Student Spotlight - Jiexin Seah

"I learned that being able to freely explore from the choice of dialogue, and acting performance to animating, help in shortening the time while working on subsequent assignments."

Student Spotlight features Jiexin Seah, an animator from Singapore. She worked as a TV series animator after graduation from NTU Singapore for a few years. A turn of events led Jiexin to make a tough decision to switch to a multimedia role in 2016 and stopped animating for months.

As time passed, Jiexin found herself picking up and animating more at night, hoping to regain her love for animation and to work for overseas studios remotely one day. The recent pandemic had made overseas remote freelance animation possible for her. It was only this year (2022), Jiexin decided it was time to make a full comeback as a full-time remote animator. So she finally came back on her path again!

Jiexin felt very fortunate and excited that she got her big breakthrough for a featured film with the Agora Studio team. Currently, she is working remotely with Cosmic Dino Studio for their feature.

Student Animation Journey

Jiexin took the following Creature Animation Workshop and Feature Animation Workshops here at iAnimate:

• Creature Animation 1 with Jacob Gardner (Agora Studio)
• Feature Workshop 4 with Luke Randall (Weta Digital and Agora)
• Feature Workshop 5 with Jacob Gardner (Agora Studio)
• Feature Workshop 6 with Tal Shwarzman (Pixar Animation)
• Feature Workshop 7 with Ted Ty (DNEG)

Jiexin enrolled in iAnimate from a recommendation of a trusted animation veteran to try out the Creature course to gain a better understanding of the basics of creature anatomy and movements. That was something new to her and she just hopped right in.

After the creature workshop ended, Jiexin thought the experience was great, the explanation and feedback were so detailed. Kudos to Jacob Garder for his first time teaching in the Creature workshop at this point in time. So Jiexin thought to herself, “Why not try out the featured path to see what I can learn from there since I like the character.”.

Jiexin learned so much from her instructors that she created a creative and professional way of doing her iAnimate assignments and shots. This would be her workflow used:

1. The choice of dialogue is based on what catches on or is relatable. “Is it inspiring?” “Does it make a positive statement to the audience?” Short dialogues are easier to tackle from the start.
2. Writing down the dialogue and the subtext behind it. Draw some poses to get some rough ideas.
3. Turning on the camera and record *infinite*, filter for best takes.
4. Basic block in a pose with the help of reference. Depending on the style of animation picked will determine how much the animation is going to be pushed.
5. Go through the many feedbacks and reviews.
6. Once you are done, pat yourself on the shoulder for the work done. Take a break!
7. Once you are ready to start a new shot, repeat Step 1.

Apart from learning animation techniques and skills, I learned that being able to freely explore from the choice of dialogue, and acting performance to animating, help in shortening the time while working on subsequent assignments. It helps me to make better decision choices in acting performance through constant feedback/reviews from the instructors. I also learned this small yet helpful note about "being human", which helps me a lot in communicating with others through my animation journey.

Jiexin's Student Reel

You can reach Jiexin via:

Student Spotlight Q&A with Animator Jiexin Seah

iAnimate: What do you think of your Online Animation Instructor(s), and how did they help you?

Jiexin: They are great! Every instructor is highly knowledgeable and they provide various animation workflows and acting performances based on their past/present experiences as animators working in top leading studios, thus giving me more options to explore and try out when working on my animation shot. They also provide constructive feedback and also guides along with some demonstrations. The interesting part was the lecture where they show acting videos and explain the thought process of the characters through subtle changes in expression, action, or gestures.

Life stories, of course! I absolutely love it when they start sharing their own stories and experience in the studio, it does provide valuable insights into how the animation industry works in top leading studios.

iAnimate: How did iAnimate help you to evolve as a character animator?

Jiexin: iAnimate help me to understand the full animation process from picking up dialogues to polishing up animation. I get a better understanding of the rationale behind every step done in the animation process, it is not just ‘poof’ and it’s magically done, but rather “Oh! That’s how it’s being made!”.

It also allows me to watch and learn great ideas and efficient methods from other aspiring and great animators’ work and gives me the chance to apply them to my animation shots every single time.

iAnimate: What kind of animator do you consider yourself after taking your workshop?

Jiexin:

“I am an animator who has the capability to bring the emotional aspect of the character in a believable manner.”

I do respect the production timeline and am able to deliver shots from the start till the end and the ability to keep trying and make shots better.

iAnimate: What kind of animation project do you want to work on?

Jiexin: I have always been looking forward to new IP for featured and tv series since I love bringing the subtle character’s feelings and thoughts to the screen.