502 - Business Card Mockup

Here is a mockup of what my business card would look like:

As you can see, it's very similar to my website branding as I want to keep that continuity, and I want to keep my business card as simple as possible whilst still showing a bit about my work and me.

The text may be too small, so if I were to print these properly I would do a single test print first to see its readability, and if it is too small I'll make some edits and tweak it till it's done.

502 - Presentation

Here are the presentation slides of my reflection for this year:

Similarly to the showreel, I tried to design the slides to reflect my website. Overall I'm pretty happy with my slides and my content, however not so much with the delivery. 

Recording the presentation means that I have to listen to it back to make sure it's all there, and it highlighted how bad I am at speaking. I realised how that I fall over my words a lot and I'm not too clear, and also that I don't sound particularly engaging with my voice. I tried fixing all of these by doing many different takes, and I even tried recording it slide per slide (that didn't work as it was like starting from scratch each time, and it normally takes me a bit to get some confidence with presenting so it resulted in a lot of stutter on every slide), however I didn't make much progress. I guess it's just something I'll get better at the more I do, however I think that I'm the worst at presenting more personal things/my thoughts like this, rather than my actual work for example.

502 - Showreel

Here is my showreel, showing the best of my 2D background, compositing and animation work done over the past 2 years:

I'm really happy with how this turned out, especially as it contains so many different styles so I'm proud that I managed to edit them together without it looking like a random compilation. Originally I wanted to use different music than last year (and the year before that), however I couldn't find one that I liked and was easy to edit to, and also other people won't be seeing the previous showreels anyway.

I remembered advice from MAF with making a showreel, where they said to make a narrative out of your work even across different projects, and just be generally playful with it. This would make it more enjoyable to watch and would help a lot with the pacing, so I definitely took that in mind when editing it. Here are some of the things I thought about when editing this:

• I wanted the title and end cards to be more interesting than just text, so I used the same trick as last year of putting one of my works but blurred behind it. I really like this as it also allows me to transition into the main showreel fluidly
• I also wanted my title card to reflect my personal branding and presentation, so I used a very similar but free font for it
• I knew I wanted my alien scene to be first, so I used that as a starting point. The motion of it went from left to right, therefore I put the rolling-down-hill scene next as that also had that left to right movement, so the 2 scenes together make sense and flow well. 
• I initially had the bird scene near the end however it just wasn't fitting in well. I ended up moving it next, as the colours of it matched the previous scene, and it ended up also acting as time filler for the music to hit the drop 
• The lightning was timed for the drop, but also acts as a transition to the scenes with a black BG. In addition, it serves to give a bit of a break from the faster moving scenes, allowing me to show some of the slower scense next
• The character in the balloon scene was positioned after the lightning as it has a black BG so it can fade in. It's also next as it is almost reacting to the lightning strike
• I transitioned into the towel scene using the slam zoom of the WEEE to act as if it was zooming into the binoculars that we're seeing the towel scene through
• Rain of one scene allowed me to transition into the rain of the next without it being jarring despite the style differences
• I used the man being launched upwards to transition into the water fx splash, as if the man is falling into the water himself from the previous scene. It adds a vertical continuity between the scenes and a bit of humour. I really liked this transition especially as I was having trouble fitting the water splash in anywhere due to its more sketchy, unfinished appearance and the stark white BG (it was also timed to be on the beat)

Also, there is the general rule about putting your best work first, your second best at the end and then the rest in the middle, and I tried to apply that however I focused more on the flow of the showreel so it ended up being more: best, second best and then worst at the end. I think this is ok though, as it's not a huge detriment. I'm also pretty happy with the timing of it too, as it's reccommended that your showreel should be pretty short.

Editing all my work together definitely shows it in a different way, and it makes me look at it more positively. I found this really fun overall. 

502 - Portfolio

Here's my current portfolio:

https://louzane.wordpress.com/portfolio-2/

As mentioned in a previous post from this module, I don't think my work is that great, so this portfolio is very much a WIP and not something I will actively send out in job applications. Despite this, I thought it was still better to create something as it can act as a stepping stone for me, and it also highlights what I really need to work on. 

All of the advice from artists about portfolio's stressed how although technical skill is important, the main thing recruiters are looking for and what makes your work stand out is the idea behind each piece, and how you show off the narrative. They want to see your thoughts on how to break down a story and how you problem solve, and my portfolio feels very lifeless. I need to do more personal pieces for this reason, focusing on the story and mood primarily, and then making it look good. 

Another piece of advice they gave was to not include writing in your portfolio, as they don't read this. Your work should tell you all that by itself, and this is another reason why focusing on the idea and story is so important. Looking at my portfolio you don't really understand my thoughts behind my decisions.

In addition to this, a lot of artists reccommended adding development work in there to help show your thought process. To do this, I could set myself a little side project where I create a BG for one of my animation ideas, and having that as it's own project. This would allow me to properly build up a piece for my portfolio.

Finally, a few artists mentioned how it is great to show your ability to paint scenes in different times of day, therefore I included that in my portfolio, however I think a more interesting composition would be stronger at showing this off - but again it's better than nothing.

502 - Website

As part of my personal branding, I decided to revamp my old website I created from foundation, updating its format and aesthetics as well as my work and 'About' section. The link to my website is:

https://louzane.wordpress.com/ 

I feel like the aesthetics of this website are much more 'me' than my elevator pitch presentation - minimalistic, neat, and fairly monochromatic - and even though it's not particularly unique, it's the most true to my personality. 

The logo used is one I made a while back and I really like it because I think it shows off that slightly weirder side of me as well, and I used that BG because it shows the direction I want to take my art more in - a bit more illustrative than rendered, and it also fit the best with the rest of the website.

A lot of artist's I researched talked about how with website portfolio's they want it to be as simple and easy to reach as possible, therefore I laid out my tabs as such, putting the Portfolio tab first. I used drop down menus for my other work that I still want to show, those tabs being: Showreel, Short Films, Illustrations and Paintings. I haven't filled out the Illustration section yet, and I still need to update my Painting section with more of my work too.

As mentioned in my previous post, I wanted my website to focus mainly on BG art but also show my interest in the movement of it, so I've tried to reflect that with my About Me section. 

My social section only features Instagram and Vimeo, and for the moment that'll be it. I find social media extremely challenging and overwhelming, and it tires me out. That in addition to the pandemic is just a bit too much for me, so I can't bring myself to create more and then be active on those platforms. I do recognise the importance of it however, so I will update this in the future. 

Finally, I added my website to my Instagram bio to hopefully get more attention from it, as well as for it to give people who are interested in finding out more about me information.

502 - Where I'm At with Everything

I've done a lot of reflection and thinking about my art and which path I want to go down in the future, so here is a post just summarising my thoughts:

• I went into this year pretty much focusing solely on becoming a BG painter, but understanding that I need to improve my BG design skills too. 
• This led me to working on the BG's for the practical modules, however in addition to this I've also done the compositing and other After Effects stuff (mainly with the giffgaff competition brief).
• I really enjoyed this, so now I want to open up my practice more and explore all 3 of BG's, compositing and After Effects. This can include doing each of them separately but also exploring ways I can combine them. Here are some of the areas I want to explore more: animated illustrations, game concept art, 2D compositing, motion graphics, 3D compositing (maybe, I currently don't know much about 3D)
• From all of the Q&A's, I've noticed most of the artists didn't follow a linear path, a lot of them graduated thinking they were going to become one thing and then changed mid career. This encourages me to not just focus on BG paint and really explore these other areas I enjoy as well
• Because of this, although I want to focus on these 3 main things, I'm going to still be open minded and basically work on things that I enjoy. Finding motivation this year has been tough so I want to prioritise my enjoyment over being skilled
• Despite all this, I still need to present myself in some format and this is too vague to market, therefore my website and portfolio will primarily be focused on just BG art currently as it is the thing I can define, but I will also try and show my interest in the other 2 areas as well. This will also allow me to expand on my website if I go down different routes than just BG's.

502 - Elevator Pitch

Here's my elevator pitch/personal branding presentation, including my script:

I've been struggling quite a bit with how I want to market myself visually, so for this presentation I used a previous long pan BG as a banner, featuring my stamp/logo that will go on future artworks that I want signed or watermarked. I also gave the rest of the slides a traditional paper and ink feel, as working with traditional techniques and processes is something I want to do more of. These slides are visually meant to represent a cross between my use of digital tools with my desire to be more traditional.

I found trying to describe my practice and my ambitions quite challenging, as I'm still quite uncertain about what I want to do and I don't know how to stand out from just wanting to paint BG's currently. I think I need to really think about my future and my current interests and be a bit more specific with my work, so that I can really explore avenues rather than just be an uninteresting, general 'BG painter'.

Doing this presentation also made me realise I really need to work more on my personal branding. I don't think that it really represents me visually, and whilst I do want to work on being more traditional I don't really think it's the sole focus of my work, or what I enjoy. 

502 - Artists Q&A Dump

I ended up finding a lot more advice from artists that are relevant to my interests from their Instagram stories. Here is a dump of their most impactful answers to me:

Paul Abadilla - Sets Art Director at Pixar:

Sam Kallis - Creative Director of Vis Dev at Disney:

And finally Pierre-Antoine Moelo - Concept Artist and Vis Dev Artist at Reel FX:

502 - Ilaria Disante

There was another Ritzy Animation takeover, this time featuring a BG artist - Ilaria Disante:

Similarly to the last Ritzy Animation IG story takeover, I found this super useful, and I also asked this question in the Q&A portion (last image). Here are my takeaways:

• I should get back into photography more! I enjoy it but also I can use it to build my own reference library. Also it will help me naturally improve my composition skills
• Starting rough is always ok - it doesn't have to look like the final image
• Always have a goal in mind for each painting - Ilaria talks about thinking about the mood you want to portray
• Experiment with the painting - you don't have to follow one method
• There are lots of studios that need BG designers and painters in the UK - this was a question I asked because I hadn't really heard much about BG artists in the UK, most of my previous research was from the American industry, therefore I didn't know if studios really required them here.

502 - Abigail Whitnall 2

I really enjoyed her Q&A from Ritzy Animation so I decided to contact her to get more advice:

Messaging her was very hard because of my own anxieties, but I still found it super useful. Here are my takeaways:

• Learning that she got most of her BG knowlege/skills from a course post uni was very insightful, as it shows that there's always still time to learn and that these kind of courses can be very good. It's an option I can take if I wanted to (and had the money to - the course she took is quite expensive)
• Really researching the different styles and making sure to tailor my own portfolio to the studio I'd be applying to is incredibly important. I think there are 2 ways I can use this information - either have a studio or style in mind and spend a lot of time practising that particular style, or just spend more time on the foundations as well as learning how to adopt different styles to be more of a generalist in terms of BG painting.