Well it's that time again where many of us take stock of our lives - where we have come from and where we are going.
I have never been much for New Year's resolutions, but this time last year I made one that I really wanted to keep. I resolved to "break my way into the animation business". I was happy with myself for taking a U-turn in my career, steering myself from a scientific path to a creative one on getting a job as a video editor, but was feeling very downhearted when I was made redundant from that job. However, you may recall last month that I mentioned I was being interviewed for a job which would make me an animator and I'm happy to say that I got it!
I have actually worked there for a little over a week now, and my official job title is 'Motion Graphic Designer'. It basically boils mainly down to making animated graphics for DVDs. However the company is branching out into character animation, which I am doing. Currently we are working on a series of three-ish minute animations for a DVD on learning English for Cambridge University Press.
While, I am excited to be animating for a living, I am still a world away from where I want to be. For these Cambridge cartoons we are using a piece of software called Anime Studio Pro. Now I won't beat around the bush here....it sucks. It is suited only for cut-out animation of the kind seen in things like South Park. It's really hard to do the simplest of things like having a hand move behind and then in front of an object. I finished my first episode just before New Year and although I'm happy with it in terms of it being the best I could do, I can't help feeling a little disappointed in what I have produced. I haven't got the episode to show you, but here is something I made whilst learning the software:
As you can see, it's not exactly Disney! Still, it's a start.
I'm not sure whether to make a resolution again this year, or what it might be if I do.