OUAN602 PPP3: Showreel 2016

SHOWREEL 2016 from Cassie Ward on Vimeo.


Here is my final showreel showcasing my university work. I have used pieces of work from all three years and I am quite happy with how it turned out. I am a big fan of the work by Vik Sharma (a British composer who does the music for TV shows such as An Idiot Abroad and The Undateables) as it is very unusual and quite nostalgic. He had a link to his Facebook page on his Soundcloud and I decided to message him asking if it would be possible to use his track Junkyard Waltzer within my showreel. As we are not friends on Facebook it took him a while to see my message but he eventually granted me permission to use the track, which was very kind of him.

OUAN602 PPP3: Business Cards

 
Here are my revamped business cards for 2016. I have used my characters from previous animations within them but in a cute, simplified form to give the client a feel for the style I animate in. 

The font is the same used within my CV and my extended practice animation Always. It is the typeface used for the Bewitched logo and I just think its really pretty. 

I have described myself as a 2D Animator and Illustrator as I previously stated that I was more drawn towards the preproduction side of animation which features more illustration work. 

I really like my business cards this time round, I think the colour palette works nicely and isn't too flashy and I think they effectively give a good feel for my work. 

OUAN602 PPP3: Qwertee

I decided to illustrate a couple of designs to enter to Qwertee again. I entered a handful when I was doing Responsive and I really enjoyed seeing the feedback I got for my work, it kept inspiring me to do more. Career wise, it's looking like I'm probably going to distance myself from animating and concentrate on my drawing skills, I thought this would be a good opportunity to polish them.

I really enjoy creating fan art of existing characters and you often see lots of weird and wonderful hybrids of characters being featured on t-shirts on Qwertee, so I decided to have a go for myself. 

• Catbus

For my first design, I decided to create a hybrid of Catbus, who was featured in Studio Ghibli's My Neighbour Totoro, and Catbug from the online cartoon Bravest Warriors.

I decided to do this because 1) I love both characters and 2) because of the play on words with their names. 

The design was very straightforward to do due to Catbug's simple features. I illustrated the majority in SAI and cleaned up in Photoshop along with adding the text. 

The term 'I'm Catbus' comes from Catbug's catchphrase 'I'm Catbug!' which hopefully the audience will know. Catbus comes complete with sugarpeas which he is famously known for dropping them. I do like this design, however I do feel like I could have made it a bit more Ghibli like. 

It is currently up for voting and I'm looking forward to hearing some feedback. 

• Vaporeon

My second design is a simplified linear illustration of the Pokemon Vaporeon. I have always loved anything that evolved from Eevee therefore I wanted to create a really pretty design for an Eeveeloution. 

I chose to design the water Pokemon Vaporeon with a watercolour effect. I drew the Vaporeon with very simplified features to amplify the colour. I used a mixture of the acrylic and watercolour brushes with a colour palette of different shades of blues, whites and pinks to create the desired effect, then blending them all together. I wasn't too keen on the design on my screen as I thought it looked quite bland but once I had added it to the Qwertee t-shirt template the colours really popped on the black t-shirt and I am very happy with it. 

Again, this design is now up for voting and I look forward to seeing how many votes it gets. I will continue to submit to Qwertee with work like this. I have considered submitting to RedBubble but I will only do that with work that is 100% my own characters. I know many people do it, but I don't really like the thought of making money with designs that features copyrighted characters. 

OUAN602 PPP3: Fettle Animation

Fettle Animation is a studio in the small village of Marsden, Huddersfield which specialises in 2D animation. The team is small but have created many different styles of animation for big name clients such as ITV and BBC and many more. 
The studio is conveniently located about 2 minutes away from my boyfriends grandma's house in the village and a few weeks ago I spoke to Kath Shackleton on the phone to see if I could arrange a tour of the studio once I had finished university. She was happy to oblige and requested to see some of my work and showreel when I go for a visit. Now that my showreel is in production, I will be giving her a call very soon to arrange plans. 

OUAN602 PPP3: Pixar

This job is the whole reason I applied for the course in the first place. I have had my eye on this position since I was at least 13 but have only just been reminded of it when I was browsing Linkedin. 
Pixar Studios is located in Emeryville, California and it is common knowledge that they created the insanely huge Toy Story and many other blockbusters and shorts. 

As I've previously stated, I was unsure whether the skill set I have would be enough the carry me in a creative job but after reading the description for this vacancy I genuinely think I could do it. 

You need the following:

• Ability to analyze scenes in written form and translate into visual product
• Ability to express story and character through drawings
• Ability to invent action and express it through drawing
• Ability to present work in a clear and entertaining way
• Ability to work collaboratively
• Ability to work under pressure, in a fast paced, deadline driven environment
• Must be open to direction and able to embrace change
• Experience with Photoshop and Wacom Cintiq drawing tablet helpful

It also states that you need to provide them with 3-5 storyboards to accompany the application. I am definitely going to whip out some refined storyboards over summer and apply for this. I don't for a minute think I've got a cat in hells chance but I'm going to give it a go.

OUAN602 PPP3: Mediatonic Games

This vancancy with Mediatonic Games as a concept artist caught my eye whilst browsing Linkedin. From the course, I have learned that I am more into the preproduction side of an animation therefore this will be the field I would most likely be looking into should I find myself a creative job. 
Mediatonic Games is a small company, ranging from 51-200 employees altogether. They work across a range of digital platforms creating their own original IP as well as partnering with well established companies such as Square Enix (who I love), Microsoft and Sony in developing new games.

The position is entry level, and would require creating the following

• Concept Art - Set the style and define visuals of new titles in the studio. Working closely with our Studio Art Director, Concept Artists, Writers and Designers to help bring new worlds to life. Iterate on mood, setting and art style to find the perfect fit.
• Production Art - Produce sketches, quick-paints and annotations to create briefs for Art Teams - to help them completely understand your work in order to correctly reproduce the style and bring them life.
• Asset Production - Create in-game artwork and assets ranging from backgrounds and characters, to in-game objects and icons.
• Pitch Concepts - Rapidly developing ideas and producing high quality, evocative artwork for new game concepts and project pitches within the studio. Supporting artwork for presentation slides to accompany the Key Art images.

The art style is very much up my street so I'm definitely going to polish my portfolio and send it off. I'm not overly keen on the thought of moving to London but it would be an opportunity I couldn't pass up. 

OUAN602 PPP3: Splash Damage

I found this vacancy on Linkedin which looks really interesting. It is to be an intern with the studio Splash Damage which is located in Guilford. Splash Damage is an independently owned studio on the outskirts of London, which creates massively multiplayer games. This year, they've launched the multiplayer shooter Dirty Bomb on the PC and Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for Xbox One. I have a great interest in video games, especially online, so this looked right up my street. 


The requirements to apply were as follows

• Completed or studying towards a bachelor’s or master’s degree in animation or other recognised animation course
• Some experience of using game engines or level editors such as Unreal, Unity, Source or similar
• Some experience of working on mods or independent game projects
• Experience with technical animation – rigging/skinning

So as interesting as this vacancy was to me, I better hold off on applying for now. I currently have 0/4 requirements (soon to be 1/4, hopefully!) so I think I should brush up on these skills if I'm seriously thinking of applying. Knowing me, this could take quite a while so maybe keep an eye on this studio for next year.

OUAN602 PPP3: Linkedin

Initially, I was a little apprehensive about creating a Linkedin profile but now I am glad I have. Before hand I was quite ignorant to the sorts of positions there are within the animated field, and I was wary about the skills you would need to apply. After having a browse through some vacancies, I was pleased to see that there are plenty of jobs within the industry, within the UK and overseas, that I could potentially apply for with the skill set I have. However, seeing some of these vacancies has inspired me to polish my drawing skills and get up to scratch with the required softwares - which is definitely a change as before I was adamant that I did not want a creative job. 

OUAN602 PPP3: Always Poster

Once I had handed in Extended, I posted the poster for Always on Facebook, inviting people to come see it at the exhibition on the 20th June. 
I was happy to see how many likes it got (20 is a lot for me, I'm unpopular on Facebook) and have had many people telling me how excited they are to see it being shown. Having your work being so anticipated by people is a thing I have never experienced before but I really enjoy it and it makes the work worth it. I'm not one for really showing my work off, but as I was so pleased with this animation I decided to do so and I'm glad I've got it out there. 

I have since put the poster on my Linkedin page and will be continuing to accompany any work I do with a promotional partner.