Before considering careers and other such big scary things. I think it’s best to reflect, I joined this course with minimal animation experience, that had all been self taught, and finishing confident in my ability to animate and having improved in my drawing skills and knowledge of the animation principles. You’ll be happy to know I am still enjoying drawing, animating, and have picked up new loves for other elements such as sounds design and editing.

So, what are my strengths?

Drawing, essentially, with a particular love for things that stretch and squish (which can be anything if you really put your mind to it) Throughout the course I have received much of the positive feedback on my use of squash and stretch and my cartoon and almost abstract style of animating. One industry professional I talked to and had review my showreel complimented my strong recognisable visual style, and encouraged me to lean into that as much as possible.

My strengths currently, within the pipeline, lie in rough animation, I prefer capturing motion over tying down movements, although this could be more where I feel most comfortable at the moment and something I hope to make improvements in. 

Playing to these strengths would suggest advertising myself as freelance, where people who enjoy my style can find me specifically. I also received feedback suggesting that my work would lend itself to short form content; skits and comedy videos on social media. 

And my weaknesses?

My struggling with organising myself and what I can do in what amount of time has been all but highlighted throughout this project, but the conclusion from this could go either way, I could focus on freelance work, meaning managing my own time and getting to know my own animating speed better before collaborating on projects or films with other animators, OR I could prioritise working within a studio, where deadlines are set and checked up on for me, keeping my work schedule rigid. 

I also struggle a bit with adapting to another person’s style, often receiving feedback that characters are too rounded and too bouncy, it’s important that ‘[animators] need to be capable of adhering to the same look and animation style.’ (ScreenSkills, n.d.)

And what are companies actually asking for?

So what are my next steps?

My next steps within my ‘creative journey’ as it were are obviously to keep drawing, keep animating through whatever part time job I’ll inevitably have for a while, and keep learning, splitting my time between making social media entertainment that I enjoy making, and working towards industry standard skills, such as getting aquatinted with ToonBoom harmony, a studio in Bristol called Sun and Moon often run ToonBoom courses that cover the basics and give you a taste of how it would used in their specific pipeline.

ScreenSkills (n.d.). Animator in the animation industry. [online] ScreenSkills. Available at: https://www.screenskills.com/job-profiles/browse/animation/production/animator-animation/.