Letter of intention

Stine Mink Ipsen

Blog: stinemink.blogspot.dk

Email: StineIpsen@hotmail.com

Tlf: +45 40 58 96 70

Applying for: Character Animation Program

Hi.

My name is Stine, I’m 26 years old. I’m applying for the Character Animation Program and have not applied before.

Being from a family of low income and little to no education, I always wanted to break free of my social expectations and get a degree of some sort. The problem was that the things I really liked doing, writing, playing music and drawing weren’t exactly conducive to steady careers – and steady income, and as my student counselor said: “Those things are great as hobbies, but realistically you should find something else to do. How about teaching?” So, I started thinking more “realistically”, took an STX and then started on History of Ideas at Århus University. But with every step I took away from my original aspirations I got more and more dispassionate. One Christmas just before starting my fourth semester I was the target of my family’s obligatory life interrogation (“Yes I’m looking for a job, no I don’t have a boyfriend, I don’t know if I put on weight”), when my grandmother remarked on my rather unpassionate updates about my education. That resulted in a very long and self-examining conversation about what the hell I was doing with my life. Two weeks late she sent me an email with three words: “The Animation Workshop”, and after another two weeks of research, deliberation and soul-searching I dropped out the university and started working full time to save up for TDA.

In hindsight, I can see that dropping out, moving to Viborg and starting TDA with Artem as my teacher was the best decision of my life. At the time, though, it was a very panic-inducing decision. At TDA though I suddenly found myself in a community where my creativity was not only encouraged, it was matter-of-course. Here where other people who had the same doubts as I had or had never had any doubts at all! That was followed of course by the realization that I was not that special and not as great an artist as I thought I was. Opening myself up to critique and realizing that following my dreams isn’t always fun and games but also hard work and focused learning, wasn’t easy but doing so has not only changed my approach to drawing, but also helped me to grow as a person, and it’s made me even more determined to make drawing my job.

I chose the Character Animation program, because there is just something inherently appealing about bringing a character to life, of finding this character’s personality, the traits and quirks and showing those through the way you make them move.

Growing up I loved Disney movies and those where often where I found my inspiration. Later that grew to include all kinds of animation movies from the mostly available companies like Dreamworks, Pixar and Ghibli. My grandmother took an early interest in my cultural education and almost every time I visit her we go to a gallery or museum of some sort. Gaugin, Cezanne, Chagall, Botero, Degas and Paul Ancher Bech are some amongst many that I love for everything from form to color and storytelling. But my inspiration is often found in my daily life; watching a documentary, taking a walk or overhearing a conversation. Animation artists that I admire are Nico Marlet, for his form based character design (Kung fu Panda is one of my favorite movies), Matt Nolte, for his charming character design on Brave, and Carter Goodridge for his work on the same movie and others. His characters are often interestingly shaped but recognizable and always with obvious personality. Other artist I admire are Milt Kahl, Glen Keane, Walt Stanchfield and Maurice Noble. In general I really like quirky and funny characters, but I have also always loved the pretty and elegant princesses of Disney and pretty women in pretty dresses are still my guilty pleasure.

Casablanca has been one of my favorite movies since I first saw it as a teenager. The classical Hollywood style speaks to my more romantic side, while the black and white used almost graphically and the amazing staging in every scene never seizes to inspire me. Every time I see it I discover something new. The morally and very American superior tone of the movie can be a bit much seen with modern eyes, but it is a WWII movie and to me it is very much one of the charms of the movie. The clichés add to the romantic atmosphere and works with the overall statement of the movie. Even though Rick and Ilsa are the main characters, for me the real stars of the movie are the support characters. A lot of the charm of the movie comes from these crooked personas, and even though we don’t see much of Casablanca City, we get a feeling for it through these characters. The opportunistic and quick-witted Captain Renault, the lovable Sam and the morally ambiguous Signor Ferrari tells as much about the city and the main characters as the settings do.

Psiconautas, los ninos olvidados is one of the most amazing movies I’ve ever seen. The almost naive designs of the characters mixed with the cruelling circumstances and fates of said characters makes for an eerie and unnerving concept that grates on the consciousness and makes you feel unbalanced. The characters look like they could appear in a children’s movie, and it underlines the feeling of wrongness when they are put in dark and unpleasant situation. The range of emotions it invoked in me when I saw it (in a theater), from despair to hope to heartbreak left me feeling overwhelmed and restless. That really made me realize what animation as a medium is capable of. It is not only doe-eyed princesses and sometimes difficult, but ultimately romanticized learned life lessons. It can brutally confront your life views and encourage you to reflect upon the world and yourself.

My favorite game is The Wolf Among Us. Right away the neon colored crime noir atmosphere appealed to me. I love fairytales and this different take of many of the old classic folktales really speaks to me. The graphic expression of the art and believable reimagination of the characters and their story really works well with the gritty crime noir settings. It’s in the nature of multiple choice games to be engaging, but it only really works if the story is good. The story in The Wolf Among Us is true to the crime noir genre while also staying true to the fairytales it borrows from. It’s easy to feel through the main protagonist when he interacts with the often-unfortunate lower class characters and when he has to make choices based on a broken system we empathies with both him and the characters.

Into The Woods was very disappointing to me. I had great expectations from the beginning. A mashup fairytale musical with Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp. That sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately, the story was long and the characters annoying and despite the obvious intention to make them “real people” instead of just fairytale characters, they appeared flat and unapproachable. At some point the movie reaches what seems to be the natural end, but then it just keeps going for another 20 minutes of unnecessary story, that ruins the first part even more. The movie was forgettable and didn’t live up to the potential.

As a kid, I loved watching the Smurfs, but the animated 3D movies were not my cup of tea. I recognize some of the original animated series in the new movies, and it might just be because I was too indoctrinated with it, but I didn’t like the 3D format with that kind of story obviously intended for the younger kids. The detail and realistic expression 3D allows seemed excessive for a movie with a story and characters so simple. I much preferred Smurfs in 2D instead!

I usually like movies like Cat In the Hat (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Charlie and the chocolate factory), but the tasteless jokes, the insane, constant tempo and the screaming of the actors makes Cat In the Hat way to aggressive to actually enjoy. And who was the intended audience? The moral of the story suggested kids, but the jokes, the subplots and the intentionally obvious hints to an older audience conflicts with that. Adult jokes are fine in kids movies, but I would argue that most of the dialogue in Cat In the Hat flies right over the head of the intended young audience. Visually the design and colors of the movie mostly grated on my eyes. All in all, a rather annoying and pointless movie

In the future, I would love to work for a smaller, independent company where I could hopefully be included in more of the process than just the animation part, and to work on movies, commercials and smaller projects, both in 3D and 2D.

I think the animation industry will be even bigger in the years to come. I cannot believe how far the industry has come the las 20 years, and it seems like new techniques are invented with every new movie and game. The community gets bigger and the resources more available. I also think animation will spread to other movie genres and not only be (mostly) limited to the kid/family genre.

I’m experienced in (and prefer) Photoshop, less experienced in Pain Tool Sai, Illustrator and After Effects. I use a Wacom tablet. Beside the TDA semester I’ve been on two summer courses, one on classical drawing and one on illustration and I volunteered for the one in 2016 where I assisted in the classical drawing class. I also attended the media school course in collaboration with TAW which included 4 weeks of learning After Effects as well as five weeks at The Animation Workshop learning character design, storytelling and perspective. I will finance the education with my considerable savings.

I love drawing, I love the inspiration it gives and the imagination it encourages, and I’m prepared to work hard and keep an open mind to reach my goal. These last couple of years has been a bit of a roundabout but I now know what it is I want and I am secure in that knowledge. I might be a bit late, but it’s all about the journey, right?

-                                  Stine Mink Ipsen