Thursday, 18 May 2017

Position Statement

When I first came to LCA I thought a lot about dropped out. I was terrified I'd never be as good as older students, that I'd never achieve anything and the idea of asking for a wage for my work made me feel uncomfortable. 

Looking back, I had no confidence in my work and as a freelance. However over the last three years of study and meeting the people I have outside of university, I've become a hugely confident, friendly and open minded artist. I've learnt so much about animation, a form of art I'd always loved but never imagined doing and LCA put me in a place where I could take the time to study an art form that I knew nothing about and in the end be able to base my own business off the skills I've learnt. I’ve learnt how to properly promote myself both for businesses and freelancing, including how to safe guard my own pay and work. I’ve learnt how to use software like Photoshop and After Effects, things I never thought I’d even be interested in as I was stuck in being committed to hand drawn and didn’t realize hand drawn digital animation was an option. And above all, I’ve learnt animation process going from concept, to script writing, to storyboarding and animations, to animation and finally promotion and publication.

I'm so thankful that I stuck to it and continued studying - because moving past that feeling of nothing under your feet and not knowing what you're doing 100% can be scary, but getting over that is the best way to learn and I've learnt so much as an independent artist and as a business woman. I plan to continue freelance work as an illustrator, animator and cartoonist. Although tempting studying an MA is, I don't want to drop out of the freelancing business now as I can feel it just starting to pick up. I want to say thank you to my tutors, who have (especially in my final year of study) been understanding and respectful of me and the issues I was having. Thank you and wish me luck.



When I first came to LCA I thought a lot about dropped out. I was terrified I'd never be as good as older students, that I'd never achieve anything and the idea of asking for a wage for my work made me feel uncomfortable. 

Looking back, I had no confidence in my work and as a freelance. However over the last three years of study and meeting the people I have outside of university, I've become a hugely confident, friendly and open minded artist. I've learnt so much about animation, a form of art I'd always loved but never imagined doing and LCA put me in a place where I could take the time to study an art form that I knew nothing about and in the end be able to base my own business off the skills I've learnt. I’ve learnt how to properly promote myself both for businesses and freelancing, including how to safe guard my own pay and work. I’ve learnt how to use software like Photoshop and After Effects, things I never thought I’d even be interested in as I was stuck in being committed to hand drawn and didn’t realize hand drawn digital animation was an option. And above all, I’ve learnt animation process going from concept, to script writing, to storyboarding and animations, to animation and finally promotion and publication.

I'm so thankful that I stuck to it and continued studying - because moving past that feeling of nothing under your feet and not knowing what you're doing 100% can be scary, but getting over that is the best way to learn and I've learnt so much as an independent artist and as a business woman. I plan to continue freelance work as an illustrator, animator and cartoonist. Although tempting studying an MA is, I don't want to drop out of the freelancing business now as I can feel it just starting to pick up. I want to say thank you to my tutors, who have (especially in my final year of study) been understanding and respectful of me and the issues I was having. Thank you and wish me luck.


- Molly Lester, BA(hons) Animation 2014-2017

No comments:

Post a Comment