#integrated practice

For this module, I was tasked with creating an artist portfolio of my previous and current work suitable for viewing for a professional client - including a digital website with curated production artwork (URL link + Screenshots in a PDF or PowerPoint) either on Adobe Portfolio, Wix, Artstation or Behance, as well as a 90-second Showreel MP4 – representing my current and appropriate work to my area of interest, and a Behind the Scenes Video to be uploaded as an MP4.

Task one was to fill out two forms: a Skills Audit and a Swot Analysis to analyse my strengths and weaknesses as an artist.

The hardest area to fill in was 'external threats'. This broad category can include many things, such as equipment I need being unavailable through to natural disasters. Still, I filled out the SWOT analysis to the best of my ability and submitted it to Blackboard.

Next, I searched for animation jobs on Screenskills.com. I also looked at Upcity.com, a company job-hunting site.

My first choice for a career would be that of a storyboard artist. I have some experience with storyboarding in the past with other projects, such as with my short film Animatic, River Snake. It’s an entry-level job, so it could be a viable option as an industry ‘first foot in the door’ position.

Junior Animator is another viable career option. Specifically, frame-by-frame digital animation and stop-motion animation. Even though I'm talented with frame-by-frame 2D, this medium involves a variety of programs in which I'm not as well versed as I am in stop-motion software like DragonFrame.

And I do dream of being able to direct or be the head writer of my own projects with a professional company one day. I feel I have a vivid imagination and creative vision that I'd want to express on a mainstream project.

One studio I found on upcity.com was Kilogramme. A studio that specialises in "adverts, title sequences, museum pieces, explainers and public information films on any subject". I liked their look since they do 2D frame-by-frame animation. I could find viable work there. I have always been a fan of informational short films like those on the Ted-Ed YouTube channel, so it would be a great opportunity to work on similar types of short films.

Mighty Giant was a studio I would also consider working for. They specialise in motion graphics and, like Kilogramme, also have done some frame-by-frame 2D projects. I’m not quite as keen on working for this studio as I am for Kilogramme, as most of their work consists of CG animation, a medium I'm not well-versed in. I will still consider them as an option, though.

After this, I was tasked with looking at the different websites and website builders I’d utilise to host a portfolio.

The first website I looked at was Behance. A website owned by Adobe which caters to both professional and amateur artists. The tutor recommended this as good for students such as myself, but I was weary of working with websites and software owned by Adobe. While I am willing to use it at my school as it's considered an industry standard, I disapprove of the company's practices, like the increasingly high prices of their software. Hence, I was hesitant to use it at first.

Artstation was another website where I could create an account and post a professional art portfolio. It has a sleek and professional look. However, the website mainly caters to professional concept artists, so I didn’t know if it would be the right place for me, as an amination student, to host my work.

I also considered DeviantArt, one of the first websites dedicated to hosting art and artist's portfolios. Sadly, though, it isn't as widely used or as popular these days compared to the 2000s and early 2010s, so I thought it wouldn’t be wise to use it as a portfolio site to showcase my work to modern clients.

Ultimately, I chose Behance to make a website on, as I am familiar with Adobe products. Additionally, I wanted to expand my skills by building a page on a website I hadn't used before.

I then created a showreel for my Behance portfolio page, compiling short clips from the animation work I am most proud of and the work that best represented my current artistic abilities.

Although the teacher showed us examples of other artists showreels which showcased only one or two mediums the respective artists were good at, I decided that I'd show a mix of my stop-motion, 2D animation, puppetry, storyboards and sketchbook work to showcase a range of skills.

For the editing, I decided that instead of the film dissolve I used for the transitions of my previous videos and showreels, I would be more experimental and use a swipe transition. I felt it gave the showreel better pacing and a sleeker feel. I also gave the parts with my sketchbook sketches a page flip transition to give the impression of someone flipping through a sketchbook and shake up the film's repetitive format. Overall, I was quite happy with how the showreel turned out.

After this, I compiled a presentation and wrote a script showcasing all the work and research I had done so far during this project.

I was proud of myself for this presentation, especially considering how little time I had to work on it due to being busy with other projects. When it was my turn to present, I knew my project well and spoke off-script. I think it came out great despite not having the time to put more planning into my delivery.

Another aspect of Integrated Practice was recording material for a behind-the-scenes documentary on the film, Thin Ice,  my team and I made for the Creative Collaboration project, including making promotional materials/merchandise such as posters. Due to some minor miscommunication, I was briefly confused about my job role in production art. I thought I was going to make the backgrounds and some thumbnail sketches for poster designs; however, my teammate Hung had done a few of those already (mainly the poster sketches). I messaged the group, and we were able to clear this up; Hung was to do the backgrounds while I took care of the promotional poster design.

After I made the poster in Adobe Illustrator, I made a second website on Linkedin, where I posted links to my other artist accounts. And vice vera include a link to my LinkedIn on Behance.

After this, I made a PowerPoint presentation that I could convert to PDF with a link to my Behance webpage. I had trouble with this because the website was inaccessible when I clicked on the URL. As it turned out, the URL behance.net/briannamcarthur was already taken, so I changed it to behance.net/Brianna_mcarthur. And after transferring the PowerPoint to a different computer to test if the link would work there, it did.

Throughout this time, I filmed several time lapsed videos on my phone of me working on creative collab to use in the documentary. I took these from my phone along with the videos Hung and Dennis uploaded to the Creative Collab shared folder and compiled them together in Premiere Pro for the documentary. I also included my own commentary recorded on my notes app. I ran into a problem when Dennis included footage of him working on the animation which was over ten minutes long. So, I adjusted the video speed to at least 2000% speed so it would feel more like a timelapse. Once the film was put together, I realised it went over five minutes, which was the maximum runtime required on the brief for the documentary. So, I had to significantly cut down the film footage wherever I could to fit it into exactly five minutes. This was tough as I felt this hurt the pacing of certain parts and scenes, such as the b-roll of the Lightwaves Festival. But I am satisfied with the result overall.

I was tasked with creating a 3-5 minute behind the scenes documentary on the making of the short film I worked on for Creative Collaboration, Thin Ice.

I shot various time-lapsed videos of my work on Thin Ice and combined them with videos Hung and Dennis had uploaded to the Creative Collab shared folder and compiled them together using Premiere Pro.

I added a commentary I recorded on my notes app.

One of Dennis' films exceeded 10 mins so I adjusted the video speed to at least 2000% speed, so it would feel more like a timelapse.

In order to submit the Artists Website for assessment I made a PowerPoint presentation with a URL link to my Behance webpage.

During class we were taught how to create the effects for a title sequence in a film. Particularly useful skills for our Creative Collab film projects.

Although wasn't tasked with editing for Thin Ice I will definitely utilise these tools for my future film projects.

As part of this module I was tasked with giving a presentation on what type of career I wanted within the animation industry, which animation studios I would particularly want to work for (and why) and present my newly built online artist portfolio, which included links to my social media accounts.

When it was my turn to present, I mostly spoke off script and, using the slides I had produced as guides, I described the work I am, so far, most proud of, what studios I'd like to work for (mainly Kilogramme Studio for its 2D work and Mackinon & Sandars for its diverse stop-motion), and how, while mainly specialising in digital 2D and stop-motion, I didn't want to be put in a box as an artist. Showcasing in both my presentation and my showreel that I can work in a diverse array of mediums and styles, including live action puppetry.

I was tasked with looking at different websites and website builders I could utilise to host an artist portfolio to showcase my work.

The first site we looked at was Behance. A website owned by Adobe which caters to both professional and amateur artists. They say its good for students such as myself, but I am wary of working with websites and software owned by Adobe. While I am willing to use it at my school as it's considered industry standard, I don't approve of some of the company's practices like the increasingly high prices of thier software and their support of AI data scrubbing and NFTs. So I don't know if I'd be comfortable using an Adobe website as a host for my portfolio longterm.

Artstation was another website we looked at as an option. can create an account and post a professional art portfolio. It has a sleek and professional look. But the website mainly caters to professional video game concept artists, so I don't know if it would be the right place for an animation student to host their work. Plus, the website did get into controversy somewhat recently for data scrubbing the artwork of its users for ai generated images. Although they did give users the option to opt out of this data scrubbing, the fact that they'd even consider doing this to thier users sets off red flags for me.

Other options I have are DeviantArt, one of the first websites dedicated to hosting art and artists portfolios. Sadly though, it isn't as widely used or as popular these days compared to the 2000s and early 2010s, so I'm unsure if its wise to use it as a portfolio site to show modern clients. But I might be open to using it.

I can also use a website builder such as wix or squarespace. I have used wix before, so I could use it again for this portfolio.

I coud also use a social media I already use, such as instagram or Tumblr.

Instagram would be a good option as a portfolio site. I already have an instagram account where I upload some of my art, so I could either make a side account to use as a portfolio or convert the existing one into a portfolio.

I was tasked with searching for animation jobs on Screenskills.com. As well as taking a look at Upcity.com, a company job hunting site, to seek out animation studios looking for staff.

This process helped me to think about what job roles I'd want to persue in a proffesinal animation setting as well as what studios within Manchester I would most like to work with.

My first choice for a career would be that of a storyboard artist. I have experience with storyboarding through previous projects and I have been told I have a natural talent for effectivly telling stories through it. It is also an entry level role, so I believe it could be a viable option as a first job.

Animator is another viable option. Specifically, frame-by-frame digital animation and stop-motion animation. Stop-motion is especially of interest and I would feel confident working in this role. Though I'm talented with frame-by-frame 2D, there are many different softwares I have yet to learn and I am currently better versed using DragonFrame for stop-motion.

And of course, I do dream of being able to direct and/or write my own projects with a professional company one day. I feel I have a vivid imagination and a creative vision that I'd want to express on a mainstream project.

One of the studios I looked at was Kilogramme. a studio that specialises in "adverts, title sequences, museum pieces, explainers and public information films on any subject". I liked the look of them since they do 2d frame by frame animation. Of which I feel I could find viable work there. Not to mention the animations they showcase on thier website look wonderful, with a diversity of artstyles. I myself have always been a fan of inforamtional short films like those on the TedEd youtube channel, so it would be a great opportunity to work on similar types of short films.

Mighty Giant was another studio of interest. They specialise in motion graphics and, like Kilogramme, also have done some frame-by-frame 2D projects. Though I'm not quite as keen on working for this studio as I am Kilogramme, as most of thier work consists of cg animation, a medium I'm not well versed in, I will still consider them as an option.