Personal Statement

Drawing has been my passion since my early years; I was especially fascinated by cartoons and animations, primarily Disney. The way emotions and feelings were conveyed through the animation really interested me, especially since animation is seen inferior to live action by many. Over the years I moved away from cartoons and developed a deep love of fantasy books as well as taking art up in secondary school, where I experimented with painting, clay modelling, watercolours, wire modelling and textiles, which I was very interested in as I was interested in being a character designer at the time after seeing the costumes in the Lord of the Rings films. When I discovered more serious and mature cartoons like “Avatar the Last Airbender”, an American cartoon heavily influenced by the ‘anime’ style with a great fantasy plot it opened my eyes to animation again and I soon got into anime; the broad range of serious dramatic plots and light-hearted comedies through the genre really intrigued me and I started to experiment with drawing it, mixing the anime art style with my love of fantasy to develop my own style, and using my designing skills to make interesting characters and outfits.

Now at seventeen I have a high understanding of anime and its various styles, my personal favourite anime artist being Tite Kubo, creator of “Bleach”, I love the way he draws men with realistic proportions but still makes them look like anime. Over the years of experimentation my own personal style has developed as I gradually discovered what and how I enjoy drawing the most, although even now I am still improving on it. At fourteen I made a DeviantART account to share my art on the internet and to help myself develop through constructive criticism, I’ve done various “point” commissions on the site for various other members and made many new friends whose feedback has really helped me. Although anime is my primary style I also enjoy drawing fantasy creatures, various landscapes and my own semi-realistic style.

Because of my love of drawing when I finished school I joined Plymouth college of Art on the “Digital Graphics” course as I am a digital artist, I enjoy traditional work but I prefer the control and accuracy you can get from using a graphics tablet in a digital program. When I joined college the course had changed name to ‘Interactive Media and Game Art’s’ which was good as over the holidays I had developed a passion for games like Final Fantasy and was contemplating going into the game industry so it was a good opportunity to try different things and find out what I enjoy best and what career to pursue. Through the first year I got quite into Flash and this year I’ve gotten quite good at 3D modelling, I enjoy doing both these things but I still prefer drawing in general so I decided to become an Illustrator.

Although I feel that I don’t want to go into the game industry, the course “Interactive media and Game Arts” have helped me develop many skills, it has helped me lean how to use many computer programs like Flash, Photoshop and 3DS Max as well as improving my team-work skills, persistence, idea development, time management and focus. Which is a useful add on to my existing drawing, designing and animation skills, also I’m a quick and hard worker which was useful when I first joined the course. If I am accepted into the Illustration course I am hoping to gain a better grasp of the industry through it and develop my style even more through feedback from lecturers and fellow students.