Personal Statement
The act of sketching was an immensely large part of my childhood. It stemmed from me drawing my favourite cartoon characters. I would spend whole evenings drawing anything from SpongeBob to Lion King. However, as time progressed and I reached adolescence, I found myself diverting from the world of art and diving into technology, games and films. Like any prepubescent youth I would find myself playing hours on end. This reclusive nature was frowned upon by the masses (my mother). I still find it hard to believe that it was a snide remark from my mom that set the 15-year-old me going. "Where will these games and films ever get you?" my mother asked. Like any belligerent adolescent I fought fervently to prove her wrong. The core of my argument being that I could make these games and films. Naive? Yes; but that naivety grew into an insatiable curiosity.
With that; I found Blender, a 3D animation package. There was a plethora of tutorials for new artists. Interacting with the community made you want to grow. Every time you saw a piece of art that was spectacular, you just had to improve. The scary thing was how it was impossible to keep away. It literally consumed the rest of my time after school. Eventually I became confident in my hard-surface modelling and I was beginning to see polygons and shapes in commonplace objects. The whole world could be created. No, so much more. The only limit was your imagination,that and your skill.
It was art. It took me time to see just how technical I was forcing myself to be. There was so much more to 3D art and animation than just hard-surface modelling. Concept design, texturing, lighting, VFX, motion tracking, rigging, animating, it was endless and so was my thirst for knowledge. I wanted it all and I was ready to go for it. I wanted to find my place in the pipeline. It was then that I realized that a good 3D artist, concept artist or animator is just a good artist.
So, I embraced digital sculpting and painting. I leeched off all the Zbrush trials I could, downloaded Maya and bought Photoshop. I studied human and animal anatomy thoroughly and It didn't take me long to realize my place in the pipeline. I wanted to be a character artist/ animator. I longed to create beautiful characters, like those that. Every time I thought about it almost felt like I was cheating at life, just to imagine that I would make a living for fulfilling my artistic desires.
After I finished my Leaving certificate in 2017, I entered a 1-year Animation Drawing Studies course in Ballyfermot College of Education to really build up my core drawing skills and strengthen my portfolio. I have been learning the 12 principles of animation, drawing from animals at the zoo and life models, acting, perspective, traditional sculpture and painting. I can really see the form and anatomy lessons from figure drawing modules come through in my digital sculpture. I am very excited to be using 2D skills to strengthen my 3D work and vice versa. These fundamentals are prevalent in all fields of games, animation and art and I am nothing but excited to keep on learning and growing.
"Do a broader course like engineering", the masses again. I will not submit before I have even started. I explode inside when I think about how I can dedicate my next few years to fulfilling those goals and I will make those years a reality.
-Noel Uchendu