Whilst I am only in my first year of developing my skills and industry connections, I feel that my experience so far in my Animation BA(Hons) Course has given me a lot of valuable experiences which are relevant within the Animation industry.

Commissioned Work

One of my most informative experiences outside of the Animation Course has been taking on art commissions for family and friends. Some of these include:

• Character Design commission for the Industrial Safety Team at Heysham 2 Power Station (2023). I was commissioned to develop a character and create artwork to display ‘safe and unsafe’ work practices. Due to changed in request from the Industrial Safety Team (choosing to have two separate ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe’ characters instead of the initial request for one, and specifically requesting a Bee character), I had to toy with several different character designs before they were confident in the result. Each character uses shape language to indicate personality/competence, and a memorable design. This experience taught me the importance of collaboration between commissioner and artist to bring about the best results.

• Poster Design for a relative, depicting the attractions of a nearby park (2020). I was commissioned to design a poster for my Aunt’s AirBNB in Morecambe, Lancashire. Due to this house being situated near Happy Mount Park, I was requested to create a design highlighting unique aspects of the park, in a simplistic art style. I achieved this by using a lineless art style, reminiscent of vintage railway posters, and minimal focus on details that could distract from the wider theme of the artwork (e.g. character faces). However, in retrospect, I can see aspects of this poster design that I could have improved on - using a consistent art style between sections (e.g. shading on the trees), giving all sections a background, and altering the background colour of the poster as a whole (as the plain white doesn’t make the design ‘pop’). Regardless, this commission gave me an experience of working with a client to create something out of my comfort zone, and in a different fernt art style than what I usually use.

Redbubble Store

Starting in 2019, I have been consistently adding artwork to my Redbubble profile and selling my artwork on a variety of different products (stickers, art prints, clothing, blankets, etc.).

Many of my designs have been an astounding success - with my account topping 1100 sales across 45 individual designs. This has earned me over £500 (and, due to Redbubble’s 20% artist profit margin, equates to my artwork amassing £2500+ in sales). Products have had a global reach, with the majority of sales coming from the Unites States - as well as sales from the UK, Canada, Australia, France, The Netherlands, and Germany.

My experiences selling on Redbubble have taught me the importance of keeping up with artistic trends, and creating artwork for a specific purpose (in this case, being compatible and having an aesthetic appeal when printed on stickers, t-shirts, and poster prints)

My Redbubble Profile: https://www.redbubble.com/people/Snorg3/shop?asc=u

Software Experience

Since starting the Animation BA(Hons) Course at Edge Hill University, I’ve been developing skills in multiple different industry-standard softwares. This includes Maya, ToonBoom Harmony, Storyboard Pro, Adobe Photoshop, and Dragonframe. Access to these applications, as well as the freedom to use state-of-the-art equipment (Apple MacBook Pro, Wacom Cintiq Pro 32inch, Zoom H5 recording equipment, and Canon 600D camera) has allowed my animation work to excel. My experience using these softwares and equipment will allow me to adapt quickly in an animation industry setting.

Independent Work and Education

Due to issues with mental health and chronic illness, I left ‘in-person’ education in late 2020. Of course, by this point, I had already experienced Online Schooling as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic - however, as he world attempted to ‘return to normal’, I felt it would be better for me to continue online education from home for the following years (until starting at Edge Hill University in September 2023). Within that time, I completed an Online Course in Art and Design, as well as studying A-Level Sociology with little-to-no input from my assigned tutor. I achieved good grades in both subjects - earning a ‘Merit Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design (Merit)’, and Grade B in A-Level Sociology (AQA).

Although both of these experiences were not the standard route for education, I feel that Independent Education has taught me how to self-manage and self-motivate, as i learned how to manage both my time and enthusiasm to achieve great results.