On Thursday January 7, the first Irish School of Animation Convention was held in Ballyfermot, Dublin. On Wednesday the 6th of January, it snowed like crap and continued to snow for days, messing up public transport considerably. So the showing for ISA Con was small but, filled with dedicated animators.
Thursday night held talks from Louise Ridgeway (Head of Animation, Rare Ltd.) and Nick Ryan (Director/Producer, Image Now Films), and a panel discussion chaired by Damian Farrell (Creative Director, Caboom) that included Louise Ridgeway, Stephen McFarlane (Art Director, Rare Ltd.), Nick Ryan and Jason Ryan (Supervising Animator, DreamWorks).
Straight after the panel, Pegbar held a social at the Spy Bar on South William St., which I attended a bit too exuberantly. As a result, I missed Jason Ryan and Chris Dickers' (Creative Director, TT Animation) talks the following morning... Yes, I'm still kicking myself over it.
But in a very hung over state I managed to drag myself into the portfolio session in the afternoon, where Louise Ridgeway advised me to send my showreel out where ever I can. Apparently Flash animators are in demand in the UK and America. Having moved to Edinburgh on my own a few years back, I'm not so keen to relive the experience. But, I guess I'm not so keen on unemployment either.
For me (because of my career focused state of mind at the moment), hearing Louise Ridgeway and Stephen McFarline talk was the highlight of ISA Con. That's possibly influenced by the fact that I missed Jason Ryan's talk.
It was inspirational to see animators in the games industry who seemed really happy, proud and secure their jobs. It's making me think a lot harder about working in games.
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