PPP2 Evaluation

I have changed quite a lot during Second year.  This year, I have a lot of opportunities to work in groups, experiment and develop further and discover more about myself and I have different results from those. At the beginning of the year, we had the MAF festival but I did not go because I thought the maya brief is more important at that moment which I regret it so much now. Nevertheless, we had a lot of presentations this year, the Animation studio research allows me to look deeply into the real Ghibli studio, their history, what it is like inside the studio and the main people. I learnt that the even the most successful studio struggles and it makes me feel more motivated as an animator and feeling more engage with this career. The pitch perfect brief also provides an opportunities for us to research about the costs, the tax and other odds and ends that we need to set up a business which I figured out that I would like to work for somebody instead. I found out a lot more about myself and my future through researching and I found it importantly useful.

I enjoyed drawing traditionally so much in applied animation and in COP. I drew traditionally both on paper and in flash which was another new animating programme learnt this year! I learnt that is vital to have precise timing and spacing planned out before hand in order to make a good looking animation and my weakness is in easing and timing. During the two briefs, making backgrounds and using watercolours are as enjoyable as animating itself and I think I am quite talented at colouring but still, want to improve the quality of drawing as I was not satisfied by the frames I did. The large amount of group work also push me to talk to people more often and keep asking for feedback and exchange information within group. I have more vocabularies to describe my work, explaining ideas and to comment on other’s work constructively which is the biggest improvement from having all the group work this year.

I also met a lot of professionals this year, like Dave Alex from Aardman, Zane Whittingham from Fettle animation and contact couples of animators that I like or found on internet. I feel like talking to them is a big improvement to myself as I have been so shy. The professionals have great experience and they explained the real situation in the animation industry clearly to me and I had a better overview of it. I would not say I have learnt much from them but they are all very nice and friendly with passion and happiness on their faces. I wonder if I could keep animating after graduated since I have been so lost through the year, worrying about the future, the career and my own style.

I think my current aim is to improve the quality of my drawings, less sketchy lines and more accurate move. Animation wise, good quality of drawings would definitely help and also I want to learn making motion graphic. Exploring different mix media animation like scanned in textures and 3D & 2D. I also want to find my unique style because at this stage, my style is constantly changing without a distinct element and I do not like it. I hope to find my special feature while drawing more and more during this summer and set up some drawing tasks daily, push myself more and hope this could break the boundaries. I am not hardworking enough which I regretted it now therefore I need to push myself very hard next year to achieve what I want. For the future, I still have not decided whether I would like to stay in the UK or go back to Hong Kong or go to dreamland Japan. I quite like the working environment in the UK, everyone is nice, the studio usual full of creative and fun people but I would miss home a lot and I hate living alone. On the other hand, Hong Kong has so little opportunities as an animator, creative worker usually end up doing commercial job like advertising but do not really have a chance to develop own work while Japan is more in between but have to be really skilled and hardworking. After this year, I can surely say that I do not want to set up a business because I do not want to be the boss but still hoping that I could have a certain authority in the studio. Over the Summer, I would focus on practising drawing skills, hopefully I would get the job which is animating a background environment for a musical on screen and I am very looking forward to it. Also start researching COP3 essay topic and hope I could find something interesting that will influence my perspective of seeing animation or the world.