Action Plan Research: Matinai

Matinai are another small animation company based in Bristol. They work in both 2D and CG in equal measure. The 3D work that they do has a very simple and stylized visual that I really like. It gives the films a really quirky look.


Again being based in bristol makes it an acceptable commuting distance away from Bath, and with the work they do in 2D I don't feel totally unqualified for a position there. I would like to try to create a 3D portfolio in order to help with applying for jobs at studios who do work in CG. 


I think that a 3D portfolio would increase my chances of getting a position at any animation studio, including 2D studios, just to add some variety to my skill set. It's possible that a 2D studio might require a 3D animator or modeller to increase their range of work, and allow them to accept a greater range of commissions.


I'll apply for a position here with just my 2D showreel and portfolio if I don't get chance to make a 3D collection of work, but ideally, I'll have enough time over the summer.

Action Plan Research: Wonkyfilms

http://wonkyfilms.com/

Wonky films are an animation studio based in Bristol. They work primarily in 2D Flash animation but do also complete projects in CG. As well as animation projects they also provide graphic design services for commercials.

Bristol is only a 10-20 minute journey away from Bath so it's a very easy commute to make, I'd like to apply at Wonky studios because I really enjoy working in Flash, and the projects that they work on seem like good fun.

My previous experience in graphic design, and the the corporate image work I'll be adding to my graphics portfolio over the summer will help me greatly with animation companies like this, that do much graphics work for commercials.

Action Plan Research: The Holy Trinity - Dreamworks

Dreamworks... Aaah Dreamworks, how I do love your films!

I've been a huge Dreamworks fan for as long as I can remember, if there was one place I truly dreamed I could work it would be here. The films that they produce are fantastic, and because they aren't exclusively targeted at extremely young audiences, the films are really watchable for adults too. 


One of the main things I've grown to love about Dreamworks is the amazing attention to detail that they pay to their films. You can watch a Dreamworks film over and over, and notice something new that will make you laugh everytime (at least for a very long time)! I must have watched Megamind a hundred times, and I'm still noticing new things everytime I watch it again... In fact I think I'll watch it again while I cozy up in bed after my hand in.


Dreamworks are based in California, USA. So commuting there could be an issue, I think for a job at Dreamworks I'd definitely be willing to relocate, it's not an opportunity you can pass up as an animator, if you're lucky enough to get one that is... Not just for the glamour of working for such an illustrious company, but for the perks...


You see, Dreamworks really look after their employees, the grounds look like a 5 star luxury resort, with gyms, pools, basketball courts and all! I don't think I'd ever leave if I did work there, it's freaking beautiful!

... I KNOW RIGHT?!


That's actually an animation house, and yes... That's a staff room! Complete with warm decor, a pool table, leather armchairs, and 2 widescreen gaming setups in the background, just to blow off some steam on your lunch break... Seriously... This company KNOWS how to keep their people happy!


I wish I could be one of them...


Dreamworks are one of the industry leaders in taking on interns, and have a comprehensive range of positions for students from various backgrounds. The intern positions are advertised just like jobs, and you apply for them in the exact same way. It's exciting, as they accept people straight out of university, the positions are highly sought after, so you have to be either incredible or incredibly lucky... 


I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for a suitable position on the website:


http://careers.dreamworksanimation.com/internships.php

Action Plan Research: Aardman

Well honestly Aardman require little introduction, unless you've been hiding under a rock you probably know who Aardman are. Just incase you have been hiding under a rock; Aardman are a Bristol based animation house, a very popular one, responsible for many feature length films including 'Wallace & Gromit', 'Chicken Run', the world-wide phenomenon 'Shaun the Sheep', and more recently 'Pirates: An Adventure with Scientists'.

Unlike many other smaller animation houses Aardman specialise in creating feature films, and are one of the main names competing with other feature film creators like Pixar, Disney, and Dreamworks. On a commercial, main stream film level it's virtually impossible to compete with these companies because of the sheer size of the teams and budgets. 


Any aspiring animator who wishes to work on films, and pretty much all animators when they start out, want to work at a place like Aardman, and I'm no different! I'd absolutely love to get the opportunity to work at a place like Aardman. 


I recently attended a lecture of Miles Bullough, director of broadcast at Aardman and he says that the company employ 200+ people, large for an animation company. He also said that they are always looking for new promising people to add to their staff in all departments, personally, as I've said before I'd love to work in pre production. Thinking up new ideas, writing stories, scripts, characters, building sets, characters, anything... And the pre production team at Aardman is pretty large.


At his lecture Miles mentioned that they also offer lots of internships and allow many volunteers to work there on a free-trial basis to get a feel for what working at such a company would be like, and that ofte they hire from that pool of people (it's like a voluntary, drawn out interview). 


I'm considering contacting Miles to see if it'd be possible to arrange a work experience week when I move in September. Aardman is only a 30 minute drive from where I'll be living in Bath, which for a week or 2 I'd be more than willing to do for that kind of experience, if I can afford to work for free for 2 weeks that is... I'll certainly be keeping my eyes on this page: http://www.aardman.com/about-us/jobs/ where they advertise any vacancies. I imagine they're snatched up quite quickly!

Action Plan Research: Lumiere Studios

With Bath's proximity to London and Bristol, 2 of the UKs largest animation cities I thought that it would be a good idea to open up my search to those places, there are relatively few animation studios actually inside Bath, less than 10. Open up the search to Bristol and that more than quarduples, open it up to London and the numbers in the hundreds already, all within an hour train ride from Bath.

Although ideally I'd prefer not to have to commute so far everyday, if it would result in a well payed job with great experience then I'd probably do it. So I'll be applying at a few places.

One of the most prevalent animation studios in London is Lumiere Studios. They work primarily on commercials for a variety of high profile clients for television, I recognised several of them immediately! They have also created a few short films, probably as a showcase, like most studios do.

http://www.lumierestudios.co.uk/lumiere_site_v3/

I think that my work in graphic design puts me in a great position for applying to a studio which specialises in advertising, as the principles are very similar, but with film as the medium rather than print. Building my portfolio towards corporate identity and product development like I plan to over the summer will give me a great start for applying to companies.

Lumiere themselves are one of the biggest animation houses in London, and work on a huge range of projects, from make up for Max Factor, to adverts for Sony Playstation. All of the work is to a very high professional standard, I'd really have to up my portfolio before I applied here, for fear of being laughed out the door!

The majority of their work is also CG, so learning Maya or 3DS Max over the summer would give me a huge advantage as I expected. There is 2D work out there... But much less of it than 3D. so I definitely need to hop on the CGI train if I want to have an easier time in this industry.

Action Plan Research: 3D Modelling

As I've mentioned in the action plan I'd really like to learn to do 3D modelling now that I have a chance, a lot of graphic design jobs use 3D modelled characters and building a character is actually something I've enjoyed, from what little I've done, and would add a great deal of variety to my experience and abilities, and open a very large portion of the animation job sector... Most animation jobs that you see advertised are for CGI modellers / animators, and having this ability also opens up the games industry.

Whether it's for the games industry or for animation I'd like to learn modelling, I'm only really interested in the pre production stage of animation right now. So modelling would be great, I'll have to learn to use a variety of programs, and it's a very hard thing to get into. 

I've already started learning some of ZBrush and Sculptris, but Maya and 3DS Max I'm still completely clueless with. 

I'd like to build an entire character modelling section to go into my portfolio on my website, the biggest hurdle is to learn the programs. I expect I'll have to spend many hours watching online tutorials (of which there are many). I only hope that I have enough time between my summer job, building my graphics showreel and expanding my drawings portfolio... I have quite a lot to do, but learning 3D modelling would probably open up the most opportunitites.

Action Plan Research: Animated Shorts

With my soon to be abundant free time over the summer, I've been thinking about what I can do to help better my chances of getting a creative job when I get to Bath in September. 

It occurred to me, a great way to make sure that I keep my animating skills sharp is to create short films. After a year now, working on a traditionally animated film, I completely miss animating in Flash. Everything is just so much easier! Traditional animation is for masochists... It does have a unique look and feel to it, but man I'm going to need to be payed a LOT of money to ever do this to myself again...

I was thinking that I could spend some time over the summer, creating some funny shorts to upload to youtube and vimeo, as practice, and to add a little more variety to my showreel. 

I'm also very interested in creating my own music tracks for them, just simple tunes made with Garage Band or a similar program. Not having to worry about copyright would be great. Youtube also have a collection of copyright free songs that you can use on videos without having to worry.

I've had a few ideas for some shorts I'd like to do on Flash over the last few years, and now that I have some free time I might actually get chance to work on them. I do have a lot of other things to add to my portfolio so I still might not have enough time, but it's nice that it'll be a possibility.

Action Plan Research: Animation Portfolio

As I've made pretty clear in my action plan and in my previous posts, I'll be applying for graphic design and animation jobs with equal priorities... I don't know which I'd rather do, but I do know I'd like to do both. So either way is fine with me.

That said, my portfolio (limited as it is) has almost nothing to help get me into animation. Now I know that's what my showreel is for, and I'm very happy with it, but I feel that it's also important to have a strong traditional portfolio.

Trying to apply at large animation companies, or even small ones if they focus on 2D, is going to need a strong sketchbook and portfolio, just to show that you're capable of drawing not only humans, but objects and animals and everything in between, probably in various different styles too.

With that in mind, rather than spend my time mindlessly drawing over the summer in my fee time, which I often do, I'll have a goal in mind of only drawing if it will add to my portfolio's variety. I have lots of drawings of characters in lots of different styles and I'm confident in my ability to draw people, and I've gained a pretty strong sense of perspective and anatomy in the last few years while at uni.

What my portfolio needs, is to show companies that I can draw everything else too. So I'll be trying my best to get a lot of landscape, animal, and object drawings into my portfolio, and also some speed paints too, because from what I've read companies are always interested in what you're capable of as a concept artist too, who have to draw very very quickly.

It's also going to be important to keep creating short films (I mean very very short) and possibly more productive... Which I can add to my online channels to showcase my abilities.

Combined with building my graphic design portfolio I'm going to have a pretty busy summer!

Action Plan Research: Graphics Portfolio - Web Design

It's come to my attention that my portfolio is in some serious need of an update, and it's something I should certainly do before I send it off to any design companies... I want my first impression to be impressive, not boring, and I don't want to need a second chance from them. I want to wow them on the first!


So with that in mind, and looking at some of the companies I'd like to apply to, I could certainly stand to gain from building my portfolio in a few crucial areas, web design is one of the main ones.


With most graphic design companies offering all around design solutions, including web design, being able to design and code and create websites is an increasingly important part of the job. If I want to stand a chance of being relevant in the future and even current job market it's something that I really have to look into. 


I have absolutely no experience with web design and honestly I have no idea where to even start on my own. So the best course of action is probably to do a class. I had intended to take a web design elective while at university but never got around to it... Online courses are all over the place now, the open university even offers a proper qualification in it, though it is quite costly...


A quick google search for web design lessons reveals:


http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course/t183.htm


The open university has a great introductory web design class, and several more advanced ones, this is somewhere I'd certainly like to start. It's designed for total novices with design and the internet, which I don't think I am, as I have done a little coding and more than a little design... But it certainly can't hurt to make sure I know the basics, at least if it's not an expensive course, I can't see the course fees because I'm not an OU student... But I think within the next few months I just might be... Unless I can find a better alternative.


Also:


http://www.distance-learning-centre.co.uk/productlist/1/web_design_courses.htm


The distance learning centre offers quite a few courses in various aspects of web design, but as it's a site I've never heard of I'd rather stick to the more reputable Open University. 


Other than the above options (although I know there are many many more), another option, which is much cheaper is to simply try to get a website up and running, and try to learn as I go... It's a difficult process, because as I said I don't really know where to start. But using a web site building program like wordpress will help get me started, and help to start getting the web design aspect of my portfolio ready to go.


Web design is going to be something I'll definitely concentrate on over the summer, and get it into my portfolio ready as soon as possible!

Action Plan Research: More Graphic Houses

With the sheer abundance of graphic design houses in Bath, it'd be a crime not to look into a few more... So far I've liked every one that I've clicked. 

Caroline Curran
http://www.carolinecurran.co.uk/index.html


Caroline Curran is another design house in Bath, the focus seems to be on print based medium, but also with various web design and corporate identity projects. It would be a great place to work for me, because of my experience and love for print based design, while also not having to completely stop working on web design and corporate identity. 


The contact details and company description are all directed to Caroline Curran herself, so it seems to me that she works only as an independent graphic designer, and so is probably unlikely to want to hire anyone at all. She doesn't even use a receptionist! I will send in my CV regardless, it can't hurt...

Imagine Design Associates
http://www.imaginedesignassociates.co.uk/index.html


Imagine Design a design house who specialise primarily in web based design, they also provide corporate idenity and print based design solutions, but opposite to Caroline Curran my portfolio isn't at all ready for applying for such a company.


Over the summer I'll most definitely have to focus on building my portfolio to have much more web design and corporate identity work. Something I've suspected would be necessary for some time now. With so much business moving online, it only makes sense that more work would appear for graphic designers with web design abilities. 


I'll have to wait until my portfolio is more web based before I even think about applying here...

Action Plan Research: Graphic Design Studios in Bath

After having a look at some local Animation Studios I thought it a good idea to have a look at some local graphic design studios in Bath. There's certainly a lot more of these than animation studios, and I already have 2 years experience working in graphic design so I'll certainly be applying for some positions in these. 


With so many studios in Bath, it's tough to know where to start. One studio stood out in particular, as I remember seeing the company name and logo in the city during my visits:

Red Central Ltd
http://www.redcentral-media.co.uk/


This is a well established design studio in the center of Bath City, located on one of the main routes into the city center, I walk past it every time I go into the city, no wonder I recognised the company.
They specialise in brand development, and have worked for several high grade clients and even on the popular video game 'Little Big Planet'.


The work that I did in product design and development I think puts me in good standing for applying for a position here and I'll certainly make it a priority to hand in my CV here. The proximity to my soon-to-be home also makes it incredibly convenient, although the whole city center is relatively close anyway.


I'd be particularly excited to apply for a job here, because of the variety of clients, and the client's profile. Red have quite a large portfolio of very high profile clients, and getting experience working for such clients would be fantastic. In particular, they do a lot of design work for video games, which have always been a huge passion of mine.

Steers McGillan Eves
http://www.steersmcgillaneves.co.uk/#


Steers McGillan Eve is another design house, and is located just across the road from Red Central. Where Red Central specialise in contemporary whole brand development, Steers McGillan Eves specialise in the traditional form of graphic design; magazine covers, flyers, leaflets, posters etc. They have quite a vast and varied portfolio, having worked for a number of local and national clients.


My most recent job was doing exactly this, and is the type of graphic design that I feel I excel at, and most importantly what I really enjoy doing. 

Designbull
http://www.designbull.co.uk/


Designbull is another logo that I recognise from around the city. They specialise in brand image and development, a lot like Red Central, and seem to do a lot of work for local businesses and charities. Their portfolio is highly professional (as you'd expect) and quite varied, and they also provide web design services, which I didn't see from the previous graphic houses.


Although I'd love to work here, I feel that my lack of experience with web design might be a draw back for me. I will apply non-the-less, and in the mean time try to add some web design aspects into my portfolio. I think it's a key part of the job for the majority of design houses, and I don't want to pigeon hole myself into only working for print or brand design. Web design is something I am certainly interested in, and very keen to learn.

Research: Building A Website

As I mentioned in my previous research post, the next thing to research is creating a website.


I've been doing a little bit of reading, and some talking to my teacher and I'm quite surprised how easy the whole thing seems. 


Basically all I need is some form of web presence and contact details, this can be achieved quickly and easily with a blog just like this one, I can upload all of my work, even create a gallery link for a showreel and portfolio, and it's a very tempting and cheap option! It's easy, no hosting or security worries, and perhaps most importantly... I actually know how to do this one.


Another option is to buy a domain, which are very cheap... Ranging from just £2 to £10 for .coms and .co.uks, and it's a one-time cost. This is done very simply by going to a domain registration website, typing in the site name you want, picking .com, .co.uk, .org or all of them, and poking buy, easy peasey...


http://www.godaddy.com is one such domain buying site, and one of the most popular, though I'm sure there are probably cheaper... They also provide hosting services, which is handy.


Hosting is slightly more expensive, but not as much as you might expect, you can get very basic hosting package, with limited bandwidth and storage for as little as the price of a cup of coffee a month... I can live without one cup... Or at least, I can afford an extra one.


A host is essentially where all of the data on your website is stored, so when someone puts in your website, the host server shows them what's there on the site. They have to be on all the time, which is why most people don't host their own websites, it also means you don't have to worry (as much) about security threats... Though there's not much you can really do about it. There are many hosts out there, but it's best to be picky, you get what you pay for with hosts, or so I'm told...


http://www.fasthosts.co.uk/ provide very cheap UK based web hosting, for less than a fiver a month and includes a free .co.uk domain name. 


They also include a web building package, which allows you to easily create a website and upload it to the server. Another way of doing this is get Wordpress, and install that to your website, it does basically the same thing, just with a few more options. Wordpress isn't compatible with all hosts though, so always best to check. 


Personally I think at least for a while I'll be fine with a blog. I've reserved a blog that I intend to use, and I'll get my showreel on there as soon as I'm able, after Friday it seems I'll have an abundance of free time... I can't wait!


Along with my new blog, I also have a youtube and vimeo channel, which I can upload to. Youtube is a great option but it's been pointed out to me that a the creative community seem to use vimeo more, probably because it's much easier to follow people, find what you're looking for etc. Personally I like vimeo a lot better, there's no lag, which is now abundant on youtube, and the interface is much cleaner and more user friendly... However, they charge money for a premium membership, meaning for a free membership you only get to upload up to 500mb per week, which is only one or 2 films. Also, vimeo don't offer the option to monetize your channel like youtube does, on the flip side, this also means that there's no ads on vimeo...


I'll be uploading any videos I create and videos I've already created to those sites and link them to my personal blog. On which I'll also have a contact section for prospective employers etc.


Should my needs evolve past what I can achieve with a blog, I'll look into creating a full website.

Action Plan Research: Starting a Company

I actually did this research a few weeks ago, but it was saved as a google doc and not published on my blog =/. Here it is:


With the idea of starting my own company being the eventual focus of my action plan, I thought it a good idea to find out exactly how to go about starting up my own business.

When looking into this it's important to keep in mind the type of business that I'll be starting. I intend to work from home at first, until I have need for a larger premises, such as if I require a staff or storage space.

A quick google search later and I find out that the simple way to go is to register as a 'sole-trader' or 'freelancer', which is basically a person who works for themselves from home, and requires considerably less paperwork than starting up an official 'company'. This registration has to be done within 3 months of beginning to work as a 'sole-trader' or 'freelancer'. This registration has to be done regardless of income, so even though you may not earn enough to pay tax, you still have to register with HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (THE TAXMAN)). What this means for me is that as soon as I get my first freelance commision (for which I receive payment) I should register as a 'freelancer' within 3 months.

Not registering in the 3 month window can result in a £100 fine as well as paying any tax that was due before registration... Seems surprisingly reasonable...

This website has been extremely helpful and has quite a lot of information on starting up a business, as a private company or as a freelancer: http://www.startups.co.uk


Realistically for me, the first thing to do would be to start a website with various examples of my work, previous graphic design commissions and projects and my contact details. Quite a simple thing to achieve, no need for any fancy flash coding! Along with the website, it would also be prudent to buy a few small advert slots, in local newspapers etc, just to get the first few clients, and like I mentioned before after the first client I'll have 3 months to register as a sole-trader. Pretty simple!


Another thing I intend to do to gain a reputation is offer companies free work, provided I can credit myself in the work. A commonly used example is take out menus, the company I previously worked for did the same thing, in the spine of the menu in small writing would be the company name, an email, and a contact number. They even did this in commissioned menus (with the permission of the client of course). It's free advertising, and even showcases a piece of your design!


All of this startup process is quite realistically achievable while working a full or part-time job, I can take on as many clients as I can handle in my free time, and if I get more, make the decision to quit my job to make more time for the freelance work.


So, as I said the first goal would be to create my website, so that'll be my next research article.

Research: Companies in and Around Bath

With my move to Bath coming in a few months I thought it best to begin looking for places to apply for work there. Specifically in the animation and graphics industry...

The closest option for an animation company in Bath is Island Monkey (http://www.islandmonkey.net/home.htm), who are located right in the center of Bath city.

They specialise in 3D animation specifically in the pharmaceutical, manufacturing and architectural industries, so I'll have to do some work learning 3D modelling and building a relevant portfolio before I apply there. It's a possibility for the future though, I could see myself doing this type of animation as it focuses almost entirely on the modelling rather than animation.

Another animation company still in Bath center is Big Squid (http://www.bigsquid.net/). Big Squid animate for commercial TV, so far have completed projects for BBC history documentaries, special effects for children's shows and various commercials. There's a little bit more traditional work here, so it's somewhere I'll definitely be applying at.

The 3rd closest studio according to Yell is Busty Kelp (http://www.bustykelp.com/), as is usually the way with animation studios I'd never actually heard of the company before but I had seen several of their commercials on TV. Busty Kelp is primarily a 3D company, so again, I'll have to beef up my 3D skills before I consider applying here... They're currently working on a youtube project, which is impressive: http://www.youtube.com/user/GregMutt

More studio research to come!

Research: Starting A Company

With the idea of starting my own company being the eventual focus of my action plan, I thought it a good idea to find out exactly how to go about starting up my own business.

When looking into this it's important to keep in mind the type of business that I'll be starting. I intend to work from home at first, until I have need for a larger premises, such as if I require a staff or storage space.

A quick google search later and I find out that the simple way to go is to register as a 'sole-trader' or 'freelancer', which is basically a person who works for themselves from home, and requires considerably less paperwork than starting up an official 'company'. This registration has to be done within 3 months of beginning to work as a 'sole-trader' or 'freelancer'. This registration has to be done regardless of income, so even though you may not earn enough to pay tax, you still have to register with HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (THE TAXMAN)). What this means for me is that as soon as I get my first freelance commission (for which I receive payment) I should register as a 'freelancer' within 3 months.

Not registering in the 3 month window can result in a £100 fine as well as paying any tax that was due before registration... Seems surprisingly reasonable...

This website has been extremely helpful and has quite a lot of information on starting up a business, as a private company or as a freelancer: http://www.startups.co.uk

Once registered I suppose I'll technically have 'started my business' but it's actually a very simple and tiny step. The real work is in getting the clients and reputation to make any money. Building a decent website will be the first important step, and then creating an impressive portfolio to show on that website is the next, and will be built upon continuously. 

I'll have a look into starting up a website next...