Natasha - prior to joining Whitenoise as a senior animator, what first sparked your passion for animation and motion design?
From a very early age I knew that I was going to do something artistic for a career. I was always drawing, doodling and making. My parents have always joked that I’ve never really grown up as I’ve always been a big lover of cartoons and animated films. The idea of creating something and bringing it to life was a concept that was really exciting to me. When I was accepted into Ulster University to study 3D Animation, I had no foundational experience creating animations, as my school offered very traditional art classes, so everything I learned was during my time at University.
There was a lot of healthy competition in my class, because everyone was so talented, which made me push yourself creatively and bring out the best of my abilities. I leaned heavily on After Effects for 2D animation and motion design at University, and after graduating and securing my role at an advertising agency After Effects was my bread and butter each day. I learned how versatile the software was and I continued to expand my knowledge and skills from there.
Can you walk us through your creative process from concept to final animation?
The process usually begins with us getting a brief from the client, whether that’s a zoom call or an in person meeting. Once we have the initial brief of what they’re looking for, we are able to ask any questions and dig deeper into aspects we need more understanding of, want to explore in a more visual way or need to develop abstract visuals to communicate.
From there I like to look through folders of inspiration and references I have saved from other creatives in my field (Behance, Dribble and Pinterest predominantly) to help give steer my ideas for the project. Then Ciaran (fellow senior animator) and I create style frames or mood boards to give to the client which are sample visual representations of how the script could be animated to gauge what creative direction and style they want to take the project in.
Typically our style frames and moodboards hit the mark (subject to a great brief and asking the right questions during the scoping phase!) or require minor adjustments. Once the client is happy and they have decided on their style, the next thing we do is secure the approved script and from there we storyboard each of the frames which they will see in the final animation. Supplying that to the client for review allows for any final tweaks - typically technical details, ensuring representation and also accurancy of processes, product features or messages being communicated. Once the storyboard is signed off, we jump straight into action and animate the storyboard - transforming static art into a thoughful and intentionally paced video, with music, professional voice over and sound effects bringing the whole piece together.
What is most important in animation is that each stage of the creative process is confirmed and signed off before moving onto the next, which ensures that we’re all on the same page throughout the project.
What animation trends or techniques are you most excited about right now?
One of the trends that is popular at the minute is the blending of both 2D and 3D mediums, with the likes of movies such as Into the SpiderVerse, The Wild Robot and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A lot of studios now are focsuing on creating very heavily stylised and unique animation. They adopt techniques such as reducing the frame rate, incorporating hand painted textures and using gritty comic book style effects throughout to add a dynamic feel that viewers find intriguing. By combining the techniques together, they are creating something so visually stunning and interesting for the audiences that aniamtion has become a conversation topic again. These are ultimately the films that are stand out in a market that has been filled with increasingly photorealistic 3D animations in recent years. Seeing that variety excites me because it offers even more inspiration for how I approach my client and personal projects, keepingmy work fresh and ever-evolving.
What advice would you give to aspiring animators entering the industry?
My advice to anyone looking to enter the animation industry is to make sure you have a showreel or a portfolio handy to grab at any time. Make it concise, with your best pieces of work front and centre. You don’t need to include everything you’ve ever made in it - only use the good stuff! Always update your showreel every year with new pieces of work that you are proud to show off because you never know when that project will get profiled online and lead back to you, and maybe you will be contacted for freelance work, so you need to be ready to send your work.
Save inspiration. Bookmark websites that you find inspiring. I like to use Behance and Instagram to save designs, illustrations, animations that I think are really lovely and maybe someday I’ll use that as a reference for a job that comes along. Make it part of your job to go back and review them regularly.
Passion projects are also really important, as they help you improve your skills and experience in your field. You might find you are only creating corporate work through your professional role, and want to build up your portfolio to include more variety or styles, so the best thing way to do that is to work on passion projects to fill your showreel with work that you want to attract more of.
When I started University, I felt so behind compared to so many others as they already knew a lot of softwares that I’d never used before. I would advise any budding animators that if you’re passionate about animation, keep going with it and invest in yourself. Everything you are pursuing will come in good time as you continue to learn, so have ambition but equally don’t put too much pressure on yourself. It is a fantastic industry to work hard in.
