Hello dear
Animation Workshop,
My name is Leon, I’m a 24 year old German aspiring to become a student in the CG-Line here at TAW. I’ve applied before in 2013/14/15/16.
From an early age I’ve been surrounded by art in all its forms - music, drawings, paintings and of course food! Awestruck I soon picked up the pencil myself.
I started to inhale knowledge about storytelling and philosophy.
Growing up with Greek mythology and fairy tales as my bedtime stories, I covered pages with my heroes and their enemies. At some point I realised that this could actually be my job. Man, was I excited!
I want to study here at TAW, not to have a teacher in front of me telling what the hotkeys for Maya are, but to be surrounded by people - teachers, classmates, staff, friends, – who love to create. Who are excited to learn design and it’s machinery. I want to be in awe with others – gasping with excitement, laughing and working till the light of morning with tired eyes and pots of coffee.
I’ve now been in Viborg for two years, first attending the TDA with Artem (definitely memorable) and then 1 ½ years of Open Workshop, in order to improve, learn and experiment with painting, drawing and writing. In the process I became more and more sure that staying with TAW as a future student would be absolutely vital to my experience as a dedicated student of art and animation.
I will never stop being amazed by the seemingly unlimited power of imagination and creativity and the fruits of hard work that I’ve seen demonstrated by my peers at TAW. Throughout my friendships with several CG Students I was able to get a real peek into what is being taught in the program. 3D, for example has been quite alien to me, but seeing what is possible (especially if you team up!) amazes me. The modelling courses interests me a lot. Every time I hear about Lawrence Marvits design classes I'm tempted to sneak in and listen and learn. Managing larger projects, engaging in art direction and even even directing or managing a pipeline would be fantastic industry work to learn how to do. I hope one day in the future to be able to provide clients, friends and myself with modeling, illustrations products - rich with narrative and emotions. To be able to do this, I need to begin with technical understanding; TAW is the perfect place for me to acquire these new skills, to add to my repertoire of advanced skills in Photoshop and Illustrator and my beginning forays into 3D.
While TAW is small, students and staff have such a huge variety of backgrounds,- and I've always been able to find someone to geek out with over my favourites: - David Fincher’s ominous film work, with its disturbing moods and powerful style;- Jeff Simpson’s concept art, in which he combines oil painting and Photoshop to create haunting images immersive and rich in texture; and last but not least Ash Thorp, a man who has the greatest urge to create and learn that I’ve ever seen. Working in VFX, making posters, producing 2D and 3D work as well teaching and mentoring for a plethora of students- I’ve never been as impressed with a living individual on a professional level as with him.
Prior to coming to Viborg, I worked as an Art Department Assistant on feature films of all sizes and nations of origin. Marjane Satrapi's The Voices, Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, Christophe Gans The Beauty & the Beast, to name just a few. At the sweet age of 17 I threw myself in the cold water of this unknown world, staying and breathing the production industry for a good 5 years. I did basically everything one could do in an art department. I made graphics and illustrations, translated, operated as the legal link between graphics and production, did the budgets, worked as a secretary, -and performed the duties of the resident coffee fairy. I learned how to work in a team and how to stay calm when the stress kicked in and that sometimes you have to look for the unconventional to produce something truly amazing. Aside from that I got pretty decent at cleaning a coffee machine and had the opportunity to appreciate the industrial side of entertainment—both – the magic behind the curtain and all the pressures that came with it.
My work in the film industry has greatly influenced the kind of artist I am today, as well as the critical thought and analzsis with which I instinctively approach both others's art and my own.
As a visual Artist it is tempting to thoroughly focus on exactly that – the visuals. But there is so much more to film, and I feel like every film holds a multitude of lessons in itself. Listening to analyses and analysing films myself, I learned that unconventional ways are sometimes just covered up conventional ways. I learned how suspense is created by skipping establishing shots, and that grounded, relatable fears are where trully effective horror lies.. That characters in all their contrast should all be part of the theme and not just simple props. That symbolism is a universal thing and that not showing something can reveal much more in the audience's mind.
A lot of films to me feel like experiments; sometimes they work and other times they don’t.
Mullholland Drive is one that doesn’t works out for me. It looks for originality, doing unconventional things in unconventional ways but falls into the trap of confusion and boredom. Star Wars: Rogue One is a good example of how one tries to continue something in a classic way while trying to force cast diversity, and end up portraying flat and stereotypical characters.
Interstellar, finally,- showed me that continuity in a character's opinion and character development is a necessity that- if ignored- easily ruins a well made movie.
And while I love some B-Movies for their silliness (the Highlander films, Xena and The Happening) the greatest joy for me comes from learning from great movies.
Camera placement, framing, blocking, mood, atmosphere – all of which for me is, in short, how to convey information to the audience. This is what always brings me back to my personal classics.
David Fincher’s Seven, Jonathan Demme’s Silence of the lambs and Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner I could watch over and over again, always finding new clues, experiencing what is for me the most interesting of topics: the peaks and pits of the human conscious.
Which is why I also have to mention Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Grey (with it’s seemingly unlimited amount of posh smartass quotes) as my favorite piece of literature.
Next to all the classic entertainment stuff I discovered my love for pen and paper. A board game with a steady group of one game-master and several players. Each player controls and voices a single character, and they become this character in the form of voice acting, empathy and imagined actions; several years of playing taught me how to put myself into different characters' shoes and the difficulties of narrative and character creation
On a more real-life level I love to cook and travel. I often feel what we call “Fernweh” in German, which is the opposite of homesickness- wanderlust, a yearning to be out in the world. I’ve visited half of Europe so far. I’ve lived on a boat in Amsterdam, listened to the Celtic language of Breton in West France (accompanied by the sounds of pouring wine, of course), been told why camels always smile in Tunisia, seen manta-rays on the Italian beaches of Sicily.
But for now, I hope that my next big journey leads me back here to Viborg, to the Animation Workshop. I have the feeling that there might be a few more stories to experience.
I plan to finance schooling with a German-government student loan, with family love, and by working for the school as I’ve done before for several of the BAC Coordinators, the caretaker gang, VAF and much more.
With best regards,
Leon Fechner
Portfolio: http://leonfechnercg2017.blogspot.dk/My name is Leon, I’m a 24 year old German aspiring to become a student in the CG-Line here at TAW. I’ve applied before in 2013/14/15/16.
From an early age I’ve been surrounded by art in all its forms - music, drawings, paintings and of course food! Awestruck I soon picked up the pencil myself.
I started to inhale knowledge about storytelling and philosophy.
Growing up with Greek mythology and fairy tales as my bedtime stories, I covered pages with my heroes and their enemies. At some point I realised that this could actually be my job. Man, was I excited!
I want to study here at TAW, not to have a teacher in front of me telling what the hotkeys for Maya are, but to be surrounded by people - teachers, classmates, staff, friends, – who love to create. Who are excited to learn design and it’s machinery. I want to be in awe with others – gasping with excitement, laughing and working till the light of morning with tired eyes and pots of coffee.
I’ve now been in Viborg for two years, first attending the TDA with Artem (definitely memorable) and then 1 ½ years of Open Workshop, in order to improve, learn and experiment with painting, drawing and writing. In the process I became more and more sure that staying with TAW as a future student would be absolutely vital to my experience as a dedicated student of art and animation.
I will never stop being amazed by the seemingly unlimited power of imagination and creativity and the fruits of hard work that I’ve seen demonstrated by my peers at TAW. Throughout my friendships with several CG Students I was able to get a real peek into what is being taught in the program. 3D, for example has been quite alien to me, but seeing what is possible (especially if you team up!) amazes me. The modelling courses interests me a lot. Every time I hear about Lawrence Marvits design classes I'm tempted to sneak in and listen and learn. Managing larger projects, engaging in art direction and even even directing or managing a pipeline would be fantastic industry work to learn how to do. I hope one day in the future to be able to provide clients, friends and myself with modeling, illustrations products - rich with narrative and emotions. To be able to do this, I need to begin with technical understanding; TAW is the perfect place for me to acquire these new skills, to add to my repertoire of advanced skills in Photoshop and Illustrator and my beginning forays into 3D.
While TAW is small, students and staff have such a huge variety of backgrounds,- and I've always been able to find someone to geek out with over my favourites: - David Fincher’s ominous film work, with its disturbing moods and powerful style;- Jeff Simpson’s concept art, in which he combines oil painting and Photoshop to create haunting images immersive and rich in texture; and last but not least Ash Thorp, a man who has the greatest urge to create and learn that I’ve ever seen. Working in VFX, making posters, producing 2D and 3D work as well teaching and mentoring for a plethora of students- I’ve never been as impressed with a living individual on a professional level as with him.
Prior to coming to Viborg, I worked as an Art Department Assistant on feature films of all sizes and nations of origin. Marjane Satrapi's The Voices, Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, Christophe Gans The Beauty & the Beast, to name just a few. At the sweet age of 17 I threw myself in the cold water of this unknown world, staying and breathing the production industry for a good 5 years. I did basically everything one could do in an art department. I made graphics and illustrations, translated, operated as the legal link between graphics and production, did the budgets, worked as a secretary, -and performed the duties of the resident coffee fairy. I learned how to work in a team and how to stay calm when the stress kicked in and that sometimes you have to look for the unconventional to produce something truly amazing. Aside from that I got pretty decent at cleaning a coffee machine and had the opportunity to appreciate the industrial side of entertainment—both – the magic behind the curtain and all the pressures that came with it.
My work in the film industry has greatly influenced the kind of artist I am today, as well as the critical thought and analzsis with which I instinctively approach both others's art and my own.
As a visual Artist it is tempting to thoroughly focus on exactly that – the visuals. But there is so much more to film, and I feel like every film holds a multitude of lessons in itself. Listening to analyses and analysing films myself, I learned that unconventional ways are sometimes just covered up conventional ways. I learned how suspense is created by skipping establishing shots, and that grounded, relatable fears are where trully effective horror lies.. That characters in all their contrast should all be part of the theme and not just simple props. That symbolism is a universal thing and that not showing something can reveal much more in the audience's mind.
A lot of films to me feel like experiments; sometimes they work and other times they don’t.
Mullholland Drive is one that doesn’t works out for me. It looks for originality, doing unconventional things in unconventional ways but falls into the trap of confusion and boredom. Star Wars: Rogue One is a good example of how one tries to continue something in a classic way while trying to force cast diversity, and end up portraying flat and stereotypical characters.
Interstellar, finally,- showed me that continuity in a character's opinion and character development is a necessity that- if ignored- easily ruins a well made movie.
And while I love some B-Movies for their silliness (the Highlander films, Xena and The Happening) the greatest joy for me comes from learning from great movies.
Camera placement, framing, blocking, mood, atmosphere – all of which for me is, in short, how to convey information to the audience. This is what always brings me back to my personal classics.
David Fincher’s Seven, Jonathan Demme’s Silence of the lambs and Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner I could watch over and over again, always finding new clues, experiencing what is for me the most interesting of topics: the peaks and pits of the human conscious.
Which is why I also have to mention Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Grey (with it’s seemingly unlimited amount of posh smartass quotes) as my favorite piece of literature.
Next to all the classic entertainment stuff I discovered my love for pen and paper. A board game with a steady group of one game-master and several players. Each player controls and voices a single character, and they become this character in the form of voice acting, empathy and imagined actions; several years of playing taught me how to put myself into different characters' shoes and the difficulties of narrative and character creation
On a more real-life level I love to cook and travel. I often feel what we call “Fernweh” in German, which is the opposite of homesickness- wanderlust, a yearning to be out in the world. I’ve visited half of Europe so far. I’ve lived on a boat in Amsterdam, listened to the Celtic language of Breton in West France (accompanied by the sounds of pouring wine, of course), been told why camels always smile in Tunisia, seen manta-rays on the Italian beaches of Sicily.
But for now, I hope that my next big journey leads me back here to Viborg, to the Animation Workshop. I have the feeling that there might be a few more stories to experience.
I plan to finance schooling with a German-government student loan, with family love, and by working for the school as I’ve done before for several of the BAC Coordinators, the caretaker gang, VAF and much more.
With best regards,
Leon Fechner
ImdB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4400666/
Fechnerberlin@live.de
