To the
Animation Workshop
My
name is Josephine and I´m a 21 year old girl who´s assigning for
the Character Animation program at your school. This is the first
time I apply but I have known TAW for about 4 years and I have known
for longer than that, that I wanted to work with drawing. I have
tried thinking of other things that I wanted to be and I´m currently
studying to be a nurse (1 year) but it has only made it 100% more
clear for me, that it is
animation I want to work with. If my application gets accepted I´ll drop out of nursing school.
I have chosen to assign to your school because, well, drawing is my life. It sounds cheesy but as long as I remember I´ve always had a fascination in drawing, art, cartoons, comics etc. I would like to be a part of making something visually beautiful, funny, sad etc. through the art of animation. I have always looked at cartoons and wondered, (when I was little) how in the world it was made. Now that I´m older I catch myself analyzing the cartoons while watching them but of course I´m very capable of just enjoying a cartoon too without the analyzing. Besides drawing I like acting (both watching and acting myself), books, colorful personalities, nature and outdoor activities, and I have a huge fondness for animals too.
I have chosen to assign to your school because, well, drawing is my life. It sounds cheesy but as long as I remember I´ve always had a fascination in drawing, art, cartoons, comics etc. I would like to be a part of making something visually beautiful, funny, sad etc. through the art of animation. I have always looked at cartoons and wondered, (when I was little) how in the world it was made. Now that I´m older I catch myself analyzing the cartoons while watching them but of course I´m very capable of just enjoying a cartoon too without the analyzing. Besides drawing I like acting (both watching and acting myself), books, colorful personalities, nature and outdoor activities, and I have a huge fondness for animals too.
I'm
one of the lucky beings who have had the chance to travel a lot, both
privately and on school trips. I have traveled to countries like
Thailand, Greenland, Turkey, Greece, many states in the USA,
Scandinavia, England etc. and I absolutely adore travelling. I love
being in a new place, the smells, the nature, the cities, the people
and animals that live there. It's so exiting getting to know a new
culture and of course I get much inspiration from the different
countries.
I must say that my trip to Greenland (back in 7th grade)
was mind-blowing, amazing and rather cold. I remember an incident
where we, me and my classmates, were staying up waiting for the
northern lights to appear. And suddenly it did! So out we went, and
just standing in nothing that my nightwear and boots looking up in a
night sky filled with divine colors and shapes. Even though I was
chilled to the bone I stayed out there much longer than any of the
others. That was truly an experience!
I have
chosen the Character Animation program because I would love to make
characters move. I would love bringing them to life, to show how each
creature can move differently, to give them each a different
personality through movements. I know it takes a long time lots of
patience and hard work and still, with that in mind, I really want to
do it.
I
intent to use my bank savings and SU to pay for the school and if
that´s still not enough, I´ll try getting a weekend job.
I´ve
been working with Adobe Photoshop for some years now (mostly for coloring)
and I would say that I guess I´m pretty good at it. I know there´s
still much to learn though.
Besides
that I mostly work traditionally. I like the feeling of having a
pencil in my hand, but I´m very excited about the idea of making
things on the computer too! As
for drawing courses I've actually only been to a professional croquis
lesson two times (4 days total). Besides that I've tried drawing
relevant stuff like animals and more croquis (my dear mother has
worked as my model a couple of times), looking at tutorials and If I
had the chance I've always chosen the creative lessons at school. It
would be amazing to get to work with other people who have the same
passion for drawing that I have, because I´ve only met a few other
hobby artist throughout my life and when that happened I got so
excited and it boosted my creativity for a short while. Then I wonder
how it would affect my creativity and my person if I got to work with
other passionate animators on a daily basic... I bet it would be
incredible!
Some
if the people I have been getting inspiration from are Tony
Diterlizzi, Peter Madsen, Hayao Miyazaki and Petra Erika Nordlund.
They all work very differently but each of their style is very unique
and I like watching different things. That way I can
gather inspiration from far and wide and I find that very useful.
I
have fairly many favorite comics, movies and games. But some of them
would be the game Odin Sphere, the comic Valhalla and the movie Song Of the Sea. I guess they all have that in common that they are
absolutely lovely to look at! I never get tired at playing, reading
of watching these three pieces. The stories are great, and the
characters are human, they are imperfect and because of that you can
relate to them more.
(A
few honorable mentions: Pride of Bagdad, Blacksad, Linnea in Monet´s
garden, Thorgal, the Cortney Crumrin series and Douwe Dabbert)
It is in fact a very few things I
don´t like, and I had to think long and hard before I found two
movies that I don´t enjoy. The animated sitcom South Park and a so
called cartoon named Dalmatians 3. South Park has never caught my
attention. I don´t fancy the looks or the humor in the show and when
I have picked Dalmatians three it´s not the game I talked about,
it´s the animation in the game. I remember seeing it when I was
little and even then I thought it looked and sounded weird. I
sometimes watch it for fun because it´s so horrifying I can´t help
but laugh.
My
ambitions... Well if I have to choose a posable dream scenario then
it could be pretty amazing to work for DreamWorks or studio Ghibli
(do they even hire foreigners who can't speak Japanese?). But I
actually don´t mind that much where I have to work, as long as I´m
getting along with my coworkers and I´m happy.
As
far as I´m aware the animation industry will only grow larger and
get more popular. Games and animations will continue to develop in
new creative ways and I´m so excited to see where it´s all going!
I
hope my letter has given you a better idea of who I am and I hope to
have caught your attention (unlike me towards South Park).
Sincerely
Josephine
D. Mikkelsen
