Their story, in their words….
My animation project was a very ambitious attempt to stretch my drawing capabilities and creativity whilst also incorporating new skills such as film and media production. I had never tried something like this before and wanted to challenge myself to see what I was capable of when going outside my comfort zone. I believe I was able to showcase some of this through the work I have done on my animation so far, however, I also acknowledge that I underestimated the size and scope of my project and how that would affect the outcome.
The Successes:
I was able to create an animation that incorporated different angles and characters and experiment with scenes, pushing my drawing abilities much further than I ever had before. This was my first time creating an animation so complicated and with multiple characters.
The Difficulties:
I didn’t complete anywhere near the amount I had planned to which was very disappointing. A combination of underestimating the scope of the project and technical difficulties played a big role in the incomplete outcome. Even with the amount of work I had done (which was far from the expected length) my computer struggled to run photoshop and keep up with the number of frames I was using. Even though I made attempts to reduce the number of separate frames by duplicating/ elongating frames, the programme began to slow down and even crash, making the task more difficult than I had ever expected. However, although this was a serious set back, I also believe that had I managed my time as effectively as I had planned to, I would have been able to achieve more of what I had set out to do; regardless of technical issues. Therefore, another valuable lesson I learnt was that I needed to readjust plans as I went along and adapt to changes and difficulties more effectively instead of losing motivation.
Conclusion
Although I was not able to achieve what I set out to do, I did learn a lot about animation and how to use Photoshop to animate sequences. Furthermore, the outcome I did get is more than I have ever been able to achieve in animation before. Overall, this has been a very valuable experience for me and I look forward to sharing what I have managed to do with others through my social media as well as promote the Mark Evison Foundation. Despite not being able to finish the project in time I will still continue to work on it in an effort to keep improving my skills.
