LONDON: Paul Roberts, Portfolio Visit

7th March 2011

After researching designers in London I came across Paul Roberts, a motion graphic designer. I was very interested in him as he had worked for clients such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon and seen as half my Major Project is titles for my own children's programme, I thought this would be suitable.

I met up with him during my visit to London. Paul is a freelancer and rents a space within a studio who he shares with other designers. He told me that he used to work for a company. Finding a designer who has had the opportunity experiencing both I had to ask which he preferred, working for himself or a company? He stated that he much preferred working for himself. You have the opportunity to go and travel whenever you want and also when working on a project you are included through every process from beginning to end, from the first initial thoughts to production. I was very impressed with his answer as I'd never really thought of it that way before and I began to think would I want to be included through every process as I have been doing at Uni, or just stick to my strengths and stay within my comfort zone. As i have to admit this is what I was looking forward to when i leave, but would I find this challenging enough?

I began to show him my work, particularly wanting to show him my Disney Cinemagic ident as so far it's my only finished piece of work aimed at children. He loved the idea and thought the visual was beautiful. He was interested in what software I had used, after explaining I had used Maya he delved into talking about Cinema 4D. I've heard a lot about Cinema 4D as a past freelancer I went to see in Manchester claimed he much preferred to work in Cinema 4D. However every software has its purpose. Maya being more for character animation and Cinema 4D for graphics. 

He generally seemed impressed with the span of work I presented to him. I also decided to take along my current sketchbook for my children's titles, which he also liked flicking through. I always get a good reception after designers have seen my sketches and drawings so I need to specifically push this when applying for a job to expose my strengths to a future employer.

After explaining what I had planned for my Major Project in regards to my children's programme he asked me if I would like to visit either Nickelodeon Studios or Cartoon Network as they both had studios situated in the London area. I thought he was joking at first. He suggested Nickelodeon for me as he had done a lot of work for them and seemed like he had established strong links with them. He said he would send them an e-mail and he would get back to me with their answer after explaining i had to get my train the following day at half 4. Round about half an hour later I got the confirmation, I had a visit with Nickelodeon Studios.