Computer Animation Arts

Part of the Careers and Employability SPECTRA Programme - Nail that Interview! Wednesday 1st May 2 - 3pm Lecture Theatre 1 'How to conquer your nerves and turn your stage fright into a charismatic interview performance'

If you're an aspiring filmmaker and have tried your hand at an animated short, you know how deep your commitment needs to be. Finishing a short is hard enough as it is, and when you've got a full-time job and your family to think about, it can seem almost impossible! Or is it? After a long radio silence in the cg realm - with a cool head scar and titanium-filled skull to show for it (long story), today at 6pm BST I'll be taking part in a Facebook livestream alongside Marco Dinglasan, as we interview the award-winning and cool as a cucumber London-based 3D filmmaker, Dan Masterton. Among other things we'll be talking about how you can keep telling your stories in the midst of a hectic daily life - something a lot of us can relate to! All the while I'll be keeping an eye on the comments and asking Dan your burning questions. make yourself at home facebook.com/events/268644837011467 A snapshot of some of Dan's recent corporate work as th...

Today CAA Careers is introducing DreamingFish Productions , an award-winning production and animation company based in Woking, in Surrey. Here, Animation Manager Luke Brown talks about how he came to be where he is now, and gives some advice on showreels, employability, and the importance of promoting yourself on social media... Over to you, Luke!   How have you ended up where you are now? I actually ended up in this industry in a pretty roundabout way! I studied contemporary music at University and ended up as a music tutor for about a year or so after graduating until I realised that it wasn’t for me. One of my close friends was working at a local studio as a camera operator and wangled me a job at the studio as a production assistant. I was doing all the low-end jobs like picking up event edits and getting voiceovers recorded. I very quickly got very interested in the animations the studio where creating and spent hours in my spare time watching t...

I found another interview that I thought was nice to share, this time with Disney's character animator Andrew Chesworth. Not only does he talk about himself, he also talks about how it is to work at Disney which I'm sure we are all interested in. Check it out here !

It's always nice to read about artists' stories of how they got where they are and what their role in the industry involves. I wanted to share an interview with an artist that many of you may not know but as soon as I put the following image up some of you will! Gavin Goulden is the lead character artist at Irrational Games. He was one of the CG artists responsible for bringing the above character Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite alive. There are two reasons why I wanted to share this interview with him. The first one is that he talks about how it is to work at a large studio and the other is that he gives this great piece of advice which doesn't have to be limited to only aspiring character artists... "I think if I had to give any advice to artists wanting to get into character work, it would be to never stop working, to have idols, and to self promote. You won't become a better artist by sitting in the dark and never showing people your work....

Just saw this over at Animationmentor.com and thought I'd share it - not because it will be news to most of you, but rather as a reminder of all the tacit opportunities for career development with which your provided on CGAA via your creative partnerships (yr 1), group projects (yr 2) and minor project collaborations (yr 3).  Guest blogger, Jean-Denis Haas , has this to say about the importance of social skills in an animation career... "Social skills are very important because you're not a one-man-show. You have to work on a team and get along with the group. Everybody is there to help the client finish his/her movie. Every project will go through crunch time, where everybody has a lot do and people are stressed out. It is during those moments where you have to be able to stay calm and get your work done, regardless of what is happening around you. You will depend on other people's help and vice-versa. Again, it's all a team effort...

On one of the latest browsing trips on internet, Ivana came across one of the latest Iain McCaig interviews at COFA. Most of you may be familiar with McCaig's work, as it was featured here earlier this year. (find it on Here ). Iain Mccaig worked in many famous films, from concept and character designs for George Lucas' Star Wars films , Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire or the latest John Carter . He has been in charge to make the world of those films look the way they are. However in this 40 minutes interview, he speaks about getting to draw everywhere, brainstorming, trying new things, acting classes, and a quite interesting insight about story-telling in the latest Hollywood films such as Thor. Enjoy!