On Thursday 13 January, OQ and Animation student Manon Ludwick treated a group of Queenswood artists to an incredibly interesting and extremely engaging talk on Animation. Manon is currently in her second year at Falmouth University and shared her experiences so far, with invaluable information for aspiring animators and artists alike.

From portfolio organisation and creation tips, to a look into what awaits future Animation students at university, the talk was full of extremely insightful information. Manon also shared what she is currently doing at Falmouth and what she worked on in her first year, ranging from 2D to CGI and stop motion animation. She shared her thoughts on the infamous ‘bouncing ball’ animation and its uses for learning the basics, and revealed that life drawing is, in fact, a necessity!

In Manon’s first term of her first year, she completed a total of three large projects. She discussed what it is like to be the producer of a short film in a group project, illustrating just how demanding, yet rewarding, the process is. Manon also talked about working on scripts and storyboarding, and explained how to go about creating them as a starting point for a complete animation. She shared some truly amazing tips regarding camera angles for different shots and how they can be used, as well as presenting how she was able to create a stunning CGI model background of a vintage kitchen (for which, she revealed, she also designed wallpapers and textures).

Manon also showed us her wonderful process of character design, in which she was tasked with designing a character based on a folklore legend. She talked through the constant changes required – the idea that you begin with will most often will evolve into something entirely different in the end!

The final result was an extremely adorable design of a swing-dancing Owl Man. Manon stated that, during the process, she visited an owl sanctuary for real-life reference to aid her design work and sketched real owls to get a feel of what she was working with, emphasising the importance of reference. She also explained that such experiences in the world can also fuel a creative idea and help develop it further.
Manon also explained how to go about creating a lip sync animation test, talking through the process of how to create certain movements to fit with sounds perfectly.

The talk was drawn to a close with Manon’s own fabulous and incredibly impressive animation show reel and a video of her full stop motion animation, created within a group.

Manon shared truly invaluable and extremely captivating information, and these are just some of the highlights of the talk. It was a fascinating and hugely enthralling experience, not just for myself, but for all who managed to attend. I truly hope that Manon will be able to enlighten future animators and artists once again in the near future.