Month: December 2022

My CV, Cover Letter & Showreel

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Ellie Wilson (2)

I think my CV reflects my style pretty well. I went for a darker colour palette to try and stand out from the usual template of pale backgrounds, which dominated my research. I think it was a good idea, but I also understand it may not be conventional.

cover letter (2)

My cover letter is addressed to Boulder Media, the studio I researched. I tried to include as many as my observations as possible.

This is my showreel! I’m pretty happy with the outcome, some of the animations are of slightly lower quality, like the cat puddle and floursack, they’re just supposed to be placeholder animations for my body mechanics and run cycle animations. I plan to change them out when I get those animations done.

Professional Practice – Cover Letters

wilson-e35Professional Practice

We went over cover letters, and did a task where we had to point out what was wrong with the example given. During this task, it became pretty obvious that a common pitfall is becoming too informal or rambling in the cover letter. It should be a short piece that covers anything you couldn’t put into your CV.

During my research into what makes a good cover letter, I came across the National Careers Service;

Cover letters | National Careers Service

They include some good advice like ‘Convince them that you’re enthusiastic about working for them. Let them know you share their work values, culture and style.’ and ‘highlight your skills’. This resource will be quite helpful for me when I begin writing my cover letter.

I did some research into local studios to find job openings, and I came across Boulder Media, who, while not currently hiring, had an expression of interest open to 2D animators.

The use a third party recruitment system for their applications, so there was no name given to send the cover letter and CV to. To be safe, I’d address the letter as ‘Dear hiring manager’.

They seem to prioritise creativity, positivity and team work, so those would be things I highlight in my letter.

Professional Practice – Cvs/Resumes

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In class today we took a look at CVs, we were provided with CV examples to help inform our design and layout. I sought further examples outside of the ones from class, but it was quite difficult to find them readily available. That’s understandable because CVs are usually sent in by artists, they don’t have them posted for everyone to see.

I did find one, Michelle Cheng.

This CV is a great example of less is more. The colours are limted, the font is readable, all of the information is laid out in a clear, concise way. She specifies her role in each job she’s had, and also lists her skills in software. My criticism for this CV is that it’s very bare bones outside of practical skills and achievements. I think employers also like to get an idea of who you are as well as your skillset, especially in an industry that relies on good communication and teamwork. A small profile outlining her ‘soft’ skills might be of benefit.

So after analysing the CVs given to us, and this CV, I think what makes a well-rounded resume is clear, concise language with a readable layout. The colour palette should be limited for legibility and aesthetic. However, as I don’t have the same level of experience, I would put more emphasis on my soft skills.

Professional Practice – Career Panel Talk

wilson-e35Professional Practice

We had a panel in to talk to us about the industry and building careers within animation. There were professionals who had been working for years, and then a recent graduate in her first job. It was really beneficial to hear their stories and the many different ways they’ve achieved their goals. There was some reassurance that progress isn’t linear and there isn’t just one way to build a career in the industry.

I found it really interesting, talking about expectations in a studio setting, and the best way to market yourself for work. I think having the wide range of experience on the panel also helped get a better picture of how working professionally could pan out, and the stages my artist development could go through.

The advice they offered will definitely help me when I create my CV and cover letter.

Animation Strategies – Reflection

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Working in Unreal was a great experience, I had a lot of fun learning this new software, and expanding my pre-existing skills as a 3D artist too. I think this project showed me how far I’ve come from last year in 3D work. There’s a lot left to learn, but I definitely have made progress with hard-surface modelling, texturing and uv unwrapping.

I had a few issues, but most of them I was able to solve with problem-solving and critical thinking. I can look back on those moments and say I’ve developed better ways to deal with problems like bad renders or assets not working. Particularly, having the ability to say the walls weren’t going to work and quickly finding solutions highlighted to me that I have better insight into the potential problems that can arise.

Me and my team did a great job, I’m very pleased with the results and how we functioned as a team. It was a challenge at times, but the team never felt unsupportive or hostile, it was a positive, productive experience. We could freely provide feedback, and in my case it helped to make sure my assets stayed true to our theme.

Animation Strategies – Unreal Final Project

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I am very, very proud of my project. I would change some things in the edit, but overall I think me and my group did a great job executing our idea. There were a lot of hiccups, but this learning experience really helped me grow as an artist and expand my skillset. It feels nice to finish this assignment and like the end product very genuinely without a major regret.

Animation Strategies – Unreal Layout

wilson-e35Animation Strategies

I did the layout in Unreal. Initially, we were going to have a slanted roof with beams, but it made the space so big, we were worried it would look empty. This is also before I went back and scaled down the walls, because this space was just way too big, and the walls looked really off.

I went back and fixed the walls. Charlie resized them, took out the pillars and seperated the bricks for more customisable options. I had to redo the beam structures, glass roof and floor to match the smaller layout, but it was worth it.

I textured the items and began filling out the environment. Most of my group didn’t use the Unreal substance painter export, which led to a few annoyances, thankfully we could work around it.

This was the layout before I began lighting. I really liked how I set this out, I think I filled the space really well.

CREDIT: “The Tavern – Wall window” (https://skfb.ly/6vvXC) by François Espagnet is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Acacia didn’t manage to make the smaller windows, and there was a miscommunication between me and Charlie as I thought they were doing the stained glass one and the smaller windows. With three days before submission, I went online to find a tavern window that fit our style close enough. Ciara very graciously textured it.

I wanted some nice, atmospheric lighting, but keeping that nice stylised edge with coloured moonlight. I used atmospheric fog to create some nice light rays in the windows, and push a more ‘dreamy’ look.

In all, I think we could’ve stuck more closely to story telling, by having more ‘used’ props in the scene, but overall, I think it looks really pretty and we stuck to the initial idea pretty well.

Animation Strategies – Texturing

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Before texturing, I scrolled through 3D sites like Sektchfab to begin building an idea of how I wanted to texture my models.

I searched stylised props so I could get a better idea at how stylised would look applied to 3D models.

 

I’ve included my textures here, and honestly I think this is my favourite part of the pipeline. I’ve always found texturing a lot of fun, but it was cemented in this project that I prefer texturing over modelling. I had a lot of fun playing with textures and masks in Substance Painter.

 

 

A lot of models had wood textures on them. In order to add a little variety, for the bigger textures, I hand drew the wood grain into the model for more individuality and also to create a more stylised appearance.

    

 

I included the sketchfab render of my model. I’m really proud of how my door turned out.

Stylized Stone Door by Ellie.Wilson on Sketchfab

Animation Strategies – UV’s

wilson-e35Animation Strategies

Uv unwrapping is still something I struggle with, but I’m trying to get better. I noticed during this project that I was faster at identifying edges that would unwrap my models efficiently, but I did have to redo a few of them for better results.

Another thing I noticed was that I’m better at laying out my uvs. I do use the auto layout tool, but I found there was a lot of dead space around the shells, so I took the time to adjust them as needed. Even looking back at these now, I can see ways I could’ve laid them out better for better texture resolution.

This is the UVs for my bar.

 

This is the uvs for my shelves.

I forgot to screenshot before combining a lot of my models so I don’t have the uvs for them.

I used two videos to help me develop a better understanding of UV unwrapping. These videos helped me further grasp UVs and what makes a good UV unwrap, rather than the more time consuming experimenting to see what works better.

Animation Strategies – Modelling

wilson-e35Animation Strategies

I got ahead on modelling assets, I started easy to get back into modelling. I made a little tankard, it helped me ease back into hard surface modelling, and gave me the opportunity to practice simple shapes.

 

Then I moved on to modelling the rest of my assets. I uv unwrapped as I went so I could break up the processes and mitigate burn out. We used a human for scale reference so when we transferred assets, they would be correct in Unreal.

I worked smarter by applying different materials to a single model before combining so I could use individual UV tiles for a higher resolution texture.

 

For the candle, I wanted that organic wax melting look, so I modelled and sculpted it in blender before taking it back into Maya to retopologise and unwrap it.

I didn’t have time to finish the last lantern.

I also remodelled the door, the final door isn’t my first pass.

The second pass is far better, and fits better with the environment. I’m much happier with it.

I think my ability to reflect as I go is a skill I’ve been refining since last year. I’m very happy with my progress, but I struggled a little to visualise how to actually create some of these models. I used a lot of problem solving and redoing aspects of models to be more efficient. I think I’d like to tackle more complicated models in future to further my skills in modelling.