As graduation approaches, I’ve been thinking seriously about my career path. Over the past three years before my MA, I’ve worked both as a 2D animator and as an animation instructor helping students build portfolios. These experiences have given me clarity on what I want next.   Right now, I don’t plan to focus on the…

While making this graduation film (less than 6 months production time), I gained some insights about visual storytelling and here are some notes that I want to to make.   Keep the Story Simple; We started with a classic “husband kills wife for insurance money” plot with Chinese horror elements. Our first mistake was trying to…

Throughout our team collaboration, the three of us—all working as directors—had to deal with creative differences all the time. Since it’s feels really different compares to working in a company, I think I would better write down some important notes for myself. First of all, Assign Clear Roles First is way more necessary than I…

It’s easy to get confuse when searching a job position without understand what is currently need in the industry. Pre-production jobs are always considered as “highly competitive”, which probroboly because it’s characteristic. Most film will have much lesser visual development artists compare to animators. However it still important to research how many position and program…

Before going into job researching, update CV and build portfolio is curial for every artist. Based on the goal of searching animator & character designer position, I’m going to record the process of my portfolio development here. Showreel probably is the first thing hr went to after reading students’ CV. People always said “put your…

Making their way to the industry is a way that every animator will face. For future use, I will try to make a detailed list about potential series that continue providing new position for students. Since I am planning working back in China after graduate, this list will only include animation companies in China. For…

Kick-Heart is a 2013 Japanes short film directed by Massaki Yuasa that uses surreal animation and storytelling to tell a love story between a professional wrestler and a nun.  As always, Yuasa use his unique imagination take his audience in a wild journey. I want to focus on how he present the final WWE battle between Masked Man M and Lady S. Battle…

For the simulated work experience, I worked with Jessica on her lovely stop-motion piece about a book worm. I did one environment design and two detailed prop design sketches for the film. It was super interesting to work with others on their film. Jessica had made adorable puppet worm and design for the protagonist, so…

Overall, Unit 1 is a fruitful learning experience for me. I was so packed by thoughts that whether my works are “good” enough; but it turns out I can just enjoy the process of making it. It feels so good to try out different styles and method during this section. I try to combine the…