Exit Strategy

Building upon the future, here is my plan from present till 12-18 months post graduation.

Before Graduation: [Present till Early May 2021]

- Build up my experience as both an animator and background illustrator

- Complete or fully flesh out at least 3 solo projects I can develop post-graduation

- Complete my own animated short and finish it to the best of my abilities

- Finishing designing my foundation as a professional animator, Cv, business card, and a good portfolio which showcases my development and best work

- Learn and practice industry standard softwares, Photoshop, After Effects, TVPaint, Toon Boom Harmony, and Premier.

- Continue to build up and get in habit of streaming on Twitch.

- Revive online presence, start posting my work on Instagram to get the fear of 'bad' art out my mental

After Graduation: [12-18 months post-graduation]

- Settle down as soon as possible and adjust to new environment 

- Spread my wings, put myself out there more and try to find free-lance opportunities through social media or online events

- Obtain the equipment necessary to maintain a less problematic stream on Twitch and develop a stream schedule

- Continue to develop my skills as both an illustrator and animator through working on my solo projects and practicing heavily on industry standard softwares

- Keep posting my latest work and developments on my social media platforms consistently to maintain online presence 

- Be able to earn a living and support myself through my passion of streaming and animating.

Scan the Horizon

    After graduation, it would be most preferable for me to work freelance as I plan to pursue my interest in streaming alongside too. As my plan for streaming will take place throughout the year after post-graduation, the period will be considered as a trial year for my side hobby as streaming. I aim to integrate my knowledge and passion for my animation projects into streaming and create a platform to record my progress and growth as an animator and streamer. Therefore my consideration in fully indulging within the animation industry as a part of a full-time studio is not that great. 

    Currently my dream role would be able to work free-lance on some projects that would allow me to show the work being worked on stream and also get a form of royalty and credibility. I am currently intrigued in background illustration and would not mind taking part in building up that skill. However, I would also like to build up my skill as an animator therefore both regarding those aspects would be my main focus. Job opportunities or offers will mostly be gained through either Instagram or FaceBook as there are many groups and communities that are catered towards specific aspects. My main goal would be to self sustain and gain salary through working free-lance on projects as well as streaming those on Twitch, having a two way income. 

    Linkedin will be a great helping hand for me to connect with professionals directly. Social media in general will be helpful too in terms of self promotion and getting my work out there to gain recognition. Moreover, animation events such as MAF will also be a good opportunity to network and engage with professionals.

    As COVID is something that needs to be heavily considered, I would want to stay within the UK and find opportunities online for now. Ideally, moving to Canada would be my first option as it's also a place where animation is more prominent compared to Hong Kong. And that would take away a lot of issues regarding requiring and signing up for VISA in the UK. However, if the latter was not possible, I would mostly move to London and settle down there as the central of UK would most likely have more opportunities for me as an Animator. 

Network

    Attempting to widen my horizon I tried to connect with people who are artists, animators, or creative directors who have worked with or are working in companies that I want to be a part of in the future as an animator. 

My Linkdln Account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-lam-529826182/

List of Attempted Contacts:

1) Chengwei Pan [2D Animator, Concept Artist] 

    Pan is an animator/concept artists who worked at Riot Games. He would be a great connection to have and would be insightful for me to learn about both 2D animation and concept art as I am interested in both fields.

2) Blair Armitage [Character Artist at Riot Games] 

    Armitage is a freelance artist who worked with Riot Games as a concept artist. She would be a great connection opportunity for me to learn more about character artist.

3) Lorenzo Colaiori [Animator - Riot Games] 

Colaiori is an animator who specialises in CG Character animations. His connection with Riot games and having worked on a cinematic short Ryze: Call of Power for Riot Games was what 

4) Ross Tran [President of RossDraws / YouTuber] 

    Tran is a public figure and creative director. He is known for his wide range of illustration and digital art tutorials on YouTube. Moreover he recently started his own animated series featuring characters created by him, building a universe upon it. If possible, this would be a project I will want to be a part of.

5) Gregory Sharp [Creative Director at Truba Animation]

    Sharp is one of the co-founders of Truba Animation. He has directed and worked on the infamous show 'Rick and Morty' and they also worked on the animated music video 'Childish Gambino - Feels Like Summer'.

6) Adam Deats [Associate Director at Powerhouse Animation, Brady Games]

    Deats is the associate director of the Netflix series Castlevania and Blood of Zeus. Both of which has been an eye opening experience as they were able to encapsulate immersive storytelling and characters which got me hooked onto the show.

7) Bagus Y. [2D Fx Animator at Axis Studios]

    He is an animator which specialises in 2D animation, specifically high octane action sequences. He has animated a scene from the series 'Animator vs. Animation V' which was directed by Alan Baker.  

8) Rory Alderton [Animation Director on League of Legends Wild Rift]

    Alderton is an animation director on the mobile game 'League of Legends - Wild Rfit' derived from the infamous MOBA [Multiplayer Online Battle Arena] League of Legends. The renewal of in-game models and animations was a refreshing experience compared to the character models and animations from the MOBA. 

9) Yixing Qin [Animator, Character Design - Lilith Games] 

    Based in Shanghai, China, Yinxing Qin is a Masters  Surprisingly, I was able to connect to her through Linkdln recently. She works at Lilith Games which is known for their infamous mobile game 'AFK Arena'. 

10) David Stodolny [Character Animator at Walt Disney Studios]

    Stodolny is a character animator at Walt Disney Studios. With his wide asset of skills ranging from traditional animation, to film and directing, it would be a great learning experience  and opportunity to form a network.

List of Networking Events / Opportunities 

1) MAF [Manchester Animation Festival]

    Having attended this festival annually, it allows us to view early screenings of projects with other animation students and even directors. As directors and professional animators gather for this event, it is a great opportunity for exchanging and networking.

2) Asian Creative Network [FaceBook]

    This group on FaceBook is an Asian based community which allows individuals to share and promote their work and passion. The community is filled with diversity and doesn't only limit to Animation or even Art students. This would be a great opportunity to network with people in general to self promote and gain a following. 

2) Animation Jobs [FaceBook]

    This group on FaceBook is aimed towards animators, posting and promoting various job opportunities for anyone that are interested. As they post daily, there will be a wide range of jobs that will be open and available for me to take part in if possible to build up my experience.

3) Instagram

    As I am aiming towards free-lancing post graduation, posting more frequently and being more active will allow me to build my online presence more. Moreover as I use instagram actively I will also be able to connect and look for opportunities directly.  

4) Fiverr

    Fiverr is a website catered towards online hiring. People post their work and their services such as creating a 10 second animation short for a set amount of price, and depending on length and quality, the price varies. This allows me to work on short and small projects and complete requests under self set guidelines. 

5) Twitch 

    As I am more active on Twitch as a side hobby, ultimately I aim to create a platform not only catered towards my own hobbies, but also animation. Although this platform is not known to cater towards artists but more so personalities, I aim to one day build a community which cater towards both. I aim to stream my own work progress and develop solo projects and showcase them to a community that I've built, hopefully inspiring others who are interested in animation too.      

    Moreover, as this site is known for gamers, some gamers do develop their own game. Specifically, a streamer named Boxbox is developing a turn based card game and is looking to hire some part-time artists who will help create his game. I aim to take upon that opportunity and hopefully land a role to build up my experience and portfolio.