A go at my Personal Statement

Proposer:	Donna McAvoy
Student Number:	0801883
Programme:	Computer Arts
Specialism(s):	Animation

Personal Statement

Inspiration and Interests

I am inspired by many different things including animation, film, illustration, graphic design, music and almost every area of creative arts.  I would like to undertake an animation project for the honours year and so focusing specifically in this area I am often inspired by animated films that stray from the norm, and are further away from the more mainstream works. For example I could feel just as inspired from watching a short student animation as I could from a feature length Pixar movie. I am hoping to produce and showcase a short animated film for the end of the year.

Career and Creative Aims

I am interested in working in the animation industry with character animation as my main focus for now, but there are a number of areas within the broader industry that I am also interested in and may hope to one day pursue, including production design, cinematography and character design.  I would also consider working as a character animator in the games industry.

Current Skills and Abilities

I have skills in traditional art and have worked with various mediums in the past, but my main focus is now in digital art. The main packages I have experience with are Maya, Photoshop, Flash and Illustrator for 3D modeling, texturing, animating and design with some basic knowledge of rigging.  I also have experience with video editing software (in particular After Effects and Premier) and I have basic knowledge of game engines UDK and Unity.

Skill Gaps

I would like to improve my skills in various areas including design and concept art, storyboarding and develop a deeper understanding of character rigging.  As my main focus is animation I would also like to further my skills in both 2D and 3D animation (through film-making techniques to the practical side of animating and character performance) and improve my knowledge of video editing software. In terms of 3D packages, I have only ever worked in Maya and would like to try other software such as 3DSMax I also have very limited knowledge of sculpting packacges such as Mudbox AND ZBrush but I don't feel this area is particularly relevant to the career path I'm looking to follow.