Lewis Jordan
Technical Animator (Editor, 3D, Armatures, Digital Graphics, Web Design)
As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be an animator.
Being creative has always been my passion, and I enjoy making animations with different techniques.
Animation and film making is in my personality and it’s at the very core of what makes me tick! My first creation was at the age of 8 years which began my inspiration. Stop-motion was the method I used for making that animation, which painstakingly took me hours upon hours of slightly moving each figure and watching my film production form into its final stage of a film.
Creativity has so many fields of direction: when designing; crafting; building; producing and bringing drawings to life. The appeal of animation for me is; there is a vast scope to it and I need to be at the heart of the business that makes history.
At high school animation inspired me to work hard and to achieve high GCSE’s grades in my subjects overall which then allowed me to move forward in my ambition to become an animator.
Trafford College, stood out to me and became the best choice in the stages leading into my chosen career goal.
At Trafford College, my education lead me:
● To create a film showing how to set up a shot for a camera;
● Research the pioneers of film making such as George Melies;
● To do a course of photography, where I created a leaflet for The Trafford Centre at Christmas;
● To create a game in The Un-Real Engine called Candy Planet;
● To create a 2D animation in Flash, where I produced a superhero origin story;
● To do a comic book creation called ‘The Land of the Giants’
These projects, I was very proud of. Some of them allowed me to develop my skills in concept art, which I utilised these artwork and put them into Photoshop (comprehending depth and the colour palette etc.) I enjoyed how I developed the pre-production concept art, which builds via experimental ideas, into a great, detailed Vector image for final product.
During college, I love using my camcorder to make films but doing that professionally would be a dream come true. The person I am today is made from the experiences I’ve had: I had work experience at Bright Future Software, coding a HTML film review website which aimed at pre-teens. They were impressed at how quickly I learned coding from HTML Dog website, as it only took me two days to grasp the concept for coding.
The portfolio of books that I have read and gained inspiration from includes “Write your own mystery stories collection – author: Trish Farrell”, from this I gained knowledge on how to write a good storyline (to make the outline for a good genre for animation), and “The complete animation course book – author: Chris Patmore”, I gained techniques of animation from pre-production to post production stages.
At college, I volunteered my assistance and became a Student Ambassador for their open event where I provided tours to new applicants for the upcoming year. The college received exceedingly good feedback from the representation I gave. Whilst at college, Whilst at college, I created a training video for the company 'Crescent Purchasing Consortium' where I developed a 2D animation based on this 70's Afro character. I developed a 3D animation called 'Loved discovered through a lens' which was given 'Best Original Idea' and 'Runner Up' awards.
With the help of the great teachers at Trafford College, I proceed with excitement and enthusiasm to gain the skills required and I’m eager to gain more knowledge in this creative field of expertise.
At university during my Bachelors...
I’m passionate and motivated to make stop-motion animation characters as well as scenery construction. Aardman Studios inspires me with their astonishing stop-motion animated feature films such as Wallace and Gromit. My favourite part is where they bring to life their imagination, from an original idea to drawings, to model styling, to set development to photography. The skill is in the manipulation of the character, to express a soul therefore bringing to life a realistic personality from movement which is really remarkable.
The next stage of my education was Salford University at Media City, I proceed with developing my skills in animation. Gaining extensive skills in each technique and deciding that Puppet Crafting and 3D environments maybe my way forward but I still adore stop-motion & 3D animation.
After every completed project I do (over my education) a Gibbs Reflective Cycle, which proves valuable information as it allows me to understand how I could improve and therefore raise the level of standard for my projects.
Recently, one of my next projects at University, I will be a 3D modelling of a character then put it into an environment (which will be well-lit); in addition, I will be developing ideas for a client's brief to make a project for them.
Over the past year, I have been advancing my skills in Puppet Development, 3D environment and working in a team, as well as animation development.
So once my MA Degree is complete, it’s on to the career path of to a job in the animation industry to develop my chosen profession of animation and to achieve my lifelong goal. I love being creative and I’m eager to expand the skills needed to be successful in my chosen field. I wish to learn, with and from, like-minded animation crafts men and women to inspire me throughout my training to eventually become a proficient specialist of the craft.
I believe I can become a success in the animation industry and if I can dream it then I can create it. Finally, I hope to have my name in the credits of a professional industry cinema blockbuster, that is my goal in life.