I have accumulated 3 crucial areas of learning, namely: marketing myself, my animation focus and the technicalities of animation.
In January and I attended a UAL graduate fair that was focused on the animation industry and made sure that I had a portfolio ready, updated my website and made a new show reel compiling the work I have done in my career so far. At the fair I attended a 1-1 portfolio review with Jesus Ovejero from The Line. He directed me on marketing myself. I also spoke to Ken Fountain, from DNEG who directed me on how to animate the showreel better.
My showreel from January 2026
In May, 2026 I liaised with Margaux Tsakiri-Scanatovits, from Moth studio. I showed her my work in progress grad film, and from that she directed me on the type of jobs I should potentially go for.
I found this networking overwhelming initially. It has emphasised how immense the competition is in this field, and learning how to stand out is going to be difficult. I am concerned about going down the path that this is incorrect for me. Whichever path I go down is going to take considerable time and effort so I want it to be the right path. I want to feel more confidence in saying I am a director and what field I want to be in.
From Jesus Ovejero learned that I need to make sure my showreel says exactly what software I used and the role I had in the clip of the animation, that I need to put my name and what I am interested in, and on my website there needs to be clarity on my name, my role and my showreel needs to be on the first page of my website for ease of access. He suggested I use Instagram and Cara.
From Ken Fountain I learned what direction my show reel should take to stand out, how to change my show reel, to start with my most complex animation and he suggested that I lose the more graphic elements of the showreel and focus on including/producing more “wow” moments in my work. He was a fan of my praying mantis walk cycle, and was keen to see how I was going to animate bats when I told him about my grad film idea.
Margaux suggested that I had potential in comedy writing and direction. She suggested that a showreel isn’t necessarily the most important way to market myself and instead I need to send my work out to companies such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Strange Beast. She suggested I ask to shadow a comedy director, and I find that an exciting prospect.
Going forward I will keep writing. I have more ideas for film scripts and I believe the best way to get better is to keep making them. I’m taking note that a showreel isn’t going to be my top priority in that case, and making films and shorts demonstrating my ideas are a good way to start.
My updated showreel for June 2026
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