Area of Improvement

Over the rest of the year (And of course during the year after), there are quite a few things that I wish to improve on to make myself a more competent candidate for the industry.

In terms of 2D animation, I hope to continue improving in my drawing skills (For both traditional and digital), aside from the usual need to improve on my technical skills (Particularly anatomy), I also wish to improve in the fluidity (To someday be half as good as James Baxter or Satoshi Kon) of my hand drawn animations. To achieve that, I will simply have to keep practicing as well as produce something new each day, be it for school, work, or simply for my own enjoyment. And as usual, there is the constant need to improve in other areas such as colour theory, lights and shadows, perspective, etc. 

The narrative aspect of my works remains of utmost importance to me (Especially as I wish to have several storybooks and comic books made for submission to various publishers in the future), while I have done several sequential works in the past, I believe I still have a long way to go when it comes to my storytelling skills. Aside from the pacing and style of my writing, there is once again the drawing aspect such as layouts, styles and colour palettes. And there is of course the conceptual aspect, such as character and setting designs. I will continue appreciating and studying the works of others as well as read through tutorials to better myself in that area.

While 2D animation will remain my first love, I would also like to improve on my 3D animation skills as well as expand on my knowledge from it (Seeing that it is still so highly valued by the industry in this day and age, I believe my reasons for wanting to improve on these two types of animations contrast highly to one another, but there is also the opportunity to combine them both someday to create something magnificent) despite the struggles I have faced since we began learning about Maya a few weeks back, I do hope to further improve my 3D modelling and animation skills as I go along nonetheless, learning about other 3D softwares such as AutoCAD, Blender and ZBrush would be most beneficial to me as well. I do hope to someday create some of my own indie game concepts to add to my portfolio.

And finally, while I have been incredibly fortunate to be watched/followed in return by people who I highly respect through several social medias (Eg, Tumblr and Twitter), networking and connecting with others in the industry continues to be a struggle for me, and while I might have improved a little in the previous year, I hope to continue improving in that area as I go along (Especially when I see most of my favourite illustrators and animators being so active on there).

SWOT

Our first study task for PPP2 is to do a write up on what area of practice we wish to particularly focus and improve on. But before that, we were made to fill up a SWOT analysis to get the gears turning:

Strengths:

• Decent Research Skills
• Dedication to seeing Projects through no matter what
• Hold a large variety of interests (Which helps a lot for brainstorming)
• Eagerness to develop new technical skills for new projects
• Follows an orderly step by step process for nearly all projects

Weaknesses:

• Networking and Social Skills
• Time Management (Could be better)
• Pretty low self esteem
• Over stresses self easily(Have yet to miss a deadline, but it's still not good for health)
• Adding to that, pretty unhealthy
• A bit of a perfectionist

Opportunities:

• Was given the opportunity to submit own works to the Liquid City series during final year project when study in previous art school
• Animation industry still needs more people
• Create several portfolio sites and continue in expanding collection of works
• Submit narrative works to publishers here in attempt to get better known
• Continue connecting with other through Twitter
• Just keep producing work

Threats:

• Competing with others in the industry
• Art theft
• Not being able to handle workload
• Time
• Health

Idea/Project Toolkit Notes

• 7 Steps to making a Better Mindmap: 

1. Start in the centre of the page
2. Use an image or picture for central idea
3. Use colours throughout
4. Connect your main branches
5. Make the connecting branches curved (For some reason it's easier to remember than when straight lines art used) 
6. One keyword per line
7. Use images throughout

• Mindmaps can actually be a fun work of art
• Brainstorming: Think of as many ideas as possible, encourage eccentric lines of thought, resist evaluating ideas until later, look for associations between ideas, make random associations (Random Words, think of their connotations instead of simply thinking of them literally) (Oblique strategies or twitter helps out with creative blocks)
• SCAMPER: Substitute. Combine. Adapt. Modify. Put to another use. Eliminate. Reverse.
• Substitute: Can you use different equipment/medium/materials/processes, swap a character in the story, a different location?
• Combine: Could two characters function as one (Be made into one), Time Management (Can several 'assets' be done one), combine skills of other people and strong pieces of concept art into one design
• Adapt (Good for Responsive Module): Could you use your idea for a Game or Animation in a non-broadcast context (Eg, Museum Display), Change role of character or situation, Reuse/Recycle materials/Old armatures/Props (Seeing that animation is a timely concept especially, keep a library of old works that can be reused for future works)
• Modify: What other contexts can be used (Settings/Themes), what could be emphasised, what can be added to make it better, more fun?
• Put in another work: Other Audiences, Research can be used for other projects later on, Save an asset for another project, share assets with other, retarget animated rigs for 3 models
• Eliminate: Can you improve the idea and make it faster and lighter
• Reverse: Swap roles (Such as the main role of Alien), look at a story back to front, doing a process in a different sequence, bad guy is a good guy - seeing from a different perspective
• SWOT: Strengths. Weaknesses. Opportunities. Threats

1. Strengths: What are you good at? Unique selling points, experience/knowledge, resources, innovation, location/geography
2. Weaknesses: Gaps in knowledge (Do I know this subject well enough?), things that can effect a persons ability on a project, timescales, reputation, commitment, planning
3. Opportunities: What do I get out of this? Networking/Partnerships, Building an audience, learning new skills, research, understanding markets, new developments, influencer
4. Threats: What do I need to keep an eye on? Time management, competition, changing technologies, distractions, audience's expectations, legislation/politics, environment effects

• It is suggested that you choose a brief that challenges you, one that pushes you to improve on your weaknesses, rather than simply taking the easier way out
• Popular briefs might be a threat, especially when you go up against a large amount of competitors
• Can strengths and opportunities match?
• Convert weaknesses into strengths and threats into opportunities
• The SWOT Toolkit is especially beneficial for freelancers, considering all the different briefs one will uptake from different clients

PPP2 Introduction

While we will still be writing about various practitioners, events and works of interest to us like last year, this year we will most definitely be getting more involved as well as focus on developing our area of interest (Eg, 2D animation, 3D animation, storyboarding, character design, etc.). We will also commence planning in advance for Level 6's PPP3 (Which will mainly be self directed studies).

Contents to Consider 

Events
Practitioners
Studios
Works
External Competitions and Commissions
Personal Jobs
Marketing
Practical and Technical Skills
Networking
Self-Employment or Freelancing
Audience Identification
Confidence when Presenting
Trends
Future Plans
Where to Apply your Work

Events to Consider Attending
Aesthetica Festival (York)
Though Bubble (Leeds)
Bradford Animation Festival (Leeds)
Animex (Teeside)
Sheffield Doc Fest, Documentary Animation
Technology Festival (Manchester)
College's Creative Tuesdays and Creative Networks

Deliverables

1. Portfolio of Blog Posts (20-30)
2. Learning Journey Presentation
3. Self Promotion - Marketing Material - Showreel (2 Minutes), Portfolio and Name Cards