PPP2: Creative Presence - Considerations

As a new brief came to being out of the blue, I was amazed at the level of interactivity with the industry this module has assumed. Much like The Thinker, I immediately began ruminating upon a range of creative practitioners that I would be more than elated to interview and get insight for the development and professionalization of my practice. By making a small mindmap where I jotted down every single animator or otherwise I am interested in, I was able to piece together my thoughts and deny any ideas flying away. I wrote down Jan Svankmajer, but was later told that he is a very laconic man that gives blunt answers to questions, plus he does NOT speak English - something I did not know. It is quite graceful that we have tutors that assist us in this journey henceforth without them, I would have contacted Svankmajer on my own and to some extent made a fool of myself. Moving on, since this was assigned before Manchester Animation Festival, there were a couple of practitioners at the panels that I could interview, but none too profoundly relevant to my future visualization of my practice. I figured, since I have to leave the UK once I graduate from my course, I should establish initial connections here but solidify them in Macedonia. Thus, I found a 2D animation studio based in Skopje (my capital city) called Lynx Animation Studio, and discovered that one of my favorite childhood illustrators The Micho (Тхе Мичо) is networked with them. So, logically, I settled down on contacting him since I believe he'll give me the most substantial advice and insight about the Macedonian animation industry, plus I do not doubt that he will decline an interview from a Macedonian animation student. I will begin developing my approach soon, when the time comes for me to approach The Micho in a formal, yet colloquial manner, to siphon the fullest of his friendliness and openness to information dissemination.

PPP2: Manchester Animation Festival Highlights of Study

As Manchester Animation Festival marked its 2nd year of existence, I managed to enhance bits and pieces of my knowledge through the versatile and vivacious panels that featured animations, talks, masterclasses, and films. Every animation that I watched had relevance in context of technique, but also of idea, as I pensively analyzed every animation I liked in order to self-didactically discover the technique and generate an idea. Luckily, I came back from the festival full of inspiration but also confidence hence I differentiated between the student and commissioned animations and compared them to my current skill. Nevertheless, since I am much more immersed in the world of animation, every panel provided a segment of knowledge relevant to my practice - something that I had not known before.

Masterclass: Phantom Boy (Folimage)
During this masterclass the narrative importance of sound was highlighted. In other words, it emphasized the workload of narrative sound can minimize if done effectively, hence it can tell what needs not to be animated in order to drive the diegesis. Furthermore, I got an insight in the dynamic of the sound and how it can insinuate the location of actions within the animation, how close they are happening to the POV, and how big of a driving force they are.

Masterclass: Studio AKA
Although I wasn't interested at first, this masterclass gave a thorough perspective on commercial animation conducted by professional studios that specialize in crafting short animations that fit advertisement briefs. I believe that being able to tactically work within given parameters is an effective skill for an animator since it improves the chances of working flexibly within studios. I was amazed at the polished and smooth embrace of both 2D and 3D animation by this studio, as well as the colloquial straightforwardness of the speaker

Fellowship Award: Aardman
Most important idea I pulled out of this was: "have a crack at something, see where it goes". Other than that, I was profusely inspired by the old stop-motion animations that Aardman have done, specifically the ones that intertwined pixilation - I love that aesthetic because it is more reminiscent of the art of film than any other technique, along with the olden "noise" of quality and the effect it brings.

PPP2: Interpreting and Responding to Commercial Briefs

"Simon the Cat" - example of successful crowdfunding

With professionalism being the main key revolving point of PPP, this lecture set us on the right path in terms of identifying our opportunities and advising us to make the most of them. Furthermore, it gave insight on how to avoid drastic and fatal mistakes within the "toxic system" of the creative practice through organized points and examples. I believe that this lecture had been one of the few where the emphasis was placed on us as individuals and the value of our work (indirectly, focusing on how WE need to value our own skills). Moreover, it stressed out the three situations where a practitioner might work for free - a practice that in itself demeans the value of the individual set of skills an animator, illustrator, or graphic designer has that differentiate him/her from the rest. With charity being a noble cause, one must research the circumstances - is the organization or someone from the organization getting paid? Exposure is promising, however, it is a passive notion that comes on its own, especially to us now as we are in college and have opportunities to get our names out. Finally, the biggest slippery slope of them all: the promise of future work if the work now is done for free. Considering there is no legal binding contract, who's to say that the "work promiser" is not to find someone else and use the same ploy on him/her? With the perfect example that John gave where he jumped into deciding his price for a job without estimating the job cost or doing background research to find out the set standard (or to base it on a personal guideline for a monthly division of income), he got underpaid. This example kind of frightened me and gave me chills because one thing I am afraid of is undercompensation - I have the right to receive the optimum for my work, lest I overwork myself for nothing. The main point being: estimate vs. quotation of price - always go for an estimate and never jump to any conclusions without conducting research priorhand. Everything comes back to research in the end, for being knowledgeable means being in control!

PPP2: The Creative Industries

All these PPP presentations evoke a notion of pensiveness in me every single time, making me more and more inquisitive about my whole practice as well as the industry that surrounds it. This latest talk began with a direct connection to the previous one where the evolutionary phenomenon of creativity was elaborated upon: creativity has been prevalent from the chronicles of man up until this day, only changing in the accessible technologies that have shaped historic and modern cultures. For example, in archaic eras cave paintings and Da Vinci's schematics for war machines signified the creativity of man through paragons, whereas now the same practice can be evidenced in graffiti and blueprint designs of products and war machines, as well. Nevertheless, the most important questions asked in this presentations were, as follows: what is meant by industries? where do I fit in? how do I develop networks? All these questions were asked during last week's presentation as well, however, regurgitating them evoked in me a more concrete, thorough answer - I fit in wherever I can and want, I develop networks for collaborative and interdisciplinary work that fuels my professionality as well as my interest. I believe that the second part of this presentation was much more effective since it introduced a bit of history around the formation of the school of arts, around which an ongoing debate circles about the principles the schools of art adapt in relation to the industry. The presentaton was informative in so that it provided the evolution of the school of art and how it became aligned with the capitalist methodologies of the 21st century from the Atelier System in the 19th century that emphasized the adaptable technique that students assumed. However, I too believe that there should be a symbiosis between the studies and post-bachelor professional practices in such a way that both style and technique are embraced in order to drive students towards focusing on using their specialities for attaining a job. As a closer, we were told to assume cunning and witty strategies in order to pitch and/or make connections, hence the entirety of being a practitioner does not reside behind one's practical skill, but also behind one's social skill to form networks.

PPP2: The Wisdom of Mike Mignola

As I youngster I was infatuated by the immersive realms that comics brought forth to my creative mind as I had a tendency to avoid reality and enshrine myself in fantasy. This phenomenon that I experienced as a kid vested in me the now eternal interest in animation and narratives as I maintained that childlike sense of awe and wonder. Having said this, yesterday Mike Mignola, the eclectic creator of Hellboy along with a myriad of other inked spectacles held a talk at Leeds College of Art - a talk that I found quite invigorating and helpful to my personal practice and development of thereof. He gave insight into his personal growth and experience as an illustrator, pointing out that he had been bad at comics when he had initially started, providing him with the motivation necessary to engage in practice. Furthermore, with his openness to the arts, he went on to try to taste all different ranges of art, not only comics - something that has been time and time again emphasized during our PPP lectures. In other words, just because I study animation does not mean I have to specialize and pursue solely animation - I am a creative practitioner that has the capability of experimenting with interdisciplinary endeavors as art is a whole. Carrying on, one of the most important insights he gave was about the loss of confidence he experienced for 6 years where he got off comics. I say most important because it explored the problem of individual indecisiveness - something that impacts a consecutive and rhytmic practical habit that every practitioner should have - draw every day! Moreover, he showed that personal interest is the absolute best driving force towards developing a solid career: he had made a comic solely for money once, and that turned out not to sell properly. The most important part of this talk was the Q&A session which encompassed around 70% of the whole event - something I was really happy about since he got to answer fellow students' questions as well as one of my own. One thing I really adored about Mike Mignola was his colloquial and straightforward approach to every question where he answered from the heart and did not assume a pretentious proffessionality, but instead came across as a rigorous and honest artist (where he even stated that his design for Mr. Freeze was practically a rendition of an older drawing someone had made for the DC Universe). My question to him in a simplified demeanor was: how do you generate ideas? He stated that he did not pull out ideas from his dreams (as I do) but instead did so from observation of everything around him - bits and pieces. Nevertheless, the most important factor for him was his interest in folklore, demonology, and cultural theology as he is in possession of a library full of books on ancient cultures, from which he not only derives ideas but acquires names for character as he disdains fabricating names (Hellboy being one of the only two he has ever conjured up). Finally, he concluded with his scripting tactic which revolves around him creating the beginning and the end, and then working everything in between. All in all, this was one of the most lovely talks I've been to and it helped me understand the conventions of an individual's practice that reflects my own profusely.

A print that reflects Mignola's style - profuse contouring with ink