Social Media Update

After watching everyone's creative presence presentations, it motivated to get more active on all my social media platforms so I have updated my Linked In. It's not a platform I often remember to post to so I'll need to make a concerted effort. I definitely need to improve at this seeing as LinkedIn is such a good place to find opportunities!

I'm also considering branding my social media more, I started with trying to use an icon of me that I'd drawn rather than a photo of myself. I liked the sketch but wasn't a fan of my digital development, so it's something I'm going to work on, but here are some iterations...

Study Task 3: An Interview with Reg Isaac

For this brief we were asked to interview a practioner and the first name that came to mind was Reg Isaac as I have found his animation to be effortlessly impressive, as is his character design despite it not being his focus!

The link to the interview is here:

https://issuu.com/eloise.wayling/docs/pdf_interview_with_reg_isaac

The Plan: Immediate and Long Term

Immediate Plans to improve my Practice
I want to work constantly on my weaknesses and thoroughly on my current strengths. I intend on always carrying my sketchbook with me, life drawing and focussing on traditional art equal to digital art. I hope to FINALLY complete a monthly challenge e.g. Adventure April, Mermay.
I recognise a strength in background design so I will work on some environment/film studies- being able to recreate great compositions will develop my understanding of good design so that I can create my own.
As I've mentioned I already read up on my interests, but I want to do further reading and learning on character design, visual development and colour theory.
I am motivated to work through the Animator's Survival Kit and a Book of Things to Draw to look to for inspiration.
I really enjoy working on commissions so it's something that I need to work to promote more! On this note, I want to continue maintaining my social media- I'm fairly present on Instagram but my LinkedIn page needs a lot of work.

Next Year
As I am deferring my third year I have had to do a lot of reflection on this year and what I want to do next to get me to where I want to be. I'm now choosing to see my deferral in a positive way, I am caring for my health whilst maintaining that I will return in a year stronger, and better at what I do.

I am looking to Work Experience and Internships wherever I can for however long I can- and hope to grasp opportunities in London as it is commutable. Hence why I'd like to make an effort in involving myself with the London Animation Club also. It's really about working a way into the industry, like contacting Reg, and I hope to volunteer at MAF.

My biggest struggle will be to stay motivated next year, which is why submitting work to live briefs, Loopdeloop or 11 second club will give me a deadline to work to and will give me the feedback and otherwise miss out on from not being in uni around peers and tutors.

In my year, I will be continuing my progress with my immediate plans, possibly creating a second of animation a day so that I have a end product at the end of the year like https://vimeo.com/83155234 , or it may be that my learnt skills amount to an end of year film, but I'm not going to pressure myself into that. The focus is to curate skills so that when I do return to uni I feel confident in making my graduate film. I think I might choose a focus within animation each month, be it a type of software, visual development or colour theory.


A couple pieces I have done outside of uni work to keep the practice going:

For Chinese New Year

My Parents

Extra Influences: Artists

I constantly have an influx of different artists that I'm looking at, specifically from Instagram - it's such an amazing platform because you have artists who are building their careers in the same room as those still, or having worked at the likes of Pixar and Disney. I love seeing the more casual drawings from artists who have created some of my favourite animation characters-I've also included the work of Mary Blair on Alice in Wonderland, I have been inspired recently by illustrative styles and love the vibrant colours in the work (colour is something I need to work on!) Generally I find that the artists I follow specialise in character design or visual development, all very relevant to my personal practice. There are a few artists that I always look forward to seeing work from (below) but I also archive any pieces that I find particularly fascinating- to study the colour, try the style, the technique which will only serve to maximise my portfolio and create a greater breadth of skills. This summer and onwards, I am so excited to fill my time trying new things, taking inspiration from these artists and working my way through my notebook of ideas. It really has introduced me to a plethora of art styles that I want to sink my teeth into, because I'm not pinning my work to one style, I just want to create good work, hopefully!

Mary Blair's work

Extra Influences: Films/Books

To help further my practice I enjoy reading art books, especially the making of books...
Despite not having a focus in stop motion, I loved the Making of The Fantastic Mr Fox, seeing the process, the directors notes and the concept art was fascinating because it is such a visually stunning film and is a good reminder that I could still work in stop motion (which does interest me!) within character design.
The Making of Spirited Away and Ratatouille are incredible in regards to character design, I always adored the variation and different character silhouettes that they both display in the films. It's a stark reminder that I have a long way to go but is forever inspiring.
I have also fallen in love with Heikala from Instagram, her watercolour painting progress videos make it look SO easy and have influenced a new drive to be able to have the skills to incorporate watercolour/gouache into my work, and being able to flick through her book Once to see what is possible with traditional paint is great.

It is always useful as an animation student to see these films deconstructed in books, but also to have an influx of the films in action, I recently saw The Isle of Dogs as I loved Wes Anderson's direction in Fantastic Mr Fox so much. Even in the opening sequence I was in awe of the smooth, weighted motion of the drummer boys. I loved the unique characters portrayed in the dogs, a cast of dogs could've easily restricted the depth portrayed but a lot of emotion was shown in the film.

Once by Heikala

Ratatouille

Fantastic Mr Fox

Spirited Away

Presentation: A Look Back on Second Year

Study Task 10: Showreel

Showreel 2018, Eloise Wayling

Study Task 9: Life's a Pitch

For this study task I joined a collective with Christopher Hoare, Katie Heath and Katie Slack called 'That Collective'. I suggested this as a name with the hope of it being very memorable, that if someone was trying to remember 'you know, what's the name, you know of, that collective...' and like that, they can search us! I came up with a very quick logo, looking to the 'The Line' for inspiration of a simple logo which clearly portrays the name.

An outline of our pitch is below, where we expressed that we are versatile in which customers we take, but our USP focusses on the story. That Collective delivers memorable characters and tales, regardless of medium.

Study Task 8 : Commissions/Freelance

For commissions I have penned my rate as £10 per hour : this is in regards to digital work as I don't need to consider material costs!
I have struggled with this so far because I'm inexperienced in working out how long roughly a piece will take me! I don't think I considered the non billable hours (admin, invoice, discussions with the customer)  for my first 2 commissions so may have lost out on money where I take a LOT of time to make sure the customer is happy! But I am definitely learning from these experiences!

The first time I got commissioned in February, I was in shock and so flattered all at the same time that I think I cried. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought a person would spend money on my work, and especially not as a student. I have also never advertised for commissions so it was even more gratifying that someone would seek my work out.
It emphasized how important social media is as the only reason I got the first commission was because this person had seen a previous drawing of mine and wanted me to recreate it for herself and her girlfriend! After that, people knew I was open to taking work so that's how I got my second in April! And following on I've had a bit more interest in the couples drawings.

I have a long way to go in regards to pricing still, I haven't quite mastered knowing how long a piece will take me which in turns mean I lose out on the financial side- I need to improve this, work faster, and not feel ashamed to charge a fair price for my work! I really struggle with feeling worthy enough for the money, especially when it comes to asking peers because I know a student doesn't have great funds.
I'm going to focus on pushing for commissions on my social media, especially over summer.

Commission 1

Commission 2

Draft Agreement to work!

Draft Invoice!

Study Task 7: CopyShop

After reviewing my current online presence I've realised that there are more measures that I can take to protect my own intellectual property which I hadn't considered as very important before- I guess I thought anyone would WANT to steal my work! But as I start to be asked for commissions it's becoming more important to me.
In terms of copyright: I credit other work where I can on Instagram and on my blogs, and do not take credit for work that isn't mine e.g. in my showreel I state which elements of collaborative work I did.

I do not have a copyright banner on any sites, and my artwork is only on Instagram. I have not used watermarks before for the reason I mentioned previously, but I plan to start putting a simple tag (of my name) next to the work I post! I also check with anyone who commissions me that the work I produce can be posted to my social media!

When I am free to do commissions I put a contact in my Instagram bio, but I also may swap to the "artist" account on Instagram so the Email option is always there if anyone was wanting to get in contact about my work.