Letter of intention

Cathrine Baab Holm
Portfolio blog: www.cattfolio.blogspot.dk

E-mail: cathrinebaabholm@hotmail.com

Phone number: +45 23 20 45 85

Dear The Animation Workshop,

A lot of my early childhood memories contain some kind of creativity. 
I remember asking the adults in the kindergarten for more copies of the beautiful coloring books and how one of the interns drew a boys portrait with all us other kids as spellbound spectators. And then of course that one time where my mom wouldn't let me watch Hercules for the third time in a row. 

Art and animation have always fascinated me, and even more the craft behind it. Live action didn't really catch my interest before my late teens. I found the stories told in animation more interesting, more liberating and more appealing for my imagination. Drawing animals has always been my first go to when drawing - especially as a kid; horses first and then just animals in general - happily inspired of my, then, vast growing army of teddy bears.

During high school I started to miss the creative aspect of learning. It had all become numbers, strategies, global economic growth and facts. But then I found out about The Animation Workshop. I visited the school several times, during open house and at a week long internship. Everything felt so natural and I fell in love with the place instantly. As a kid my biggest dream was to draw for Disney, but not knowing that you could actually get an education and a degree in animation I moved on with other ideas. But there it was, I could do it, I could become an animator - and suddenly any other career that I had been considering throughout my school years just felt so unnatural, though all creative, they had been nothing that I had ever felt truly passionate about. 

So, after graduating high school I started to turn my focus towards my drawing skills. The same summer I attended the summer course in classical drawing and continued afterwards to take life drawing classes in Aarhus. By March 2015 I had my very first portfolio ready for the CA-program. At the following feedback session I was recommended to take a semester at The Drawing Academy, and so I did. I attended the small, cozy class of the spring semester 2016 and it was truly wonderful! It was great to have both Artem and Maria as teachers and combined, their different ways of teaching made so much more sense - almost like one plus one equals two. That's something that I would really look forward to, if I get accepted to the CA-program; the rotation of teachers. It's a great approach and it has shown itself super beneficial. Secondly it's an awesome opportunity to meet people from the industry with fresh hands on experience.

Also coming to Viborg, being around TAW, and meeting other dedicated, passionate and creative people have been so rewarding. Here is time and space for the creative flow and it somehow feels like coming home. - And you don't just leave home, right? So, I joined the Open Workshop. Here I've been working on my portfolio, so this will be my second application for the Character Animation program. My drawing skills have improved tremendously ever since started TDA, but especially after attending OW. It has been such a privilege to be able to get to know software like Photoshop way better, and it has brought another level of fun into the drawing process. I'm now very comfortable working in Photoshop, and I actually enjoy it quite a bit. I've also tried to animate a bit in tv-paint on a very beginners level.

For almost 6 years I've been working in the retail industry, both part- and full time. It's a tough job and it isn't always fun. But still I stayed. There was a very strong collegiate unity even though our department alone had almost 200 employees. People cared about each other and it was an excellent place to grow. Throughout the years I've been asked to take on more and more responsibility and new tasks, and I'm now scheduled to take on a part time management position for a couple of months. I don't seek leadership and it's not a goal for me, but I happen to find myself in the position of it from time to time. I like to see it as a way of growing and self-exploration and I don't mind it as long as it comes naturally. With that said, I see myself more as the diplomatic glue, when it comes to group work and people in general. I would rather guide and lead in the way of appealing to people’s intuition and to make sure that everyone feels welcome than decide for others without them having a say.

I'm a sucker for the good story and I have a tendency to get drawn towards fantasy and mythology - especially in literature - it’s like a gateway away from real life where only the imagination sets the limits. By this I don't mean the fairy tale kind of stuff but stories that are relatable and can be projected upon real life in some way. Recently, I've been taking a liking to the graphic novel Blacksad which is far away from fantasy, though still fictional and finds its home in the crime noir genre. The pleasant watercolor and the semi-realistic humanized animal world fit so well with the 50's feel. I like that it plays on historical events and always has an extra plot twist up the sleeve. The characters we meet along the way though, are not always that deep - but the fact that they appear as specific animals makes one believe that we know more about them, and leave us conflicted and curious when proven wrong, which is a nice little detail. It has made me realize just how much small details like adding an animal or color to a character can add to the overall narrative.

Kubo and the Two Strings on the other hand is a good example, when it comes to lack of story; it's quite predictable all way through and doesn't do the beautiful visuals any justice. I was left with a kind of "meh"-feeling after watching it, even though the stop-motion is so neat and the humor cute.

Another film that catches a bit of my dislike is Anomalisa. Not that it's a bad film, it just puts me off. Several times during the film I just wanted to sink through the seat and disappear. Stop motion as a media is really used wisely in order to communicate what they wanted, and I truly appreciate that. It's a strong film and it does its job leaving one with a weird, uncomfortable feeling.

A lot of the latest Disney and Dreamworks productions I've found to be quite disappointing. Frozen and How to train your dragon 2, to mention a few. They seem so shallow and predictable and the characters are very flat. A good, solid story weighs heavier than seamless animation in my opinion. Not to say that strong visuals and good animation isn't important, I just can’t see it carrying a film alone. It seems like the bigger studios have shifted a lot of their focus to favor only the visuals, more or less and that is sad to see. I know that they've got a brand to take care of and that they can’t just throw themselves into something crazy and experimental, but still. If they don't start producing something with more depth a lot of the smaller studios around the world will start taking over their market share. Not that I would mind. People get more and more aware of what they watch - and the smaller studios produce films with a lot more character and soul. But for now I guess people will still go and watch, just because it's Disney or one of the other big ones.

An experimental film that I feel really has the whole package is Psiconautas, the forgotten children, which I found deeply fascinating due to the very completed world, and the crazily amazing visuals. The sound, colors and design enhances the strong narrative and the dimensional characters who are nor good nor evil.

Another movie that is something special to me is Spirited Away. It was the first Miyazaki film I ever watched and I've re-watched it so many times since. The universe is magical and the characters are so dimensional and always have a motive for doing as they do. Throughout the film we see our main character Chihiro developing as a character - we actually see how the journey of getting her parents back changes her as an individual, which is really lovely.

There are so many possibilities in animation, and I enjoy quite a range of different genres and ways of telling a story. It would be quite an experience to work on a feature film at some point. Even though I seem to find more cons than pros when it comes to big studios, I would like to try it out at some point, though. Otherwise I think I would be more likely to find myself at a smaller studio or doing some sort of experimental animation - something that's maybe even on psychological level - but in an easily digestible way. I could see myself working as a storyboard artist too but I would definitely go for studios with stories and characters that portray more depth than the high-end industry can offer. 

In general I'm quite open to new stuff: I'm really looking forward to dig further into the many opportunities that animation offers.

Travelling as a part of my job would be amazing. Since my first application I went to South Africa twice. Once with a friend, once alone. I grew a little each time. Looking back, I feel sort of relieved over not getting in the first time I applied, or I wouldn't have become who I am today. I definitely needed time to grow as an artist but not least as a person and individual. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone which undoubtedly made me grow more confident and assertive. 

Going travelling was a creative boost for me. Such a foreign culture and surroundings were fertile ground for new ideas - but so is the environment around The Animation Workshop. What I want to say with this is that I don't seek inspiration somewhere specific. I collect small inspirational snippets from all sorts of places, a walk in nature, a piece of literature, an old myth or simply by having a conversation with a friend.

So, I would like to do animation in order to tell stories, as stories were told to me. Let other people get absorbed into a fictional universe, whether it's for the sake of the story, the animation or the journey itself.

Yours sincerely,

Cathrine Baab Holm