About me
As a kid I was always into drawing, usually little cartoons or tracing comics. I loved designing sportswear & futuristic trainers ( I'll have to dig out some of those designs, that'd be a laugh).
I was really into football & two of my favourite comics were Roy of the rovers & Match which had a 'design your own kit' competition. I remember getting someone to photocopy the blank kit template and would spend hours coming up with ideas for all kinds of teams. I loved animation in all forms and would get my mom to set the VCR & record all the late night animations on Channel 4. Occasionally they would play Luxo Jnr or Reds Dream.
I'd like to say that by the time I left school I knew I wanted to be an animator, but that would be a lie. I knew I wanted to do something creative, that was for sure. I'd won a design award at school for some company & been taken to Germany to see their headquarters. So I went to Art college and trained in all areas including fine art, photography, illustration, product design & even textiles.
By the time I hit University I was starting to get interested in Animation, but it didn't seem like a feasible career path. It just seemed way too difficult to break into, too small a field & way too complicated. There was no youtube at this point either, no online courses, no help available.
Instead I selected graphic design, thinking it was the kind of thing I could get a job in when I graduated, which was very grown up of me I think. Little did I know how much I'd hate it, how the the lack of creativity would leave me unsatisfied with my work. Having a teacher that clearly didn't want to actually teach just cemented it for me in the end.
At this point Toy Story had recently been released & it re-kindled my interest in the medium. I became an avid reader of CGI magazine. It also made me think I had just as much chance of doing animation for a living, as being a bad graphic designer. In truth, at that point I was naive enough to think I could do anything. Hay, I even thought my band would get signed at some point.
Unfortunately, my University did not have the teaching skills to help me in 3d. My animation lecturer was a video editor / puppeteer. There was a set of silicon graphics machines in the middle of the IT suite that literally no one knew how to use, or even turn on (I kid you not). So I got my first and only student loan, and spent most of it on a crash course in 3DS Max, down in London. The rest went on a new pc that could run max, a trip to New york, and a fair amount of Guinness. The course in London was not exhaustive by any means, but it was enough for me to return to Uni, & blag to my lecturers that I was now an expert. I convinced them it was now perfectly safe to let me do my final degree project completely in 3d.
After graduating It took me about 2 years to actually get into the industry. I wrote hundreds of letters & e-mails. I applied for anything that used animation....games, architecture firms, Tv, educational, car manufacturers. Over that time I did some soulless jobs but they all helped me to spur myself on, get a better reel together & get noticed. Even now those jobs give me a fresh perspective on how fortunate I am to be doing what I love for a living.
I initially got a six month contract at Blitz games studios as a level editor. The pay was peanuts, but it was more peanuts than I was currently earning delivering sofas. Over the 6 months I was hungry to learn everything, and just attacked every challenge because I loved making games. I pestered them to the point they gave me a full time contract & a junior animator position. From there I learnt most of my skills ( from other more talented animators) & progressed through junior, regular, senior & finally Lead animator. That was the position I held until the dark day blitz abruptly shut it's doors.
Still, what seemed like a blow at the time has turned out to be a blessing. I'm now working at the very cool facepunch studios on exciting projects & getting to animate all day.
I was really into football & two of my favourite comics were Roy of the rovers & Match which had a 'design your own kit' competition. I remember getting someone to photocopy the blank kit template and would spend hours coming up with ideas for all kinds of teams. I loved animation in all forms and would get my mom to set the VCR & record all the late night animations on Channel 4. Occasionally they would play Luxo Jnr or Reds Dream.
I'd like to say that by the time I left school I knew I wanted to be an animator, but that would be a lie. I knew I wanted to do something creative, that was for sure. I'd won a design award at school for some company & been taken to Germany to see their headquarters. So I went to Art college and trained in all areas including fine art, photography, illustration, product design & even textiles.
By the time I hit University I was starting to get interested in Animation, but it didn't seem like a feasible career path. It just seemed way too difficult to break into, too small a field & way too complicated. There was no youtube at this point either, no online courses, no help available.
Instead I selected graphic design, thinking it was the kind of thing I could get a job in when I graduated, which was very grown up of me I think. Little did I know how much I'd hate it, how the the lack of creativity would leave me unsatisfied with my work. Having a teacher that clearly didn't want to actually teach just cemented it for me in the end.
At this point Toy Story had recently been released & it re-kindled my interest in the medium. I became an avid reader of CGI magazine. It also made me think I had just as much chance of doing animation for a living, as being a bad graphic designer. In truth, at that point I was naive enough to think I could do anything. Hay, I even thought my band would get signed at some point.
Unfortunately, my University did not have the teaching skills to help me in 3d. My animation lecturer was a video editor / puppeteer. There was a set of silicon graphics machines in the middle of the IT suite that literally no one knew how to use, or even turn on (I kid you not). So I got my first and only student loan, and spent most of it on a crash course in 3DS Max, down in London. The rest went on a new pc that could run max, a trip to New york, and a fair amount of Guinness. The course in London was not exhaustive by any means, but it was enough for me to return to Uni, & blag to my lecturers that I was now an expert. I convinced them it was now perfectly safe to let me do my final degree project completely in 3d.
After graduating It took me about 2 years to actually get into the industry. I wrote hundreds of letters & e-mails. I applied for anything that used animation....games, architecture firms, Tv, educational, car manufacturers. Over that time I did some soulless jobs but they all helped me to spur myself on, get a better reel together & get noticed. Even now those jobs give me a fresh perspective on how fortunate I am to be doing what I love for a living.
I initially got a six month contract at Blitz games studios as a level editor. The pay was peanuts, but it was more peanuts than I was currently earning delivering sofas. Over the 6 months I was hungry to learn everything, and just attacked every challenge because I loved making games. I pestered them to the point they gave me a full time contract & a junior animator position. From there I learnt most of my skills ( from other more talented animators) & progressed through junior, regular, senior & finally Lead animator. That was the position I held until the dark day blitz abruptly shut it's doors.
Still, what seemed like a blow at the time has turned out to be a blessing. I'm now working at the very cool facepunch studios on exciting projects & getting to animate all day.
