karen cheung

Karen Cheung is from Bristol and has been an Animator and Illustrator for 5 years. She started in science specialising in zoology, but later moved to the creative industry doing animation. To start with we were shown some of her earlier work a video for the 'Headache Hotel' animation, And the freaky yet stylish book 'Shleepish' which she entered for Macmillan prize. Probably my favourite out of her animations was 'Welcome To The Zoo' which was a paradee of a welcoming tape.

After university she went to an agency to find work. She gave us some important points if we were to choose an agency. When choosing an agency, make sure your work isn't similar to something they already have. Look at their agent roster and ensure you portfolio is concise. Her agency got her to work for character designs at Paramount Comedy and this also got her work for the Virgin Media characters.

                                         One of her characters for Paramount Comedy 'The Nutter'

Her agent 'Jelly' got her first big job for Investec. This turned out to be a hard lesson, when they got someone else to do the job. She then went on to make multiple animations for Asda, ITV, Vodafone, Skoda, Umbro, Oxford University, Fiat, Tesco and Honda.

The positives of using an agency are that they get the work, which is great if you are shy. Unfortunately, they do get a 30% cut, there are also tight deadlines, and a lot of work but sometimes if you have the wrong agent not enough work. She advised us to enjoy uni, have fun, work hard, and listen but after uni to be brave, work even harder, perservere and not take things to heart. She also advised for future work to make a website, get networking ,and always take part and sell your work.

Review

The examples of her work were insightful and interesting. I found I recognised most of her larger works before she described it. There was also useful information on agents and agencies, with the important facts of how to deal with them and what they are actually for and what they can do for you. This enlighted another daunting area of the creative industry for me. Although now the continous mention that wages were low at muliple points during the lecture was slightly off putting and the only down side, I feel I have learnt the importance of agencies if I choose to use them and their client list.

My own research 

Her personal blog:-

 http://www.alternativeeagle.blogspot.co.uk/ 
 
Here is her website which show she spends a lot of effort networking and I believe has developed her own brand.

Again from her own personal website which has a high visual standard.

Show reel of all her work shown during the lecture:-

http://www.karencheung.co.uk/animation/animation.html

A list of useful websites she gave on primarily of different agencies that we could possibly go to:-

http://www.jellylondon.com/

http://www.helfagelf.co.uk/en

http://12foot6.com/

http://www.happy-giraffe.com/

http://futurefriendly.co.uk/home.aspx