Early Schwa Brief

Ages ago, we got approached by a doctor interested in making a series of animation (he contacted Tisa as she's our resident doctor animator!) We hadn't really set up our rates and animation style tiers, so this was a good experience to establish them (since we weren't too sure about how determined the client was in commissioning us). I made a quick table to roughly gauge how much we could charge for this project (taking into consideration the number of people involved, the fact that this might count towards our 603 live briefs, and our animation experience).

We judged our rates by a few variables; animation complexity and duration, and made a few tiers. Tisa then created a animation tier showreel:

Even if this projects fall through, we've now got some idea of what and how to present products to clients who don't know much about animation.

3 - Network time

My LinkedIn profile

Updated my banner, showreel and About section

Some people I've connected with (a lot of these had to be online due to social distancing but that's not a problem for me!):

• Renato Roldan
• An art director and a 2D vfx animator I reached out to for advice on 2D vfx and its influence on character appeal for my context of practice module, I was able to do a little written interview over email with them,

• Daniel Hamman
• Held an online storyboarding/composition tutorial during the strange quarantine lockdown period on Zoom, that was incredibly useful (I got a lot of helpful tips and feedback on my storyboards and animations in general).

Dan giving me some storyboard feedback on Zoom (I promise it's him!) 

• Learnt a lot about what the industry is looking for - a specialist is more useful taht a generalist, though a generalist is more suited for their own freelancing.
• Hayk Manukyan - 2D tradigital animator at Warner Bros. Animation, their social media content is very informative and I can learn a lot from their process,
• Thomas & Henry Purrington - went to their talk at Manchester animation festvail and learnt a lot about setting up a studio with a small team (I can put a lot of their advice to practice for Schwa), 
• David Wevill - has a lot of similar interests as me (animation, video games, storyboarding),   
• Ashish Rawat
• Joanna Boyle
• Wayne Maslin

Sound designers/musicians (connections from the Leeds College Music collab meeting):

• Ellie Baker (she's working with us on our 603 film),
• James Hogson (sound designer for our previous Heinz project),
• Rafael Abranches,
• Matteo Falco.

Networking opportunities

• Face to face: 
• Encounters Film Festival 2019,
• Manchester Animation Festival 2019,
• Yorkshire Games Festival 2020,
• Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2020 (in consideration - unfortunately, visa requirements and cost might get in the way),
• Cardiff Animation Festival.
• Online:
• Instagram - have a few commissions on hold (due to my visa restrictions),
• Twitter - also have a few commissions on hold (till I get a work visa and can do entrepreneurial/freelance work),
• Loopdeloop (submitting loops allows me to present my work and link my socials which really gets me out there), 
• LinkedIn
• RubberOnion - a fun animation community I've been part of for a while in quick, monthly 15-second animation competitions, 
• Skwigly events page (for a master list of networking events that I could just list here),
• r/animation on Reddit. 

Yorkshire Games Festival

Last Friday, I went to Yorkshire Games Festival in the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford (it was a 2-day event, but we were scheduled in for uni on Thursday). Even though it was more focused on games development and design, I felt it related to my specialist practice and my interest to be a video game animator/character designer.

Me and the squad posing beside a clock tower whose name I do not know.

Our silhouettes

Here's a summary of what I learnt and how it applies to me:

• William Pugh, Crows Crows Crows - A guide to unconventional games development:
• You can get a lot from simply knowing people, or if people know you have a certain skill/niche/style,
• A lot of free-to-play unprofitable games can pave the way to bigger projects (this could apply to animation/illustration, aka 'exposure'), 
• (I also learnt what twine games were, I might want to have a go at making one).
• If you can't be personal with a pitch, be brief and concise. 

• Patrick O’Luanaigh, nDreams - The futures of games:
• Cloud computing, VR, and AR are is likely to explode in popularity over the next five or ten years, this means a lot of VR/AR animation jobs might open up, or even jobs we don't even have names for yet!

• Alysia Judge - How to talk to games media:
• Games media is important for marketing (useful information in the event I want to create and release a video game),
• A good press release has images/gifs. Good images usually have:
• Human faces
• Bright images
• Action/mid-fight shot
• Main subjects that fall in the rule of thirds grid.

• Emma Hollingsworth, Coatsink - Principles in practice:
• (This was the only animation-focused talk, but it was more focused to beginner animators as it talked about the basics of the timing and spacing principles of animation. However, I did learn a lot too.)
• Timing and spacing have a huge impact on the acting/weight of a movement,
• Some tips and tricks I learnt:
• don't overlook environmental animation (like doors and curtains),
• practice body mechanics,
• make your own reference footage - BE SILLY,
• "Just because you graduate without a job doesn't mean you won't get one,"
• It's important to show the different styles you can do (cartoony/realistic) in a showreel, 
• If you've got your principles down, but no game design experience (like me!), that's not going to stop you getting a job in the games industry.

• Craig Duncan and Veronica Heath, Rare - Building the world of Sea of Thieves:
• A very informative look into the dynamics of a games studio, and the relationship dynamics between the sections.

The many different sections of a (very big) games studio

All in all, it was a really informative festival! We also visited the museum and its animation section too:

2 - Scan the Horizon

I am planning to start a small studio with friends called Schwa. As of now, it is a short term plan, if successful it will be developed further, but if not, it will provide valuable skills.

My dream role is not one specific role, but more of a generalist approach. I would like to have the freedom to alternate between roles like art director, 2D character animator and effects animator (though I wouldn’t mind settling into one of them). Potential places I could look for job offers/commissions are social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram (using my professional art account). Networking at animation related festivals too is a way I could potentially meet people and look for job opportunities.

The skills that I need for this are software proficiency (TVPaint, ToonBoom etc), organisational and time management skills (spreadsheets, Gantt charts etc) and people skills. I have found that the average annual salary of an entry-level animator is around £17,000, which I think will suit my lifestyle. But in a new studio, this average might be different, as work might not be steady enough in the beginning.

A lot of my presence as an artist is on social media too, which I’ve also used to network with other artists (it also pairs well with my introverted personality). However, face-to-face networking is something I need to work on. Most of the networking I’ve done so far has been done in animation and film festivals, meeting up with creators and recruiters alike. For example, at MAF I met Katie Gascoyne, the recruitment coordinator at Blue Zoo (and I enquired about internships, portfolios and CVs). I will need to broaden my networking more and research and attend networking events.

Part of my limitations after university will be the visa requirements if I’m going to be working in the UK. This includes having accommodation set up, and having some form of formal documentation related to the studio. I will have to further research the visa requirements as the rules are likely to change, and also apply beforehand, for a smooth transition from a Tier 4 to a work visa.

My other concern is getting enough work as a studio to sustain ourselves. In the beginning, we might have to rely on grants and funds to break even, and getting clients might also not be steady. We plan to put up showreels and demo work as a method of advertising, but we aren’t very sure how we’re going to get paid work (we will have to research this too). We have also considered putting the studio on the backburner and applying for internships in the meantime but we still have to workshop this idea.

Things I have to research/work on:

• Networking events and actually networking
• Work visa requirements
• Interning at other places while part of this studio?
• Finding clients and paid work as a new studio.