- Got an agent after six years of working
- MA at the RCA Did a spacesuit weirdo project
Worked part time mornings and night, pitched ideas for music videos during the day
Did stuff with basic tech eg. making a landscape in photoshop, panning across it in AE
Make work that represents the type of work you want to do
started making more illustration work (prison education thing) 4 hour spot illustrations for the guardian Used to go around and find out who the art directors at the newspapers are, get their email and send them work
Be engaged and get involved
Important to go out and try things eg make products, worst case scenarion you're gonna meet some good people you never know where things are gonna go etc
Peepshow
Started out as just college friends showing each other their work, referring comissions and stuff
- Do live events together, workshops and animation stuffs
- 2013 got a workshop at pick me up
- Working with people can allow you to do bigger scale stuff
figure out what you want and the steps needed to het there. This involves reseatch and asking wuestions poliyely
Learn to write a decent email
did a unpaid trip drawiing sort of thing, turned into a nobrow book when he got back kept working with them after
try try again
pitches don't always work out
Classic Matt leading question: Should illustrators do animation or should they absolutely do animation?
Either make animation work, or at least have an understanding of how your work might move Look at different types of animation, see what suits your work. Also good to show other people's work for pitches so you don't have to make a whole animation for nothing.
BBC wanted a draw on a whiteboard thing, thought about doing collages insetad Motion tests, how would it work together with footage of a presenter (all this work happens before the first meeting). About an hour of animation in total. Got an emmy for it!
Again if you want to do stuff like fancy 3d pipes in space, composite footage of a notebook etc just get someone else in to do it.
Do things well and everything might leads to something else People who work with you on one job will move around to different jobs, they might give you work there
Map of hell Director who did the BBC show referred a National Geogrpahic job on Dante's Hell (with Danny Trejo narrating for some reason)
Filmed dancers in a greenscreen studio, collaged that together with stock footage Even when you're established you will still sit and watch tutorials at night
Keep learning
Stay relevant and all that doesn't have to mean just new technology, eg. he's doing textile stuff
Got a chance to do a japan trip to show the textile stuff
On getting your work seen: Unless you're doing printmaking just make a website, also be a decent person. If you're going to be on social media then know what you're doing, use it to then meet people who can actually get you work. Different industries will care more or less about how many instagram followers you have. Don't spend too much time looking at It's Nice That
Good to be reflecting, think about what you want to be doing Say you want to make a feature film, figure out what the first step in that process would be. Maybe make a short film first etc.
Cons of having an agent: They take your money If you're doing editorial work you have to make a lot of it to be sustainable, becomes harder when you loose a cut Also might not get you enough diverse work or stuff you're interested in working on
Pros are they get you good rates, work you wouldn't find yourself. Probs smart to get an agent in a country where you can't get to and meet people
Also smart to try things on your own first, so when you do start talking to an agent you have some background knowledge, and you can show that there's already a market for your work.