Week 12 - Conclusion

Reaching week 12 we are nearing the half way point to our final year, my showreel is complete and I feel ready to present it this week. In my first blog post back in week 1 I stated that the job role I wanted to aim for was the role of an animator. This job has been a dream of mine since I was 9 years old when I discovered for the first time you could draw cartoons for a living and get paid for doing so. Since then I've been fascinated by the development of animation, I would watch the DVD extras of Monster's inc and Jimmy Neutron and be simply amazed with how they would go from a simple drawing of a character to the final 3D model in the film. As I got older the more i discovered about the development of animation. It wasn't till getting to University and actually working on my own projects in groups, I then realised how hard it really is.

The whole course for the past 2 years and a half have been preparing us for the industry and the key to getting into the industry is to have a showreel/portfolio that shows off your best work and the skills you have. This is what this module is for. Preparations for this module started with me watching other peoples showreels that displayed their own animation work. These showreels helped me to start planning what work I would like to show off. I had done a few animation related work over the summer however nothing I felt was worthy of going into my showreel. So I started from scratch. I went about using work from other modules from this term and next for example Game Development by using my work from that module to present in my showreel.

Looking at my final block out showreel, I'm happy with the content that I've included. I want to begin work turning my storyboards into final animation the first weekend of the Christmas Holidays. This will consist of building the props like the the roller coaster kart and blocking out the poses for the character.

What's my plan for beyond PPD 1? Well there's PPD 2 which will involve me actually working on and making the animation I have planned in my showreel, this work will begin over the Christmas holidays. The sooner I start the work the better as when we start back again in January we'll have a brand new module to start and I'll be well into my dissertation by then too. The other reason I will start my work soon after I finish this term is if I do have the time near the end I would like to possibly work on some more short animation clips to go into my showreel. That's of course if I have any time spare at the end.

But thinking even beyond PPD 2 for example post graduation, what happens then? Mystery? Looking back over my previous posts for example my blog referencing the graduation speech Rich Moore gave to graduated students. In that video a famous directors speaks confidently that his first job in the industry was working as a prop artist for the "Care Bears Show". This was a job he admits isn't what he thought he would be doing before he graduated but that job helped him break into the industry which lead him to a completely different path to The Simpsons.

Relating this to me, I wouldn't be put off ever working on a project similar to the "Care Bears" as the end of the day it's a job in the industry. Experience is key in the industry, countless job applications I've looked at relating to the job role I'm aiming for all at least asked for 1 - 2 years experience in the industry. This I don't have, so to turn down a job or project because the concept or theme doesn't appeal to you is the worst thing  I think you can do, as it'll give you experience in the industry. This route into the industry does appeal to me and I would be more than proud to be starting a career that's been a dream of mine.

Exit Plan
My plan for when I leave and finish the course would be to have a finished and well presented showreel displaying a lot of the animation related work. This of course wouldn't be the end of working on my showreel, I plan to continue working and making the showreel the best it can be. A job related to the video games industry would be an amazing opportunity, but however I know it is tough to get a job in the industry straight away from leaving university.

This may lead me to possibly apply for jobs that aren't related to the industry but just as a way to get income in and still continue to work on mini animation projects to work and add to my showreel. I think it's important to do this as it'll keep me improving my skills and help me keep aiming for that dream job in the industry.

Week 12 - Block Out Website

For my showreel I want to create a web page as a base location for the showreel to be placed. A lot of the showreels I've watched earlier in the term had a basic website and home screen displayed the showreel. They also had links to art work and details about the artist including a copy of their CV. I wanted my webpage to have calm colours and not be too load and over the top. I remember one of the first portfolios I looked at on this module, the background colour was bright yellow and I just felt too distracted from the work.

Here's the plan of how I would like my webpage to look like. In total I'm only using 3 colours cream, white and blue. I've also included blocks at the bottom that will lead people to my 2D art work, a copy of my CV and a page where I can briefly talk about myself basically introducing myself. Of course in the is where I would like my showreel to be placed. I want it to be on the first page you enter, as it'll make it much more easier for people to view my work.

This is all could and will change as time goes on and it'll also depend on which host web page I decide to use and the features each has. This mock up above is a target for how I would like my we page to be.

Week 12 - Showreel Presentation

This week I presented my block out showreel to Jon and the rest of the class. In the presentation I briefly discussed why I'm interested in the job role of an animator, talking about the cartoons that influenced me. Next i moved onto talking about what I found out from watching other peoples portfolios on the internet, mentioning that I found the animation related showreels to more like sketch shows that really did entertain me. Which is a good thing as that's what a piece of animation should do. Finally I played my showreel a few times to the audience. I was happy with the reaction and feedback, there was confusion however at the beginning with my first piece of animation to where it was actually set. But once I explained in was set with the character in a roller coaster and not wanting to go on the ride it was clear and it got a few laughs. I have been making a few tweaks to the character diorama (middle) part of my showreel, as part of the feedback I got was that part went on too fast.

Nearing the end of my presentation I talked about that I would be starting to turn my storyboards into full animation by this weekend and over the Christmas holidays. Something I would also like to do If I have the time is to add possibly more animation to the showreel, that's of course if I get on well the animations I plan to do over the holiday.

Week 11 - Beginning my final block out showreel

For my final block out showreel I'll be using Adobe Premiere Pro. This software unlike Windows Movie Maker is a more professional video editor allowing you to use features like picture in picture which lets you display multiple images and videos at once. After playing around with the software and getting a better understanding of it, I went back to my original storyboards and polish them up.

Also in my previous block out I used early rendered footage of a Ninja from Game Development project which I did the animation for, however for my final block out I will use another character which is called the Brute. This is because for the final animations in Game Development I started with the Brute character instead of the Ninja. This could be change as I've begun working on the final Ninja animations and will probably add them in too to show variation. When displaying these in the block out showreel I will render them out in Maya in a plain background like I did before showing screenshot images of the in game city environment from our game at the same time.

Nearing the end of working on my block out showreel and watching it back I felt my first storyboard which contain a character on the phone just wasn't good enough and didn't feel like it made sense. So I removed it completely and started from scratch. I went back onto MovieWav.com and searched for some new audio clips to use. Shortly after I did find a new piece of audio and began creating a new storyboard for it. This new storyboard is based around a man not wanting to go on a roller coaster and he's pleading and begging not to go on it. This will be the piece that will open up my showreel.

Week 10 - Showreel Update

Work on my block out showreel is going well, but still I feel there should be a lot more added. Still researching other peoples portfolios looking at these two specifically. On average they contain around 8 - 9 shots. Each as different as the next and each displaying a certain skill in animation. For example having a character lift something heavy, Interact with another character in the same shot and have running a set of obstacles. This shows that the person who's portfolio it is can do these skills in animation and they are all needed for animation in film and video games.

http://vimeo.com/75099548

http://www.leandroanimation.com/

I feel this might be what is missing from my showreel. I should also note that these animators use different rigs for each shot. This would show that you can work with a variety of different rigs something that you would have to do in the industry, as you can't just work with the same rig for your whole career. Others segments I could add to my showreel could be an obstacle course. 

Here's my showreel so far, comparing it to a few weeks ago progress has been made and after looking at other peoples portfolios I can see what I need to add to my showreel next. For my final block out instead of using Windows MovieMaker, I will use Adobe Premier Pro. 

Week 9 - Professionals in the Industry

In the animation industry there a lot of professionals who've been working on many projects, gaining experience and skills that could help and teach new people entering the industry. This happens in almost any industry, however in animation there are many considered "greats". Walt Disney being one of the first leading the way with new technology and his employees like the 9 old men creating what we know as today as the 12 principles of animation that are universally used in all animated film and video games. My point being that there are many people who have a lot of experience and advise that could really help beginners.

Rich Moore director of Wreck-it Ralph and The Simpsons this year gave a speech at a graduation for recent animation students giving advice from his past and talking about he started in his career.

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7QZY_bkijg

He talks about his main 3 steps to help the students get into the industry. He starts off talking about how he felt on the day of his graduation from CalArts. "What's Next" he constantly thought after graduation because nobody knows what's going to happen next. However after finally getting his first job working on the Care Bears designing props and after working on shows like The Simpsons, Futurama and finally directing Wreck-it Ralph at Walt Disney Animation. So his 3 steps he gives in his speech are what he would of wanted to hear the day of his graduation. Referring back to his first job in the industry working as a prop artist on the Care Bears, it wasn't what he had planned to do in the industry however it's all about taking your first few small steps that will help lead you to where you want to go next.

His next point is about taking risks and his final point is that it's okay to fail. Every film, every game and every task you do isn't going to be amazing. We will fail sometimes but we shouldn't dwell on these moments, but instead learn from these and hopefully improve ourselves from these moments.

What I took from this was that it was reassuring to hear this from someone like Rich Moore. The points he makes seem obvious, but expecting to succeed and be amazing straight out of education and be working at a dream studio like Pixar or EA is highly optimistic. Referring back to what Rich Moore says there's simply no shame working on projects like the Care Bears or Hello Kitty. They might no be what you were expecting but it's experience and you'll learn so much from working at a proper studio, that the skills you learn from these could help you to getting that dream project.  

Week 9 - Showreel Progress

My aim for Mondays lecture is to have an early version of my block out showreel done. So I've already begun planning whats going where however I needed to start to figure out what information I'll have on screen to help explain how my final showreel will play out next term for PPD 2. Here's what I have so far.

Show reel plan

Panel 1 – opening with my details

Jordan Peel

Showreel

My e mail address

Panel 2 – Advanced 3D Graphics

Here I’ll be show various images from the web that would hopefully replicate what I may be producing next term.

Other details on the screen will be stating that for the final model I will have it rotating and fully textured and rendered.

Panel 3 – Super Collateral (Game Dev)

Next will be my Ninja animation from game dev. I’m hoping for the final showreel I’ll have the character running in the environment. However for block out I’ll have the character rendered from maya. The animations I’ll show will be the run, jump, idle between other animations and punch. Also on this panel I’ll state that the model was made by Cemal and the rig was done by josh.

Panel 4 – “Staring at me”

This in the block out will be a animatic storyboard based on a wav audio file. On the screen I’ll state what rig I’ll be using and where the audio is from. Also that the animation will be fully rendered in a basic background to set the scene.

Panel 5 and 6 – phone call.

Same as panel 4

Panel 7 – Independent studies

Panel 8 – My details again. 

Week 9 - Showreel Review

As the deadline for PPD 1 is getting nearer, work on my block out showreel really needs to start kicking in. I have a basic idea of some of the key content I'll be showing in my showreel for example Advanced 3D Graphics project, Game Development work, Independent Studies work and a few small animations using the Max for Maya rig. To try and get a better understanding of how other people present their work in a show reel I went back to researching show reels to see what makes other people's show reels stand out.

http://vimeo.com/71648286

One show reel I really enjoyed watching was one by artist Chris O'hara. His showreel contains a variety of 2D short animations hosted by a wide range of characters from Lions to bears and a post box. Why I liked this so much was simply funny it was, in total there were 7 animation shorts each very different and hilarious. The total running length of Chris O'hara's showreel runs at 2:27 minutes that's including the opening slide displaying Chris O'hara's details at the beginning. The humour Chris O'hara has in his showreel I would love in mine, a lot of showreels can seem very bland and have humour like this can lighten up the whole video.

From what I've noticed early on especially with the animation related show reels they are very character based and in some way tell a story with the characters. With the animation showreels they're more like a very short sketch show and they try to entertain you (like a piece of animation should).

An important element to an animation showreel is showcasing your understanding of the key principles of animation. It doesn't matter if your animation you show isn't fully rendered or textured, if the key principles aren't there then its no good.

Week 8 - Day of the Mock Interview

Today was the day of the mock interview and this gave us the second chance this term to practice being interview by others in our class and interview them. Earlier in the week I decided on the job role I'll be applying for which was the role of an animator at the Walt Disney Animations studios in Burbank California. Here's the link to the application from the animated jobs website: http://www.animatedjobs.com/animationjobs/animator-walk-disney-animation-studios-burbank-ca/

Also for when I interview someone in my group I prepared questions that I would ask them before hand. At the start I went with the most common questions like "What are your strengths?" "What are your weaknesses?" and "Why should we hire you?". Then I did try to recall questions I remember being asked when going for proper interviews in the past. "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?", "What inspires you?" and "What's your greatest achievement?" are all questions I've been asked in the past in interviews and they are all questions that I feel can't be answered in just a sentence. They give way for you to really open up about yourself and give the interviewer a clearer picture of you. Using these questions in the task really helped us .

In the end I found the task today helpful as it keeps you thinking of how you'll answer typical interview questions properly instead of your mind going blank or saying "I don't know" which would be disastrous in a real interview. It was also a lot fun to see how your friends react to being put on the spot.  

Week 8 - Paths to Pixar

While watching the bonus features on the new Monster's University blu-ray there was one feature called "Paths to Pixar" which has Pixar employees talking about how they landed a job at Pixar. What I found most interesting about the video was one employee Kelsey Mann who's a story supervisor at Pixar tells us he has had so many rejection letters from Pixar, but it never stopped him from constantly improving his portfolio and show reel. He also says when he received rejection letter number 20 it stated that they "enter content" which gave him more encouragement to keep trying and not to give up. This video shows not only how hard it is to get a job at a studio like Pixar, but how also if you put the hours in and keep working hard you'll reach your goal.

   

Week 8 - Job Advertisement

For this weeks mock job interview task I've been looking through some job advertisements related to an animator position at either a film/television studio or video games company. I've been looking at a few animation/3D related job websites. Websites that I looked at were http://www.animationbase.com/ and http://www.animatedjobs.com/ through their Twitter page https://twitter.com/animationjobs. In total I've found around 10 animator positions at various companies and at various locations that I found interesting and I wanted to apply for.

One job advertisement I found was at the Walt Disney animation company in Burbank. I found this on the Animation Jobs Twitter page (https://twitter.com/animationjobs). One of the main requirements for the job is to have 2 years production experience, but for this class task that doesn't really matter. They list that the preferred software is Maya or any other related software is welcome. Also key requirements needed is a great understanding in visual storytelling, believable emotions, character weight, physics, staging and timing. Here's the link to the job advertisement: http://www.animatedjobs.com/animationjobs/animator-walk-disney-animation-studios-burbank-ca/.

This would probably be the job advertisement that I'll use for this weeks task as it's a great example of a dream animation job at one of the biggest animation companies on the planet.

Week 8 - Mock Interview

On Friday we have a mock interview again in groups like we did a few weeks ago. However the last time we did this we weren't told until that day, whereas with our next mock interview we've been told a few days in advance. This is so we can find a job advertisement based on a job role we would like to apply for when we finish the course. Once we've found one, we then tell the others in our group who will interview me and they'll ask interview questions based on the job role. I'm going to be findings job adverts for animators either for video games or film and television. 

Week 7 - Show Reel Plan

This week I began to plan out my showreel more visually. In Windows Movie Maker I created a rough plan of my showreel and the contents within it. For the final plan that I will present to the class, I will use Adobe After Effects to create a more polished looking plan. I will also be using Adobe After Effects for my final showreel at the end of the year. In my plan I have roughly guessed how long clips will play for in the show reel for example for my Independent Studies Animation short I've set the time for around 30 seconds.

There's still more storyboards to add and at the minute the show reel stands at just under 50 seconds. Previously I set a target for the show reel to last between 1: 30 to 2:00 minutes long. This time set was based on other showreels I had researched earlier in the module.
So far the contents of my show reel include:

• Advanced 3D Graphics Project
• "You staring at me" Animation
• Game Development Animation Work
• Independent Studies Short 

Week 6 - Story Boarding

Looking back at my original plan I made a couple of weeks ago, a lot more has changed to the work I want in my showreel. Last week I sent off my ethics approval form for my Independent Studies project. The title of my Independent Studies project is the Comedy Techniques in Animation: Comparing the Golden Age to Modern Day. The end result will be a short film that will be presented to an audience and this will see which jokes works.

As this will be a well presented short film I feel this will be perfect to have either at the beginning or at the end of my showreel. As the main job I want to get in the industry is an animator, so for my showreel I want to focus on showing my animation. However with the project 3D module next term we will be working on an environment based on a piece of concept. However this could be something character related too, but I'm still 50/50 on this. Because if I work on a piece environment and I place it in my show reel which will be animation related it may feel a little out of place. But if I create a character in a small diorama, this wouldn't be a huge stretch and it wouldn't feel out of place too with the rest of the show reel.

Looking back to week 4 when I began planning my showreel out, I had planned a few small animations that wouldn't be any more than 10 seconds and to add variety. here's a storyboard of one of them I did a few weeks ago.

To display these and other animations I have planned I will work on them as animatics. Animatics are a moving storyboard that help plan how my animations are going to play out. It's a widely used tool for example at Walt Disney Animation in there feature films and short films. Here's an example of them for the feature film Tarzan. In this video the storyboard animatic and the final finished film are played at the same time.

My animation ideas were planned a few weeks before deciding on an idea for my Independent Studies module were I'll be having a short animated film looking at comedy techniques. At the beginning when I was looking at others show reels I found that they would have small animation clips that felt like they were from scene.

Week 5 - UK Animation & Games Industry

After looking at the New Zealand animation and games industry for the past couple of weeks, this week I wanted to look at the what the UK has to offer. In total there are over 4, 700 people who work in animation in the UK, this number covers 2D, 3D and stop motion. Most studios will concentrate on one discipline, were as some studios like Aardman Animations will use all 3.

One way of starting out in the industry is being a Runner. Also known as production assistants this is a apprenticeship approach where animation skills are gained from experienced artists at the studio. Some skill in drawing, animation and 3D modelling is expected, however your jobs will be delivering and collecting materials and helping out around the office. The experience and skills gained from doing a job like this I think are invaluable. Being able to see how everything fits together and getting feedback of your from people who work at the studio can  help you become a better artist. http://www.creativeskillset.org/animation/overview/

Further looking into how to get a job in the animation industry I found an article by Dr Val Williamson giving some interesting advise. http://drval.over-blog.com/article-animation-85867517.html
 The first paragraph discusses getting the correct qualification to get into the industry. also having a show reel displaying your work and having a done a dissertation based around animation will look good on your CV. These are things I'm doing already for example the show reel I've started to plan out and basing my dissertation on animation. The article also talks about animation festivals as being a good way to network and gain contacts with people already working in the industry. This would include events like Game City which I've been to many times, however there are animation focus based ones happening all the time for example the London International Animation Festival that's taking place this week.

Week 4 - Show Reel Plan

This week I've begun planning my portfolio showreel that I'll present at the end of the term. I want my show reel to be mainly animation based however I would have my 3D environment from the module Advanced 3D Graphics. This is my plan so far:

Plan – Aiming for around 1:30 to 2:00 minutes approx

“Staring at Me” Animation

“Make 10 louder” Animation

3D Environment – turn around

“Resume” Animation

Super Collateral Animation – Rig and model done by Josh and Cemal

Independent Studies Animation 

More will be added at a later date as I collect more ideas. For the animations I've planned so far that contain dialogue I'm using the website http://www.moviewavs.com/. Up to now I've it to be a reliable website to use and offers files that are compatible with the Maya software. I've also been considering what character rigs I'll be using for some of these animations I have planned. For past work I've used the Max for Maya rig. however I would like to use other rigs for some of the animations as this would show variety in my show reel.

Week 4 - Looking into more Animation studios

Looking more into Oktobor Animation, I came across an interview with Rob Dififlia who's head of production and Bruce Everett managing director. One question asked was "Is New Zealand's tertiary institutes producing enough graduates with the skills you need to grow Oktobor?" In his answer Rob says "A lot of the graduates come to us as a first step in animation." This shows that Oktobor Animation understand that students coming from animation courses need a jumping point to begin their career.
http://www.idealog.co.nz/blog/2013/04/inside-oktobor-animation

I wanted to see what other animation companies their are. As I was looking at a studio that has a relationship with Nickelodeon, I thought it would be a great idea to look at Nickelodeon Animation Studios itself. http://nickanimationstudio.com/ Based in Burbank California they produce 2D and 3D shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and SpongeBob SquarePants. Nickelodeon also have thier own YouTube channel dedicated to the studio featuring information about being an intern at the studio and the correct way you hand in your portfolio.

Even though the portfolio video is corny at times for humorous purposes it's still gives a lot of insight into the correct ways you need to submit your portfolio for example handing over the correct forms otherwise the studio won't even look at your portfolio. In the video they also discuss the interview process you have to go through to get the job at the studio. However this is fun video made by the interns at Nickelodeon in 2011. Near the end of this video they show a mock interview, this reminded me of a similar task we did this week in the lesson. 1 person was being interviewed while 1 person was the interviewer and the final person took notes. The questions were all done for us and the job role we were applying for was whatever we wanted (for me an animator) at the company Mind Candy (http://mindcandy.com/).  

Back to Nickelodeon this video involves interns being interviewed about their day to day job. In the video they discuss the positives of being an intern at a studio like Nickelodeon. Being able to talk to artist who have worked on your favourite shows and being able to get feedback on your own portfolio are just some the amazing factors to being an intern at the studio. At the end of the day it's all about who you know. They also brief us what the average day consists of for an intern for example naming storyboards and sending animation done to other studios like DreamWorks Animation.

Week 3 - New Zealand and Australia Gaming Industry

A group task for this week was to look into what the gaming industry is like in other countries. In my group we looked into the gaming industry in New Zealand and Australia. I focused on New Zealand and while looking I found a lot of interesting facts. Both New Zealand and Australia have a greater focus in developing mobile/tablet and social media games rather than AAA titles. The industry as a whole is not very big at all. A survey took by the New Zealand Dame Design Association shows that in 2010 there were 186 people working in the gaming industry, that grew in 2011 reaching 289 people and finally in 2012 there was 367 people.  From looking at these results it's only expected to grow even more in 2013.
 http://www.careers.govt.nz/jobs/information-technology/game-developer/how-to-enter-the-job

An article found from the New Zealand Herald Chris Harris the founder Ninja Kiwi states that there are "huge opportunities" for the individuals and companies looking to create games for people on smart phones. Ninja Kiwi was founded in 2006 by brothers Stephen and Chris Harris and since the company grown to 40 people. Ninja Kiwi made $5 million in it's last financial year mainly thanks to the game Bloons Tower Defence 5 that reached number 2 in the IOS charts in its first week.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10883915

From the looks of things the industry is on the rise even though the community is small it's gradually increasing. Outside of the lesson I wanted to research what what it's like getting a job as a animator in New Zealand. http://www.careers.govt.nz/jobs/creative-design/animator/job-opportunities Using the careers website as before, I found the animator role however it's also includes Illustrator too. Comparing this to the game developer role the numbers are a lot bigger, in 2012 the total number of people working as a animator/illustrator is 754.

It also states on the previous website it's harder to get a into this kind of field in the gaming industry. Majority of animators are employed full time, however some work as freelance and contract work. With the gaming industry and companies themselves being small in size it's expected for them to have very few jobs in the animation sector as many companies are developing app games. However I did come across an article about an animation company called Oktobor Animation. Oktobor Animation produce computer animated shows like Kung-Fu Panda, Pengiuns of Madagascar and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Nickelodeon Studios. These are really big shows based on huge movies and are viewed by 400 million households around the world. All this really attracts me to possibly consider New Zealand.

I wanted to look deeper into the company Oktobor itself. Going onto their company website, I was able to find various information about the company. On their website they state all their contact details and addresses so you are able to personally give out your portfolio to them or email and call them. Even though this isn't a company that makes video games I would still be interested in working for a company like Oktobor working on TV programmes or even movies.

Week 2 - Portfolio Research

Home work set from week 1 was to find examples of good and bad portfolios. When browsing through portfolios we had to consider the talent of work shown and production quality of the website. When I began researching, I went back to early showreels I had watched when researching ideas for my Specialist 3D project. Something I only noticed till now was the audio that played in the background of the animation was really off putting. A couple of months ago when I last watched these show reels I had watched them on mute at University. The music constantly changed in levels of volume and to the point when you were not concentrating on the animation any more.

Next I wanted to find a show reel that showed off their animation without the need of any music in the background. The next portfolio I came across was this portfolio by Hanna S. Abi-Hanna. Her portfolio displays her amazing animation and illustration work.

http://www.habihanna.com/

When you enter her website you are first greeted with a homepage, here there are links that will take us to the artists portfolio/work, her resume and there's also an option if you want to email the artist. In her show reel the work varied from 2D to 3D animation and also showing the animation in various stages of progression. This is a great example of how to do a show reel correctly.

http://awtcurtis.com/

The next portfolio I looked at was by Alexander Curtis. The work shown on this website looks really cool, however why I choose it as a example of a bad portfolio was because a lot of the content was restricted and required me to log in with my Vimeo account details. I don't have a Vimeo account and was unable to see majority of the content. however what I did see looked good.

http://erikrios.wordpress.com/resume/

With this portfolio my first impressions were that the background was too yellow and wasn't very appealing to the eyes at all. The work that was there was good, but there wasn't much of it or any variation like the other portfolios. I also noticed that the layout of the images was very lazy and there didn't seem to be any care in how the images were laid out. One final note is when you first enter the website the first image you are greeted with is a cartoon version of the artist. I feel maybe some of his best work should have taken centre stage here and not an image of himself.

 

Week 1 - Introduction to the Module

Your portfolio along with your degree are two key factors to help you getting a job in the industry. A portfolio can come in various styles depending on how you want to present your work. It could be a series of renders edited together to make a show reel. It could also be a website displaying still renders of your work at the highest quality possible.

For me I would like to work as an animator in the video game Industry, I would even consider film and television too. The best way to display my animation related work would be in a show reel. 

The end target for PPD 1 is by week 12 to have a planned out showreel annotating what will be in my final showreel which is the final target for PPD 2. This I will present to the class and hopefully gain feedback to help me as I go into the next module PPD 2.