Research Dossier

Tutor: Cliford Phillips/ Jackie west

Student: Georgia Wheeler UP661577
University of Portsmouth
Unit: ct6EMPEP employment preparation

Sections
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Portfolio
CD Case
Business Card
Website
Interview
CV

PORTFOLIO
During life drawing we had a look at previous students portfolios, where we saw bad and good
ones. I have not always had the best eye for presentation, so I did a lot of research online on how to
make a good portfolio. I much prefer simplistic designs for layouts that dont overcomplicate things,
and think that bright and simple is more likely to catch someones eye.
I bought the portfolio case first, based on the ones that were good when we looked at other people
portfolios. It was slightly more expensive than the others, but was more lightweight and had a nice
window in the front.
I googled animation portfolio for ideas but no good results came up as most were for digital
portfolios. I then googled what to put in an animation portfolio. A few relevant results came up.
The first one I found was the De Montfort University website. Although a portfolio applying for
university is different than for a job, the basics are the same. On the website it said that portfolios
need to show

-Innovative thinking
-Drawing skills with a range of techniques and styles
-Idea generation
-Development of ideas
-Animation, character design and sequential imagery
-Experience using computer and software
-A professional approach to the presentation of the work
-Make a visual journey

DRAWING- analytical and observation drawing. Range of types, paint, pencil, chalk, markers.
DIGITAL WORK- Photoshop, 3d or animation
PERSONAL WORK- work not done as part of a project or a deadline

I then went to the Cal Arts Website. It said similar things about portfolios to the De Montfort
University website.

Sketches from your everyday life.

Drawings that illustrate film ideas and story concepts.
Thumbnails of scenes that you plan to animate one day.
Random jottings that interest you.

Character designs.
Studies of images from films or other sources you like.
Sequential image storytelling: Work that showcases your ability to tell a story and develop a
character.
For example: storyboards, graphic novels, comics, flipbooks, or short stories with thumbnails.
Digital creative work (animated or still): Creative work that you produce, or manipulate, in one or
more computer programs.
Photographs
Paintings
Sculptures
Installations
Murals
Character designs
Cartoons

I considered all these things, then found a website about the 5 Common Pitfalls Of Concept Art &
Illustration Portfolios. They were,
- Ambiguous Intent
-Unprofessional Communication
-Your Portfolio Doesnt Fit
-Unprofessional Presentation
-Too Much Art
After considering all these things I started making my portfolio. I started with the design. I wanted to
colours to match to colour of all my other things so they worked well together and looked like a set.
As my other things were orange I went with that. I looked at websites that used orange and black in
them. A lot of these websites used grey as well, so I decided to make the main background grey.

http://www.webdesigndev.com/inspiration/20-amazing-black-orange-websites-inspiration

I also considered doing a colour gradient through out to match the work I put in as not all my work
will go with the colour orange, with it going from pinks to purples to reds then orange and yellow
then green and blue, but I decided against that as the rainbow might look a bit childish. I also
considered doing it in gradient order with dark to light but I dont think Id be able to pull that off to
look professional.
I started looking at pages of portfolios people had done. I wanted to look at interesting ways to
arrange my pictures.

I thought the layout above might be good for putting a lot of characters on a page. I also liked the
bar at the bottom, with the website address.

I considered borders, but I didnt think borders would work with the printing.

I liked the light orange colours of the one above, and the green on the one bellow. I briefly
considered changing orange to lime green.

I went with the font Broadway as its bold and stands out with the simple design. I didnt put too
much writing in my portfolio, as having just the pictures and the titles makes it easier for me to talk

about the content itself with whoever is looking through the portfolio. Here are a few initial layout
ideas I came up with. My favourite was the grey with the muted orange.

I then put my best images onto the pages. I put the pages in an order that created a flow and a story.
Here are a few. I changed the bottom bar so it had my website address on the left, and my name and
email on the right.

For the front window, I wanted to keep the design simple, but match the inside. I stuck with the
same font and left enough space that it would fit in the window without cutting of any of the words
off.

CD CASE
For my CD case I wanted to keep it simple. I made it to match the front cover of the portfolio, so
they looked like a set.

I made the front cover orange and the inside grey to match with the portfolio. I also used the same
font.

BUSINESS CARD
To begin with I searched for what size business cards should be. Online it said that the typical
business card in the US is 3.5 inches by 2 inches so I went for something similar. Landscape is the
most common orientation. I also found that you should use margins to avoid cutting off words or
images.
I made my first card in illustrator. Its was my first time using illustrator, and even though we had a
lesson in it, I still had trouble with some of the features. However I completed by first draft in
illustrator.
Once I had an idea of the practicalities of a business card I searched on google what makes a good
business card. Online I found a website of 10 things not to do. These included

-Having a Card that Blends in with All the Rest

I tried to make my business card stand out with bright colours.
- Presentation of a Poor-Quality Card
Unfortunately I am low on money so I could not get a proper printing company to print my card. For
the first card, as it was the first one, I simply printed it on plain paper. For the final one I used a thick
card to print on to make it seem more professional.
- Having a "Mystery" Business Card
I made sure that traditional animator was the most obvious thing on the card.
-Using an Oversized Card
I made sure the size was normal for a business card earlier.
-Print that is too Small
I tried to make sure the writing was visible to the eye,
-A Cluttered Card
I left some negative space on the card so it was not too cluttered on all versions.
-Inadequate or Poor Use of Color
I was careful to avoid too much grey, or overload the card with too many bright colours.
-Including email address and website on your business card.
I included my email address on the card.

I also looked on moodle at the sections on business cards. Cliff said there should be some white
space on the card for people to write things down on it, so I took that into consideration. I looked up
others ways to say 2d animator, and I thought traditional animator worked best.

While looking at business cards online I found this one which I liked. I wasnt keen on the colours but
the shape and composition appealed to me. I made vaguely similar layout for my first design.
I then looked at animation business cards online, as I want to go into animation. I found these 3
which I liked. I chose to add in a picture onto my business card based on these.

Next I wanted to think about colours I could use. I googled business card colour schemes and was
lead to a website describing what different colours mean on cards. I found that,

Red Energy, attracts attention, creates urgency; the first color we see; often used in
clearance sales.
Orange Aggressive; creates a call to action; subscribe, buy, or sell.
Yellow Optimistic and youthful; often used to grab attention of window shoppers.
Green Associated with wealth; easiest color for the eyes to process; used to relax.
Blue Creates sensation of trust and security; often seen with banks and businesses.
Purple Soothing and calming; often seen in beauty or anti-aging products.
Pink Romantic and feminine; used to market products to women and young girls.
Black Powerful and sleek like me; used to market luxury products.

I went with orange, as I find it an eye-catching but happy colour. I also added bits of blue as its
oranges complimentary colour. For the picture on the card I went through pictures I had already
drawn that fit the orange scheme I had decided on.
This is the Original Business card I made.

The orange came of as a bit too aggressive, so decided on my next version I would mute the orange.
I also thought of replacing the white with grey to match to grey on my portfolio.
Remaking

I tried a variety of different pictures to see what would work best. I decided in the end I didnt like
the grey and would go back to white as I liked the negative space. The business card would still
match to portfolio with the orange, so there was no need for the grey.

I muted the oranage even further so It was less aggressive and more pleasant. I asked Peoples
opinion on what pictures was best and they like the scenary one for the front cover.
This is the Final Business card I made.

Im not 100% happy with it, as it doesnt have my website on it as it was printed before I made the
website. The picture of the women could also be mistaken for me, so I may make another picture to
put on it when I get it printed professionally. I am happy with it for now.

INTERNSHIPS
I looked at various internships online, using a website called http://www.internships.com/animation.
You can serch for the type of internship you want, including animation.
I found an internship at nickelodeon where they have various internships in

Animation Development
Live Action Development
Animation Current Series
2D Animation Productions
CG Animation Productions
Post Production
Talent Outreach & Development
Talent & Casting
Original Movies
Digital Operations
Media Tech Services (IS&T)
Archive & Resource Library
Office Services/Facilities
Special Events
Community Relations
Business & Legal Affairs
Human Resources
Finance
Communications & Publicity
Digital Development & Community (Website & Social Media)
Content Relations
TV Production & Technology
Business Operations

http://nickanimationstudio.com/nickelodeon-internship-program.
I applied for their 2d animation productions.
I also applied for an internship with this company.
http://www.internships.com/animation/Animator-for-Kids-Show-Positive-Message-Fun

WEBSITE
I decided to use weebly to create my website. I do not have the money currently to buy my own
domain name, but when I do have the money its easy to turn your weebly site into a real site, it will
keep the domain name just delete the word weebly from it, and get rid of advertisements. On
weebly, you can chose from different themes for your website, and also edit what it will look like on
mobile phones. I only know minimal coding so this is useful to me. Unfortunately without buying a
site you cant post videos, but I would post my show reel on there when I do buy the domain name.
I looked online at other artists digital portfolios for inspiration. I also looked up things that you
should not have for an online portfolio and found
-

No haphazard collection of JPG or PSD files.

No pixellated, low-res images.
No huge PDFs (manageable file sizes only).

Seen as my portfolio was orange and grey/black themed I wanted my website to look the same. I
looked at designs on this website http://www.creativebloq.com/portfolios/examples-712368

I used the Name GeorgiaWheelerArt as Im more likely to remember it, and it can be traced back to me.
Here are a few screenshots from my website.

INTERVIEW
For the interview we had to do, I picked concept artist. On the brief on Moodle, as well as the email,
it said it wanted concept art for the idea petrol age. We had a week to make it, so I made some
character designs, along with some vehicle ideas and a background.

For the interview I dressed formally. Before I arrived I looked at commonly asked questions at
interviews and wrote down possible answers to them, which I studied before I went into the
interview. Some of the questions were there, some were not and I had to improvise. Overall the
interview went okay. I tried to be confident but it was still apparent I was a bit nervous. I rushed the
answers to the interviewers questions a bit, but didnt come across as too awkward. If I was to redo
the interview, I would talk more when asked questions. I showed my designs during the interview,
after the questions, as well as my show reel.

CV
I used my CV that I had made to search for jobs in the summer and edited it to fit the animation brief for the
fake job.

I wanted to keep my CV simple and not too confusing to look at, so I stuck with the simple back and white
design. I picked Arial as a font as it is easy to read but also formal.

Here is the final CV