Evaluating my Future

Deciding what to do with your future is a challenge most individuals have to face eventually. It can be hard picking the right path for yourself and you may never know when your interests or position can change. The following essay will discuss the options available to me at this point in my life, as well as some of the challenges and complications of what I want to do. Not all of these can be solved or overcome, and so I need to be able to adapt and consider alternatives.

It has been my dream for the last 5 years to attend the Alberta University of the Arts (formerly known as the Alberta College of Art). However, I am transgender and therefore cannot attend; the assault and murder rate of transgender people in America is incredibly high, to a point that it would not be worth risking. Granted, trans people are treated as less than equals throughout the planet, including the UK, but the rates in America are beyond satisfactory. The laws in America are growing more and more inhumane by the day, and this may become more unsafe for me as a part of the general populace.

I haven’t done much research into alternative options as of now, but I am going to look into them with the aid of the resources around me. I am lucky to be able to talk to my lecturers and have access to the careers department in my college, as I know that they will help and support me and have my best interests at heart.

I am yet to decide which career I want to go into. I’ve considered a range of options that are distinct in their own way but have their similarities. The first I considered is to enter the body art/modification industry. My older sister is a relatively well-known tattooist in the community and because of this, I have a love for tattooing. I find it mesmerizing and the techniques that go into it are so fascinating. There are different methods for it and there are many ways to approach aftercare. Furthermore, I have quite a lot of knowledge on tattooing and I have a basic understanding of art principals as well as a passion for drawing.

Another path I have considered is entering the animation industry, either as a storyboard artist, Claymation Modeler or 2D animator. The following paragraphs lay out these ideas in more detail;

2D animation is brilliant in my opinion, but it does become repetitive and laborious after some time. I enjoy planning small animations and am currently working on something much more upscale and through that, I have found a love of storyboarding. It's fun taking the time to plan camera angles and character placement, contemplating how they can react with their environment naturally while not diverting the viewer’s attention from the focal point. I feel that I could potentially really thrive in this vocation, but I still have a lot to learn.

Since I was around 4, I’ve been obsessed with stop-motion and clay-mation. Wallace and Gromit started that ball rolling, and it hasn’t stopped since. I used to use odd scraps of wire and such to build my own armatures and would put Play-Doh on to try and make characters. At 15, I was able to get a week of work experience at Aardman Animation Studio in the modelling department. I learned how the Morph models are so mass produced, how to build an armature properly and what to expect in a more long-term role working there. I would love to go and work there again, most likely as an apprentice so I can decide if I want to pursue a career there.

As a part of progression and building my skills up, I would like to focus on helping my mental state. This is because I want to be able to work and function in society as what is seen as normal. My medication currently is a temporary fix, but I plan to work on this by taking small steps to help myself. These steps include going out more alone, trying to eat more regularly and hopefully quitting smoking. It’s going to be difficult, but I know where to start, and the first steps are the hardest. I’ve tried counselling in many different forms in the past and it hasn’t really been all that much help, but I’m willing to try it again.

No matter where I go or what I do, there are some skills that I’d like to work on and refine. I’m still very new to 2D animation and I really love doing it, but I would love to be able to do more interesting animations. I have planned a SMART target to help me get started with this. I feel the same with animating clay models that I have made, and I think that the SMART target I have planned for 2D animation would be applicable. I am going to work on my 2D animation skills and, if I see significant improvement, I will try the same with clay-mation.

In conclusion, I don’t quite yet know fully what I want my future to look like. There are many aspects that I wish to achieve but there are others that I am still undecided on. I still have a lot to think about, but I know where to go and who to talk to if I need advice or support. It is likely that I will continue to pursue stop motion, either as a career or something to do in my free time. We live in a very strange time currently, so it’s hard to be sure of anything. Despite this uncertainty, I do have hope for my future. I hope to look back and feel proud of how I’ve chosen to spend my life and who I’ve spent my time with. Many people need to learn that it is okay to not be sure, that it’s okay to fear the future. It's a big decision to make and you can’t rush yourself. In the meantime, you can prepare things by signing up to universities and apprenticeships and jobs and know that you can decide when you’re ready.