After considering the animation pipeline for some time, I have decided that what mainly interests me is character design and concept art, with a willingness to explore 2D hand-drawn animation as well. So, as part of my professional practice module, I started researching CV designs and the job criteria expected of a concept artist.
I started by comparing CVs and assessing their positives and negatives. Some examples that I found helpful for this were the CVs of Melvin Kwan (2D Artist), Alexis James (character designer and concept artist) and Regina Julian (illustrator and designer);
I took each CV individually to assess their positive and negative qualities, and from this I have found the following;
- This CV uses bold, eye-catching colours, yet the layout is organised and easy to navigate between the different sections of the CV. Kwan has maintained a consistent font and colour theme throughout, and he has created a logo to brand himself and made his contact information clear and legible. However, I notice that more graphic logos and lists have been used as opposed to a small personal statement to tell the employer about the soft skills he has gained from his experience in being a 2D artist. In addition, Kwan has also used ‘progress bars’ to show his levels of proficiency in different softwares, which to me, seems to highlight that he lacks confidence and admits weakness in his core skills and therefore may not be considered by an employer as a good fit for a job role.
- James’ CV, although less colourful, is still well-presented. The left-alignment on the text and the lines separating each subsection makes the content easy to navigate while still having a professional style. I also like that James has used some examples of her character sketches to showcase her work while incorporating them into the layout of the CV, which may possibly provide the employer with a further incentive to explore her portfolio. However, this CV, like the previous one, also highlights different levels of proficiency in software, admitting a lack of confidence in her skills.
- The third CV was arguably the one I found to be most effective. Julian has used a minimalistic layout with logos and graphics to brand herself and her style, as well as maintained consistent fonts and colour schemes. I also like that she has included a short personal statement with highlighted keywords relating to the criteria of her desired job role(s) at the top of her CV. Again though, while she demonstrates the best presentation out of the three CVs in my opinion, she also highlights a lack of confidence in her skills by using ‘progress bars’ in the margins. I also feel that her contact information should be at the top of the CV as it often comes first in the hierarchy of constructing one, but it is still made clear and legible.
Following this, I searched for jobs in concept art and character design on Indeed, LinkedIn, Animation Ireland and animatedjobs.com, and from this I gathered key-terms and desirable skills mentioned in the candidate specification;
From my research, I was able to develop my own CV, tailoring it to the observations I have made;
After designing my CV, I then began to research animation companies and their showreels, to find out which ones caught my eye and why. Two stand-out showreels that I came across were ‘The Line’ Studio and ‘and maps and plans’ studio.
In the showreel for ‘and maps and plans’, we see the image of a bird in almost every shot of the hand-drawn animations. To me, this further showed the importance of creating and impression and branding oneself in the industry, as well as being a visual representation of how they have progressed as a studio over the years. The reel also demonstrated an excellent use and exploration of colour theory, lighting, and composition, while still showcasing a variety of both detailed and minimalistic clips for range. I noticed as well that the music this studio has chosen reflects the changes in tone that we see in their animations; as some clips appear to have a more ominous or mysterious development, the music changes to reflect this.
Similarly, the showreel for the studio ‘The Line’ also demonstrated an excellent use of colour theory and lighting, but I noticed that this showreel was filled with more action shots, and I really liked the frames which started and ended each transitioning clip as I felt it conveyed a continuous flow of movement throughout the showreel. I’m also impressed with the portfolio that they have built over the years, and their reel demonstrates the importance of showcasing your best work. I found this was most evident in the music video samples from the studio’s collaboration with the virtual band ‘Gorillaz’, showing that they have secured high-profile clientele.
I compiled my observations from both reels in a moodboard;
My best work at this time consists mainly of modelling and 3D animation, despite my interest in character design and concept art with the intention to explore 2D hand drawn animation (much like that of the ‘and maps and plans’ studio), so my showreel does not quite evoke the same soothing palette with whimsical storytelling elements, however, after my research, I created my own showreel using Adobe Premiere Pro. Editing to music is a fairly new experience for me, but I feel I managed it well. I found some upbeat but mellow royalty free music to edit to and experimented with transitions between clips. I feel that my work doesn’t quite have a recurring theme to aid the flow of the showreel, so I intend to expand my portfolio over the winter break to ameliorate this. In the future, I would also like to experiment more with After Effects to enhance my upcoming projects in the hope that I will have more eye-catching content for my future showreel.
While the showreel for ‘The Line’ displays action and movement, the more appealing reel for me was that of ‘and maps and plans’, which displayed exploration, curiosity and appreciation of the world around the characters, so I decided to base my cover e-mail off of this studio. In my research, I’ve found that the Dublin-based studio is often mentioned to be small despite its numerous accolades including having one of their animations shortlisted for the Academy Awards in 2015. To me, this indicates that the ideal candidate for this studio should be driven and self-motivating, while also having strong inter-personal skills to incentivise collaboration and maintain continuity in their work whilst working with the different art departments of the studio. The strive for success I’ve observed here also tells me that their ideal candidate would be someone with a competitive attitude as well as a creative mind, with an excellent understanding if composition, lighting and colour, as demonstrated in their work. On this basis I began to write my cover e-mail, taking care to mention the projects by the studio that I’ve liked (Bardo, Coda and An Island), and to demonstrate how my education and experience has provided me with the essential qualities possessed by the ideal candidate for their position. In doing some further research, I have seen that the studio are not currently hiring, but during the course of this module I have surmised that it is better to maintain a continuous study of the work by different studios, and to reach out to any hiring departments, even if there are no vacancies, they may keep your information on file which could increase your chances of being offered a position at a later stage.
My showreel link and my cover e-mail letter have been submitted to my module co-ordinators via OneDrive.