Monday Oct. 13th – Had a briefing with Isobel Stenhouse for our first live brief. I honestly didn’t get everything right away as I was in a very loud cafe, because I had to go straight from the meeting to work. However I did get to familiarize myself more with what would be expected of us and I knew I definitely wanted to do this brief. We also got to ask Isobel about her background and experiences in the industry which was informative, however just as disheartening as it has been talking to anyone in industry recently. All of these speakers talk about how they got amazing training, and all the people that taught them so much in their early roles where someone took a chance on them. But after speaking to several seniors at InMotion, it seems that no one wants to or has the budget to train new artists… So my question is: where the hell are we supposed to get these experiences??? I get the same answer from everyone that’s just ‘Keep trying.’ ‘If you love it don’t give up.’ and ‘Make the things you want to make.’ But errr, none of that pays my rent…
Isobel also mentioned many online training corses that were very pricey when I checked. The numbers she gave us were much lower than what they actually cost. I find it very difficult to understand how so many of these people are able to take all the training courses they talk about, as well as breaks when they experience burnout. I can’t imagine there’s enough money in Animation to be able to save anything so I truly wonder where all these ‘savings’ are coming from. I understand that with university costs I have to spend a lot more than the average worker, but even with my part time job I NEED the money my parents very kindly saved for me to survive. When I have to be working I can’t see how living in London will ever be sustainable unless I can get a stable job.
Tuesday Oct. 14th – I spent the day working on a card I offered to design for my parents for their 25th wedding anniversary (congrats!). While my Mom tries her best to avoid using AI both due to environmental concerns and the fact that both her children work/study as artists negatively impacted by genAI, she isn’t always able to identify it. Companies prey on people who’s eyes aren’t trained to see AI in order to get away with using cheap bad art. She had sent out some save the dates she’d made on a website without realizing that the images on it were AI generated. I had a conversation with her and she apologized clarifying that she didn’t know, and didn’t mean to do so. She had wanted to ask me to make something for her, but as I have been really busy she didn’t want to give me more work. I explained to her some of the things to look out for, and then offered to redo the card. I don’t like to do work for free, but obviously for my parents I would do it. The only problem is that I really didn’t have the time to the card I ended up making is not of the highest quality I can produce. I hope however they can acknowledge the meaningfulness of having me do this card (regardless it looks better than the slop that it was before). My mom said she felt really bad for not noticing, but it really wasn’t her fault. And she just didn’t want to add to my workload. I wish companies would consider the ethical and environmental impact of their choices and stop praying on the less educated to make a quick buck. It’s disgusting.
Wednesday Oct. 15th – I spent Wednesday finishing off the card from the day before and then went to LCC to catch back up on emails and scheduling. I also met my brother to pick up posters for his show, for which I will be producing projected visuals.
Thursday/Friday Oct. 16th/17th – I was at work. I also heard back from the ScreenSkills traineeship. I was unsuccessful in my application which I was upset about, but honestly I’ve just come to expect now. It’s hard out here.
Saturday Oct. 18th – I went to Thorpe Park with my roommates. It made me wonder about becoming a scare actor, I think it would be fun.
Sunday Oct. 19th – I honestly can’t remember what I did on Sunday. Definitely slept in, then I believe I was working on cosplay stuff for Comic Con.