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Hi! I'm Lauren Rance, a hopeful Character/Creature Animator. What makes me passionate about animation is bringing stories and their characters to life. I'd like to start a path working with 3D Character Animation, ideally eventually working for feature-length productions!
Specialisms:
Character Animator and Creature Animation
SHOWREEL
GET TO KNOW LAUREN
What was your inspiration for pursuing a career in Animation?
My inspiration is derived from feeling an intense creative desire to bring things to life, mainly from creating stories with, and for, my little sister when we played together.
What hobbies do you have?
I enjoy video games, mostly solo-player turn-based games for how they challenge me to think strategically. Planning stronger teams and working out who and what synergises well with the rest of the team is really fun. Because of that, I also find researching and learning as much as I can about particular games, team compositions and the more "tactical" side of games vastly interesting. From that learning and researching, I often end up generating my own ideas and concepts for either pre-existing or entirely new characters, worlds, weapons and such; usually exploring them via writing and drawing. While my skills aren't superb I still find joy in expanding on my ideas.
How would your peers describe you in 3 words?
passionate, tenacious, caring
Do you have any industry experience? If so, please give a concise explanation of the experience.
I currently haven't had the opportunity to have direct experience working within the industry. However, I've done my best to attend many meetings, talks, presentations and other similar events to get as best an understanding of the industry as I could before finishing my degree. I hope to be able to gain more industry experience over the summer and autumn seasons coming up!
How would you describe your contribution to your group project?
For the current project, 'Game Heist', I was tasked with animating two shots. I worked closely with the lead animator to ensure my work was to standard and correctly styled. Working with references from a variety of sources, we maintained the idea of the characters being actual toys. This was done by using squash and stretch techniques as little as possible. We also made sure to reference the actual toys that were being used for modelling references to fully comprehend how each one moves and what their limitations might be
What lessons did you learn from undertaking your project that you'll take with you into your career?
From working on group projects, something I'll take with me into my career is definitely "don't be afraid of speaking up". I used to work somewhat silently, even more so if I was struggling to properly animate something. Thankfully, this never led to major issues, but it did result in me falling behind without meaning to. I struggled and struggled on something for an hour or so, on things that someone would easily be able to teach me how to do in a matter of fifteen to thirty minutes. I've since become more confident in trying to do something but not being afraid to ask others for help when I truly need it.
What would your ideal first role in the industry be?
Personally, I’d love to start as a Junior Animator in any size or form of production house. I’ve had some experience from practicing my specialism in character animation and I’d be ecstatic to be able to work on short films and potentially even some episodic work. I’d be able to experience working in the industry as a member of a team, strengthening my skills as an animator. I’d also be exposed to new opportunities and tasks, learning as much as I can.
What's an achievement from the past 3 years that you're proud of?
The one crowning achievement from my time at Escape Studios would be the fact that I was able to rebound from failing my first year. I had struggled due to COVID-19 restrictions and I didn’t properly reach out to those around me for help. From that, I learnt an incredible amount of resilience and courage to re-tackle my first year, rising above my struggles to properly succeed. It’s also taught me to be less afraid of failure, even if I failed my first year it doesn’t mean I was never going to succeed in further education.
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