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Character designer and aspiring director, R'Shaun Blackwood has an obsession with the weird and humorous. He approaches animation with the idea that it should be something that people can escape into instead of seeing the real world looking back at the viewer. He says: "Animation can take you anywhere: to fantastic medieval worlds or on interplanetary journeys." To break the feeling of reality in his work, he implements methods such as character breaking and rubber-hosing, to allow his work to feel less like it wants to mimic reality.

R'Shaun intends to use his experiences with social media and his creative abilities in hopes to bring people together through his work. When asked why he aspires to create, he replied: "Since iconic characters and their shows helped me connect to so many people who have made an impact in my life, it feels right to do the same for others with my creations."

@brionytheartist

As an artist I specialise in illustrating and 2D hand drawn animation, mainly digital but also on paper. I usually use Photoshop or TV Paint, I have also used Procreate on the iPad to create animations and illustrations. I’m still figuring out my style, but it’s usually comedy, and I use characters with exaggerated features that look non-realistic. I also enjoy making anthropomorphic animations. An example of this would be the characters that I designed for my final film, which are a salt and pepper pot that are a slapstick comedy duo brought to life in my animation. When working in a team, I’m quite versatile as an artist and often take on many roles. In previous projects I have worked as the director, animator, character designer, storyboard artist, scriptwriter and worked briefly on concept art. Even though I specialise in 2D animation, I’m happy to give other styles a try and work to the best of my ability to achieve a high-quality outcome.

cameroncookart.wixsite.com

Cameron Cook is a 2D character animator who specialises in dialogue sequences which include lip sync, body language and gesticulation. He also has experience in storyboarding, writing and character design. Cameron has won a D&AD award for his work with the Beano, and in previous years has had his short films – 'AfterLives' and 'Stupid Question', both of which he directed – showcased at various film festivals, including the Oscar-qualifying Encounters 2019.

@_irngi

Rory is a 3D artist with a practical understanding and knowledge of rigging and facial performance. A multi-disciplinary animator with experience animating 3D, 2D, and stop motion.

tamarajadehardy.wixsite.com

“WANDERER”, song written and performed by The Silk Collective.

Tamara Hardy is an illustrator and animator. Her interests lie predominantly in 2D, with a high visual appeal in textural, colourful design. She loves character analysis and storytelling, but her passion lies within creating beautiful visual worlds in which the character exists. The art direction for the world she created in this piece relied upon a cohesive colour palette, full of complementary colours.

Tamara animated, directed and produced this music video, along with a talented team of designers, storyboarders and animators. Her vision was to capture the personal emotion of the artist and her desire to explore the world, find her place within it and her peace within herself.

The video shows the journey of a girl who is vulnerable and lost, symbolised by this unfamiliar environment she falls into. Colourful, random shapes surround her to denote her confusion. Symbolism was very important in this video, showing her growth and adaptation to her environment that she felt unnatural in. The koi fish is used as the ultimate symbol of courage – as he swims encouragingly around her, the girl’s spirits are lifted, guiding her along the right path.

@justhannahreally

Hannah is an aspiring Storyboard Artist, originally from Portsmouth. Throughout her time at Leeds Arts University she has celebrated various successes such as an RTS Yorkshire Student Award Nomination in 2020 for ‘Crook Takes King’, as well as winning the SYIM International Animation Challenge 2019 hosted at Rubika in Valenciennes, France.

“For my final year at Leeds Arts University I decided to fully pursue storyboarding as my main practice. This allowed me the opportunity to be involved with a variety of final films from my class. It was tough to decide on what to present at the End of Year show, with my role being so collaborative across projects; in the end I’ve created a shot by shot comparison reel to show the development from boards to film. Each film offered its own unique challenges, and I had a lot of fun collaborating with all my course mates. I would definitely recommend checking out all of the films in their entirety.”

‘Heart of Stone’ is still currently in production and is scheduled to be released later this year.

artizhambusiness.wixsite.com

Presenting the work of Leeds and London based 3D artist and illustrator, Zhama Jumbo. Zhama is an avid explorer of 3D character modelling and animation, and continues to grow in this skillset as he takes it on as his main profession. He also works with standard commissions as well as company rebranding, and illustration is one of the most popular outlets amongst his clients. Zhama also has an extensive portfolio peppered with briefs from musicians.

morgmess.wixsite.com

Morgan is a storyboard artist and character animator, interested in composition and comedy, working with the Adobe suite, Storyboard Pro, and TVPaint.

He has produced storyboards for several projects these last few months: “Why the Bear Is Stumpy Tailed”, a stop-motion film based on a Norwegian folktale, directed by Emma Williams; “Ribeira”, another stop-motion animation about a surreal journey along the riverbed in Porto, directed by Pypah Santos; “Wanderer”, a 2D hand-drawn animated music video, directed by Tamara Hardy; and “Lights Out”, a 3D GCI animation following a lonely firefly, directed by Catriona O’Donnell.

Morgan has also worked a character animator for Haraldur Pétursson’s “Heart of Stone”, in which Medusa sings her stone heart out.

catrionadesign.wixsite.com

Catriona is a 3D Modeller and Animator from Northern Ireland. She has a passion for creative storytelling and is actively seeking new ways to use her 3D skills in projects for animation, pre-visualisation or illustration. 

prathikp.wixsite.com

Prathik is a generalist animator and illustrator with a focus on character and effects animation. Coming from a multi-cultural background – born in India, raised in Uganda and based in Leeds – he loves telling stories from all sorts of perspectives. He enjoys exploring the different mediums he can use to tell these stories too; everything from stop-motion-ketchup, through 2D tradigital, to paper cut-out fire effects. He has taken on different roles in the projects he’s worked on, but primarily thrives in the production and the post-production sections of the animation pipeline. Some of his recent work, 'AfterLives' (2019), has also had success in the festival circuit, being screened at festivals around the world.

tisarahman.wixsite.com

Having been born and raised in Saudi Arabia before studying medicine at an army medical school in Bangladesh, Tisa has led quite an interesting life! Despite it all however, there has never been anything more exciting to her than the magic of animation. So, better late than never, here she is following her dream many years later and loving everything to do with 2D animation.

Her specialist interests lie in storyboarding, 2D character animation and compositing, but she has experience in other parts of the animation pipeline. She has even directed a few projects, one of which won a D&AD New Blood Award in 2019. The transformation from doctor to animating doctor has been a fantastic journey, and she can’t wait to see what more she’ll discover in the industry.

@pypahs_art / pypahsart.com

I’m a 2D and stop motion animator and director. I’ve specialised in 2D animation but decided to do my graduation film in another medium as I love trying out different mediums while animating. Whether it be stop motion or 2D, making things move is what brings me fulfilment.

This short film is set in my hometown in Porto, Portugal. The area of Ribeira is one of my favourite places on the planet and I wanted to make my final film a homage to my culture and upbringing. The short features an old lady, Fernanda, who is taken on a dream-like journey through the beauties of Ribeira by a giant fish. Fernanda has a life changing realisation that she’s not as happy as she could be and starts doing more of what brings her joy.

www.wackydoodledevon.com

This 2D animated short was based around the concept of ‘Nostalgia’ and how the world could look through a rose tinted lens. The aim was to create a heartwarming and family based narrative that could be presented in a visually compelling way. A lot of thought was put into differentiating the styles between reality and memory during production. As a result, the audience is able to become totally immersed in the story depicted without the need for dialogue or language barriers. 

@petra_inspired

My practice involves working with traditional mediums and techniques (primarily watercolour, acrylic paint, needle felt and polymer clay) to build sets and puppets to tell a story. I believe the traditional materials I use have a certain beauty which allows the audience to feel a connection to the piece.

Depicting the unreal using real, physical materials is a concept that has fascinated me ever since I began my studies. I love being able to turn fiction into a reality that exists in its own world. The short film I created for my major project reflects this.

slugsdonthop.wixsite.com

I am an artist based in Leeds, West Yorkshire who specialises in textile sculpture, puppet making and set building for stop motion animation. From an early age I have drawn inspiration from the natural world and folklore, especially Old English folklore and Norse mythology. My favourite medium for sculpture and puppet making is needle felting because of its versatility and texture. It can be used to create sections of a character or a whole puppet and is something I have been experimenting with for years.

My inspiration comes from the nature I find on walks through the wilds of Yorkshire and the Scottish Highlands, and often the smallest things draw the most of my attention. The tiny world of insects, moss, fungi and flowers is what inspires me to make tiny worlds of my own through the characters I create and the sets I build for animation.