Catching a Drift, part 2

2014 started with promise, crumbled in the middle, rose again, then sank again rather steeply but shot right back up amid tears of Joy and Sadness.

It was a challenging 12 months of setbacks, achievements, cultural highlights, influences and revealing truths. My passions have directed me along this creative journey. I want to thank everybody who were part of it for helping me understand how this insanely tiny world works.

January-March

• Sherlock bounced back into our lives with Series 3. Illustrations and Oscar memes were hugely popular with Speedy's Cafe and fans.
• (pictured) Beren's Cat tries and fails to catch the mice.
• Tour of BBC Broadcasting House
• Animated Women UK MPC Showcase, Moving Picture Company
• The Image Is the Servant, Hansom Hall
• Designed the logo for Animated Women UK
• 3D Creative Summit, BFi
• Attended my first Animgather networking event: introduced to Bournemouth students, VFX pros, and other creative cats who are campaigning to save the Doodle Bar from redevelopment.

April-June

Source: Bubble_Fun_Tea

• Fargo made our Sunday evenings a little more sinister. Eventually we would binge-watch the first series of Happy Valley.
• Submitted a project proposal to LCB Depot - rejected, but...
• A collaboration with Mini Productions on the Acting on a Dream campaign begins.
• (pictured) Gok Wan, Miss GB and Leicester's Strongest Man appeared during the launch of the Fun Tea brand in Highcross.
• Godzilla, despite a triumphant return, started to haunt my dreams.
• The period when things kind of went…eh.
• Friends and family, Smod Co podcasts, Glen Keane's short film Duet, Days of Future Past and the Moving Together Dance show made me feel hopeful and less lonely. Also, this song(s):

July-September

• Watercolours and cooking slowly brought me out of my slump. Confidence grows but business is still very slow.
• Started designing illustrations for a Jurassic World fan project.
• Everybody's Music attracted more views via Toon Boom Showcase.
• The folks at somewhereto_ helped me run workshops and a market stall; neither attracted enough attention but they gave me bags of popcorn and a lead or two.
• Completely starstruck by Jenna Coleman and Richard Madden on the way to Animgather Summer Edition, Regent's Park.
• The popcorn was warmly received with fellow animators. I recommended a young man to seek Prince's Trust and somewhereto_.

• Danced like Star-Lord around Cardiff after attending the Doctor Who World Tour/Series 8 launch (pictured) where I met lots of lovely fans including Lizzie George, Michael Crumpton and Peter Capaldi.
• Fresh from Guardians of the Galaxy and Deep Breath, this video blew my mind:

• Attended Frank Gladstone's Visual Storytelling Masterclass at the University of Wales, before logging into Nik Ranieri's master lecture over at Virtual Animators.
• In September the bright spots of a frustrating holiday included a filmmaking lecture by Don Hahn, closely followed by Listen, Pride, Aunt Susan, and return to Caswell Bay.

"Keep Drawing"

• (pictured) Making of Duet, Curzon Soho: Glen Keane has seen 40 seconds of Everybody's Music.
• Revisiting Keane's classic movies helped improve my animation drawing skills.
• MADE Festival Conference in Sheffield; highlights include Michelle Mone, Levi Roots and bumping into the Seed Creativity guys.

October-December

• Stephen Fry replied to a tweet about making a fool of yourself in front of your heroes: …"I overslept [and] missed tea with Al Pacino. I mean you just don't stand up Don Corleone or Scarface…"
• I painted another watercolour of a scene from Kill the Moon.
• (pictured) Brand Licensing Europe at the Olympia, where I felt out of my depth, but I saw some exclusive footage and networked.

• (pictured) Opening Gala of LFF: besides some decent photos, the evening was a shambles. Came home later than planned. Wrecked by the ordeal and the death of our beloved Austin.
• My sister Emily, who was also going through hard times, encouraged me to draw The Midnight Beast fan art for her.
• Doctor Who + Virtual Animators (with drawing demos by Andreas Deja)
• UK Young Artists Festival, highlights: the Hermes Experiment, Jo Kelen, Gurdain Singh Rayatt, and Annlin Chao's Phantom on the Cliff.
• Interstellar rocks the Showcase in XPLUS, thanks to Christopher Nolan's championing of large screen formats.
• Doctor Who DVD Launch, Ham Yard Hotel
• Installations: Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, Paddington Trail
• The Imitation Game brought me to tears
• Leicester for Business Awards, Y Theatre
• Tour Jurassic World and trailer were both revealed
• (pictured) Aberavon sunset + chips + Paddington
• The Greatest Adventure came to an end with The Battle of Five Armies. I do love spending time in that world, whatever Age.
• AWUK networking (missed out last time when I got lost in Bloomsbury)
• Best Christmas Day Ever

Resolutions

• Tidy room
• Lose weight
• Sketch every morning
• Purchase Oyster and Young Person's coach card
• Get a business account
• Spend wisely
• Save up for Sherlocked Convention
• Read more books
• Sharpen pitch, selling and marketing abilities
• Improve communication skills
• Launch an art auction; donate the profits to the Glasgow School of Art Development Trust
• Make that film

Hello 2015! please be a good one for us all.

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Doctor Who appreciation post

Catching a Drift part 1

Catching a Drift, part 1

The days that made me, outnumber the days that broke me.

Working from home, a lot has changed since starting the freelance lifestyle nearly two years ago. At 25, I have the freedom to achieve certain long/short term goals. Timing is everything.

Generally there are barriers between you and your ultimate ambitions. There is no guarantee of reward or relief from responsibility. In a fast-paced industry, you have to make a positive impression.

Although running a business can get lonely, I'm fortunate to have a strong support network of people who steer me in the right direction. They are relatives, neighbours, mentors, advisors, tutors, collaborators, fellow animators, classmates, twitter followers, LinkedIn connections, artists from other fields and influencers. I owe them so much for opening up the world to me.

Animators spend most of their time indoors, so I allow myself to explore the much wider offline world – via the M4 or M1. For business, leisure or both I try to make every little solo excursion count, while making sure it's not too much of a strain. I can handle most trips alone.

I commit a few hours each day to sharpen my communication skills. It's tricky because someone is always one step ahead. I have observed that I struggle to cope with change, and spread myself thin attending simultaneous events. Something like drawing keeps me focused. Walk cycle animation practice, for instance, is good exercise but even that can be hard to break away from. Oh god, that was hard. Not as hard as Everybody's Music though.

There are not enough hours in the day. You make thorough plans to ensure things fall into place, but it's not always smooth sailing. Take a wrong turn, make a compromise and the City - for all its attractions - can chew you up and spit you out.

Temptations: Godzilla + ice cream

It takes time to recover from failure, which can help you reevaluate and redress problems, while bringing something to the table.

In Creative Cat FX's second year, I'm pleased to say I've taken more risks, pushed whimsy and made some breakthroughs. For me personally it was the most cathartic, and not unlike the darker, edgier, more involved sequel, with the world building, the raising of the stakes, tough choices, sparking new relationships, and mysterious figures from the not too distant past.

You can learn so much from real world experiences in a single day than one semester.