Timeline
A History of My Life With Animation
This page is dedicated to my story from my first brush with stop-frame animation in 2010 to modern-day (as of writing this) 2023 where I have just graduated from The University of Chichester doing 3D Animation & VFX. I love the art form of animation and want to show my progression and progress throughout the years and how far I have come.
2010 : Stop-Frame
For my birthday I was given a HUE stop motion camera and my sister and I made Lego animations and soon I made my own claymation characters and we animated them.
2014 : First Camera
The camera was a Fujifilm FinePix S4200, 24x superwide zoom. Getting my first camera from my uncle started my love of photography. Which I would go on to study, leading me to look more at VFX and post-production. Being self-taught in Photoshop, GIMP, and basics in Lightroom and After Effects.
Photography is still a hobby of mine and I just love creating beautiful and cinematic shots, even experimenting with the technical side with some astrophotography. Creating a larger story in a single frame is what drew me to photography, while animation would allow me to flesh out these stories more.
2015 - 2016 : GCSEs
I graduated my GCSEs with 9 Cs or over in Maths, Science, English, History and more. For my chosen subjects I did IT, Photography and Drama. During my time in IT I loved learning as much as I could about computers both hardware and software. I would also build my own computer and more with my friends. This would also influence my interest in perusing a job working with or using computers in a creative way.
2017 : Performance Acting
Whenever a play was being put on in my school or outside of school I would have to be a part of it. I was always like this as a kid but from 16 onwards I would always audition for the best roles I wanted. In acting, I would always try to make myself as animated as possible to infuse the exuberance of theatre I loved. As well as it being so much fun to over-act and perform.
When animating in the modern day I would always think about how I would have acted that line or movement out in real-life so I will often use myself in reference clips.
2017 - onwards : Photography Jobs
At the same time as my acting, I would be asked to do some photography jobs due to the fact that I was always taking photos in and out of school. Many people were really complimentary about my photography.
I have been paid to photograph three school proms, as well as advertisements, events for my school, and even wedding photography for some people whom I had no prior relationship with, they just liked my photography and I was recommended to them by a friend.
2018 : Youtube and Editing
Like so many people these days I started a youtube channel quite young and would quickly fall in love with the editing process using; Sony Vegas, Premeire Pro and DaVinvi Resolve. Many of my videos would be my friends and I playing games and telling silly jokes. But I loved being able to archive these memories and when editing elevate them to be even funnier. When editing I would always look at ways that 'clips' would work together, with sound, picture, timing and flow.
All factors I would think about in all my animations, thanks to my time and testing of editing.
2017 - 2019 : A-Levels
I studied Drama & Physical Theatre, Media Studies and Photography where I passed them all. Even being graded an A+ in my final acting piece playing the lead Christopher Boone in 'A Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-Time'. While studying Photography and Media Studies I spent my time learning different software's like Photoshop, Lightroom, Sony Vegas and Premiere Pro, in my spare time I filmed shorts with my friends and experimenting with VFX.
2019 to 2020 : Gap Year
During my working gap year, when I had any free time I would be learning Blender. Making cool renders and basic animations like bouncing balls, and idle characters. Then I would teach myself asset creation making game weapons, robots, everyday objects and experimenting with simulations like fur, fire, and fluid.
I took a gap year to learn what I want to do in my future, career wise, and all this extra work helped me realise that animation was what I wanted to do in the future.
2020 to 2023 : University
In 2023 I have just finished my final year of University, studying 3D Animation & VFX. I loved my 3 years studying the medium of animation and learned so much that I can't wait to continue this into a career. Some of the modules I studied were Body Mechanics, Previz, Acting for Animation, and Cinematography in VFX.
Making many connections both inside and outside the industry, I feel prepared for my future in this field to learn more. and put my knowledge to use.
2023 : Freelance
After finishing university I started doing some freelance work, as well as, my own projects to keep working and advancing my skills while job searching. One job I've been working on is a short film called 'Dropping' to promote a TV show concept.
Another job I have done is rigging a stylized character for an ex Aardman animator who was trying learn more CGI animation in Blender.
