Animex

Last week I attended Animex for the first time and I have to say it was an amazing week! I went to both the game and animation talks and networking events and took part in Ken Wong's Creative Visualisation workshop. It was great to interact with people who are working in the industry and also hear legends like Eric Goldberg share their experiences. I found it extremely inspirational as both an artist and an animator.

My favourite talks overall were by; Eric Goldberg, Joseph Gilland, Tasha Harris, Florian Zender, Tony West, Ken Wong and Jim Zubkavich.

I also really enjoyed Shelley Page's 'Eye Candy' Session where she screened a selection of short films.

My favourite was 'The Little Boy and the Beast'. I could only find a trailer for it but still worth looking at. Very moving short with a lovely style.

Another favourite of mine was 'The Lost Thing' a short film based on the story by Shaun Tan. Once again I could only find a trailer for this. Great style and an interesting story.

 I also really liked the short 'Mobile' and the stop motion short animation 'The Eagleman Stag' which just won a BAFTA.

Other highlights of the week were catching up with some old coursemates from my BA, Florian being one of them who has now become a successful lead effects artist at Yager! It was great to see him again as well as a few others. I also met some other people on various courses at the Uni throughout the week.

The workshop day was awesome! I got some really nice feedback from Ken Wong on my artwork, which was encouraging! I'm definatly going to make more time for my drawing now alongside my animation work so I can continue to improve and expand upon my current portfolio.

Oh and just to end... Me and some classmates got chatting to a few Disney legends outside the union on Thursday night, and ended up getting photographed. Even though its not one of my better photos I figure its worth showing just for Ed Hooks and Joe Gilland!