Steven Swanborough a freelance motion designer came in to my college to talk about his work and his experience with getting into the industry to my class as he is a student from stockport college on the motion design studio in 2011.
He showed us the presentation he held at the last Glug event held in manchester which is an event held ever so often for the local design and creative community. He explained how he defines himself as more of a generalist than a specialist as he works with all ranges of design platforms and techniques instead of just specialising in one area (this is probably something that also helps with his freelance work and flexibility).
He spoke about how his show reel from university has changed so much looking where he has come to now and said that we just need to keep working even if we don't feel fully self reliant at this point with regards to skills.
We also spoke about about looking and asking for work experience and for jobs and he mentioned that manchester is a very friendly design community and that we shouldn't be put off searching for opportunities within the industry and spoke about how he went round places with his cv that he had screen printed to make it stand out. This is something i could consider with my cv or to consider presenting my work or getting my work shown in a way that stands out.
Another thing he told us about that inspired me was when he explained how he got a job at the neighbourhood (a studio in manchester he worked with since he graduated university before he became freelancer). He explained that the day after his deadline day he went round to 15 studios handing out his cv and showreel and as he was doing so invited people to his final year show, which kind of would give him a second opportunity to grab their attention as well and have a chance to speak to them in more informal relaxed environment whilst still showing the work. This is something i am going to do when my final exhibition is drawing near as i thought it was a very clever way to gather more of an audience for the show. The neighbourhood ended up hiring him for paid internship and then hired him full time from there, so he was able to get a job practically straight from graduating university which is something i would like to try and achieve (or some kind of placement set in place).
I should also after having this talk consider more about my attendance to animation festivals within the area and getting more involved within the community as steve mentioned that the majority of contacts and clients he now works with have been who he has met whilst at these events. He also mentioned that this is where animators come and discuss and share there work with each other so it is good for inspiration and to get to know the other people within the industry and becoming known. Motion north and Glug are two animation events that he mentioned were good to attend.
I thought having Steve in for this talk was extremely helpful as it was good to speak practically one to one with somebody who was in the local industry as he has been stockport and manchester based and therefore his experience of traveling through the industry was closer to home and even started to help with getting to know and hear about the people in the existing community more.
He also showed us some of the work he has done and one thing that stood kurt when he was discussing his work was when he mentioned that he decided to make a brand for himself to promote his work as this is something i have been considering doing. Perhaps setting up my own website to display my work and have a professional way of showing potential employers my work. I could link them to my website and have my show reel on the home page so that it can be the first thing they see to display my work to them easily but then after they have watched it they could travel around my website and encourage them to spend longer looking at work i have done/ showing my strengths to them.
I then went onto find his website to have a look at how he has organised and designed the space to get some inspiration for when i come to do my own.
When you click on the website link this is the first page that comes up. It gives you adoption link to go to his site and and option to click on the showreel, with a showreel of still of work he has made as the background images. He has also used his brand logo that he has m,are on this page and kept it simplistic. I like how this is simple and easy to navigate with out the user feeling like being on the website is going to eat into their time, yet still manages to persuade the viewer to have a longer look (with the option for the website link).
On the website link there is then the portfolio page in which you can click on each individual project he has worked on and see a description of who it was made for and why and then the development of the work and some research etc (so showing work surrounding the pieces as well). this is good as it shows the amount of work that has gone into each project and gives chance to highlight more of what has gone into the projects.
There is also an 'About' link on the website that gives information about him as a designer and what kind of work he does. I thought this was a clever way of showing this (by giving snappy titles to each section of work keeping it all quick and simple and stylised to read).
I also liked how on the clients link on the site he had put the logo brands of the clients he had used again making the page more enjoyable to view while still getting the information across (with as little reading as possible).
Before Steve Swanborough spoke about himself and his work he had chance to look at some of the work i have done and the project i am working on so far and was able to give me some feedback on it.
He suggested that i shorten my silhouette forest piece or add more narrative which is similar feedback to what i have received previously from other designers and shows that this is defiantly something i should alter with this piece. He also suggested making the movements of my character animation smoother and less jolting which would make the flow of the piece look smoother, he also told me that my idea for the project i am currently working on is good and that considering i am using c4d to create the animation i should try and go for a more stylised approach as this would add interest and creative feel as well as uniqueness while also not highlighting my weaknesses with regards to the level of skill i have when using the programme.
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