Study task III - professional meeting : James Chapman

I had the lovely opportunity to attend a talk by James Chapman, an freelance illustrator currently working for Brown Box animation.

What set him apart from other professional I've is how similar my own path and thinking is mirroring his, considering the fact that I'm also working freelance and have acquire my own wealth of knowledge about it. The difference between us then was that he was primarily a comic artist and his business thereby is more physical-based ( selling comic books, art, etc) which is a more traditional method, whereas I'm pretty much all digital and illustration focus, and follow the paid-subscription model of Patreon. That being said, his core advices about the pros and cons of working freelance all speak to me dearly, especially the quote below, on which I have built my entire philosophy on working. And of course, seeing your ideas being shared by successful people, will always give you a massive boost in confidence

His story on how he got his current position at Brown Box ( by meeting the art director at an event that was recommended by some one else) also encouraged to take an more active approach in order to achieve similar results.

Other than that , James was an absolute chilled and funny guy, and it certainly translated really well in the works that he showed us !! A very good meeting indeed !

Study tasks II : Networking opportunities

This is a compiled lists of potential events and contacts for networking opportunities that I've gathered from around the web, most of which generally relates to the core pillars of my practice :
Animation, Gaming and Illustration.

Live events

Leeds Illo (illustration) 

- a gathering of local Leeds Illustrator for networking with a sketching event coming up in March

Gamayo (Gaming) 

- Group dedicated to promote Yorkshire gaming industry

Thoughtbubble ( Comic arts events ) 

Manchester Animation festival

Insomnia  64 Gaming festival (UK Biggest gaming festival) -April 19th -22nd

London Games festival

Animex (gaming and animation)

Birmingham MCM

List of contacts :

Many of which are from Roosterteeth studio whom I shared a working relation with and thereby much easier to make contact 

Gray Haddock : Animation head – Roosterteeth

Michael Pedro : Art director – RT

Melanie Stern : Lead Animator – RT

Kim Newman : Lead Animator  - RT

Rachel Doda : Storyboarding artist – RT

Erin Winn : Character designer – RT

Brian K Lee : Associate producer - RT

Character designers : 

Raiko : Freelance Illustrator

Krenz : Illustrator , art teacher (Taiwan)

Z E R O : Senior character design at Riot Games

AnhDang : Character design at Blizzard (Overwatch)

Matte Painters , 3D modellers : 

Gavin Manners : Matte painter , concept artist

Robin Chyo : Senior Concept artist at Sanzaru Games

Joe Gloria : Senior Concept artist at Ubisoft Paris

Hai Phan : Character art outsource supervisor at Blizzard Entertainment.

Study task III : Professional meeting : Virpi Kettu

As part of our course, we had a lovely opportunity to attend a talk with Virpi Kettu - a stop motion animator who is currently operating out of Skipton from her own studios and hear her incredible journey that has taken her through the likes of Aardman studios and BBC. It was definitely a major inspiration to see how places her career has taken her to, from Sweden to Canada and now the UK, which reaffirms my own belief in an international career waiting ahead for me, as well as learning about the challenges that she had to dealt with in each place. In particular, it was an incredibly eye-opening to hear about her work ethics , as well as some of the harsh realities that he had to face in industry, such as having her work changed and altered by the higher-ups, such as the cases when she was working for the Canadian Film Board. Another interesting point was her transition to a freelance and independent type of career from working in major studios, which coincides with moving to a smaller place like Skipton. Her advice on benefits of this decision, such as the higher demand for a lone animator in a small town, as well as more control of her works were incredibly helpful, and serves to shape my future career decision, as I've also now switch to more freelance, Patreon-based profession, after having heard news of major studios that I idolized such as Riots, Blizzard and Bethedsa facing a rough performance or controversies and thereby having to lay off their employees in mass, which was very sad to see. I also asked her some specifics about the business aspect of working independently such as how many project does she takes a year to balance the check. To her credit, although she did try to answer, she ended up just telling all us straight that it was very uncertain, and that it was the reality of our profession, which I actually really appreciate, as I feel answers like those are the ones that truly prepare us for what's ahead. Overall it was very lovely ! 

Study task IV: Horizon scanning

With my time in the UK coming to an end, I think I have a clear and workable idea of what I’m going to do next after leaving here. 

One thing that I am certain of, is my decision to move back home for at least 1-2 years, staying with my family and making up time for the last 5 years I’ve been away. I’m very much comfortable with this decision as staying with my family means that most of my essential needs (rent, food, workspace) are taken care of which also means that I am freed up to concentrate on my art and finding the right employment opportunity. Moreover, one of the benefits that I’ve gain over my time here in the UK was setting my Patreon page, which at its current level is working really well for me and is more than enough for me to provide for myself and contribute to my family’s expenses as well (especially due to the currency exchange rates between the Dollar and the Vietnamese Dong). If possible, it is also the course that I want to take further, working full-time on Patreon. Although I might be missing out the benefits of working job for a local studio, such as health insurance, bonuses or ease of taxation, I gained in much more control of my working hours, the topic of my work (which affects interest in the work and thereby the quality of the final product), and in pay as well (considering the fact that most local artist jobs pay much less than what I’m already earning due to the difference in living costs and minimum wages between other countries and Vietnam).

My other option also involved me going back, but while keeping Patreon as a side earning, I’m planning to find a place in one of the local studios around Ho Chi Minh city. After some initial research, I found that Vietnam in general has a lot of small to medium size studio, with a particular leaning towards mobile games and outsourcing products. I think these places are a good starting point for me to build up professional experience while still staying close to home, with the eventual goal of moving overseas again after around 3 or 4 years for big studios and bigger jobs, such as in China, Japan, Singapore or the US. From my initial searching potential employers in Ho Chi Minh are A-team (a Japanese-funded game studio), Gameloft Vietnam (mobile game studio), Dinlygo,… . There are also some jobs working with local publishers for book illustration. However, I also noticed that much of the jobs listed by these companies tends to be very broad in its role’s definition and encourage the employee to have a much broader range of skill than just a 2D illustration, such as understanding in 3D and Unity. Therefore, I should start building up some knowledge in these areas as well.

Both the options above are also supplemented by any potential contracts I might receive from oversea studios over the coming years. On top of this, I also have lists of places that I might find an opportunity at, such as RoosterTeeth studio in Austin Texas, or Netease and Yostar in China.