Saturday 5 November 2011

Animator Spotlight: Alessandro Nicholas

As promised in a past blog update, here's the first of four spotlights on the animators of S5S. This week's spotlight is on S5S animator, Alessandro Nicholas:

Describe yourself as an animator?
"A 2d digital animator that's inspired by the traditional art of animation but trying to bring it into the digital age."
What are your thoughts on the UK animation industry?

"There's a lot of great talent in the UK and a lot of famous studios and production companies but it's extremely difficult for people to get into the industry when they're starting out. There is very limited resources to help people enter the animation industry, especially in this modern climate with budget cuts and cuts to funding that were there to help animators in the past."
Whats your thoughts on 2D in the world of animation?
"2d animation is unfortunately dying out due to the popularity of 3d animations and films. its still used often enough but unless the animation style is unique and never before seen 2d animation doesn't tend to get the recognition it should be obtaining."

What sparked your interest in animation?

"Games actually got me into animation. i love playing games and as a kid i loved to draw so the idea of being able to designs and animate my own character really sparked on my interest in animation, although in a perfect world i would preferably like to have more of a conceptual role in animations. i have always enjoyed creating characters and creatures, and having the freedom to draw whatever comes to mind, so being able to do that as my job would be a dream come true."

Having graduated earlier this year, what was your experience like as a student?

"University really helped me to understand what i wanted to do with my life and helped me get the skills I'd need to achieve those goals.  the community was great as well as the lecturer's, there was always something around making you want to push yourself harder and up your skills."

A still of his graduation film, Flake

"Developing Flake was a great way to develop my skills with 2d animation as everything i was doing was very new, and in a way i was experimenting with new techniques while trying to make the best of the software and skills i had at hand."

What advice would you give to current students?

"keep drawing, and obtain a great understanding of perspective and basic anatomy. the best skill an animator can have in their arsenal is to be able to draw a character in any position or at any perspective that the story calls for."

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