1 – Career Direction

I had a very general idea of what working in animation might look like, but I did not have a clear understanding of the different roles in the industry could be. Through the projects I worked on this year, I realised that animation is not limited to one single skill set, and this helped me rethink my own career direction.

At the moment, I see myself becoming a freelancing artist, mainly because I am still unsure about which specific role I want to focus on. I enjoy doing animation , but I am also interested in graphic design, sewing and textile-related work, mixed media and digital art. These practices often overlap, and I like being able to move between different materials and techniques. Keeping my path open feels more suitable for me, especially at this stage.

While I am not limiting myself to one job title, I have found myself particularly drawn to roles such as storyboard artist and concept artist. These areas allow me to explore composition, colour, and visual storytelling, which I enjoy the most. I also appreciate that these roles often involve early-stage creative thinking, and they give space for a wide range of influences, including craft-based or design-based methods.

Working on projects throughout the course showed me how these roles fit into the wider animation process. For example, when I experimented with rough storyboards in my own film, I realised how helpful it is in shaping the tone and structure of a sequence, even before any animation begins. It also made me more aware of how important visual development is in building a consistent artistic direction. These experiences helped me understand why these positions appeal to me.

Overall, I am still exploring my professional direction, but freelancing feels like a realistic path because it allows me to continue learning different skills and understand what suits me best. I hope to keep developing a flexible creative practice that can grow over time and lead me towards a clearer direction in the industry.

2 – Roles and Skills

Before this course, I mainly focused on drawing characters concepts and visual ideas, so animation felt like a natural extension of my interests. However, as more animation projects I worked on, I realized that I still lack confidence in animating strong movement and rhythm. Creating convincing motion and understanding timing are areas where I often struggle, especially when the actions become more complex or require a clear sense of pacing. This is something I want to continue improving through more practice and research.

A turning point for me was the LIAF trailer project, where I also took on the roles of editor, compositing artist and producer. Working in these positions introduced me to a different part of the production pipeline, and I found the process engaging. Editing allowed me to experiment with rhythm in a different way through cuts, timing, and the overall structure of the sequence. Compositing also gave me a chance to fixing the mistakes made during animation process , to think more carefully about atmosphere, colour balance and how different visual elements come together in the final image.

Through this experience, I started to understand how important editing and compositing are in shaping the final feel of a project. Even though I originally thought of myself mainly as an animator who draws, I discovered that I enjoy working with post-production roles. These roles let me contribute to the storytelling in a more technical but still creative way. 

This project also helped me see how editing can support areas where I feel less confident. For example, although I struggle with designing motion, working on the edit allowed me to understand pacing from a broader perspective, which I think will be helpful when I return to animating. I would like to continue developing both animation and post-production skills, as I feel they complement each other and help me understand the process in a more complete way.

Overall, this project expanded my view of what an animator can do. It made me more interested in exploring roles like editor, compositing artist, and mixed-media animator, where visual decisions and timing play a key role in storytelling.

3 – Industry Research

During my internship as a game producer assistant, I realized that in the industry, the role is often very different from what I had imagined. Much of the work has little to do with direct artistic creation and instead focuses on communication, problem-solving, and making ideas practical. A large part of my tasks involved coordinating with programmers, updating design documents, and testing features to ensure that ideas could actually be implemented in the game.

Once a game is largely developed, the work shifts even more. Game producer assistant, or we call game planner spend much of their time playing the game, testing features, identifying issues, and suggesting updates. I also played other games to analyze their strengths and weaknesses, using these insights to inform improvements for the projects I was responsible for. Compared to creating new gameplay mechanics from scratch, the focus is more on understanding the target audience and ensuring the game experience meets their expectations. Producer act as both testers and analysts, bridging the gap between creative ideas and practical player experience.

Through this internship, I learned that knowledge from other creative fields, such as colour, composition, and basic animation which could be very useful for future stage, as it allows to communicate effectively with artists and provide meaningful feedback. I also noticed that the industry values flexibility and interdisciplinary skills, many colleagues come from different fields such as animation, graphic design, or even unrelated crafts. This experience gave me a clearer perspective on how collaboration drives creative work in studios and how understanding both the product and its audience is key to being an effective role in industry.