Reflective Report on the Animation industry and my plans to be a part of it.
Where to begin? The animation industry is no longer about cool effects on computer screens. It's all around me, everywhere I look. Even the laptop I'm using to type out this text was probably at some point designed by someone in a 3D modeling application, for advertising purposes. Adds, whether they are on TV or on a poster stuck above my bed, where created using the apps I use for this course. Nowadays, the Animation Industry is an important part of the world called Media. The skills animators have are needed everywhere, commercials, computer games, movies, music-video clips, you name it. We aren't just geeks anymore. We are necessary geeks, people need our skills to look good, to promote their products, to sell.
To be totally honest, I feel that I came to Leeds Metropolitan for it to open my eyes so I can really find what I enjoy doing the most and from there, I can develop the skills to excel in it. I do not deny that I have a passion for designing architecture and I like it more than, for example, designing landscapes and nature. But I prefer to keep an open mind, for all I know, people from the University's environment, either lecturers or people in my course will convince me into trying out things I found tedious or boring and I might end up enjoying them more than what I enjoy now. That aside, I cannot help but have a larger interest in the areas that have a higher monetary factor. I love being an artist, but we all need money to pay the bills. But instead of using the above as an excuse to no answer the question of "What areas interest you specifically?", I'll just note what I'd enjoy doing and what interests me in each area.
In the games industry, I'd love to be a concept artist, my ideas creating worlds for others to see. As I mentioned earlier, I love designing architecture, so, be it castles, or skyscrapers, I'm all for designing it from sketch to render.
In film, working in 3D animation movies would be a favourite. With the rapid development of technology, I'm sure that 3D movies will, in the next 10-15 years, be reaching levels of such quality, that a large section of TV will be dedicated to them, no to mention that cartoons, and this has already begun, will all be in 3D. I'd want to work on Special Effects for big productions, doing battles scenes, whatever, I know it'll be awesome.
Visualization. Ah. This sounds especially interesting. Arch-viz, for one. Like doing it and the pay isn't bad either. Visualizing things that might end up being built gives me a certain rush, but I'm not going to exclude everything else yet. It is in my favourites, though.
My ideal job? That would be making good money, doing what I like with people who are equally, or even better, more creative than me, with a passion for Animation. To be ready for a job like this, I need to develop many skills to a professional level, using the University and the resources it offers me as a medium to succeed. To get to a point where I'm ready for this job, I must focus on enhancing the skills I already have and developing the ones I don't. The next 3 years will be dedicated to this, as to making contacts within the industry so as to already have an idea of where I am standing and what my options are when I graduate. A very stong arsenal of skills and an extensive portfolio is absolutely necessary in order to beat the competition and be the best candidate for the job I want. If, after all this work, I find myself still inadequate to the expectations of the industry, I will simply need to better myself even more. That's the way I see it. The best comes first and is remembered. The rest are just names.