jobs cropping up which I've begun to apply for. I think this will be a good route for me since I'm a lot more confident with creating static images and designs rather than actual animation. However these jobs tend to look for those with a knowledge of Dreamweaver and Adobe inDesign, which I've yet to even use, much less master. This has led me to consider looking for night classes available to those wishing to learn specific software- basically to bolster my digital skillset in addition to having strong illustration skills and probably provide me with extra portfolio material. I fully intend to keep submitting to Illustration Friday whenever I can, just to keep up my creativity and keep practicing while hopefully getting some exposure!

As for the rest of tonight I'd like to get the main drawing section of my storyboards completed, and perhaps add arrows or other markers for camera movement. I'll post those here when I'm done!