BA (Hons) Illustration for Commercial Application students Mia Poppleton and Jess Hardy recently completed internships with the award-winning animation studio Aardman! The opportunity is a fantastic way to learn more about their chosen field and get hands-on experience in a professional creative studio.

Speaking of how they secured the opportunity for the placement at Aardman the students said it was arranged through lecturer Matthew Burton. Jess commented “I first heard about the opportunity to work at Aardman from my head lecturer Matt, who came into the room very excitedly and explained to our class about the amazing opportunity. We were told to email Matt to put our names in for the work placement, which I did so almost instantly.”

“After this we were given a survey to explain why we would be best suited for the placement, explaining our strengths and weaknesses and past experiences within the industry. A few days after the survey took place we were given interview timeslots, 15 minutes each, to run through some essential questions and to get a few more details about what would be happening at the placement. A few hours later I was contacted by email to say that I had been chosen for the placement!”

Fellow student Mia said, during her interview “we discussed our skills and capabilities as well as being open to try new areas of the art and design industry where we may not have a lot of experience. When I found out I was chosen with Jess I was over the moon to work with an established animation studio and learn new skills as well as meet people within the industry.”

Reflecting on how she felt about getting the opportunity Jess said, “I was shocked initially and then it quicky turned into excitement as I thought about all the interesting things I could do at Aardman whilst visiting Bristol. I was also very grateful to my lecturer and to the university itself, as this opportunity could open so many doors for my future as an artist.”

The placement lasted around two weeks from the end of May until the start of June and took place at the Aadrman studio in Bristol. Mia explains: “We stayed in an Airbnb near the city centre of Bristol which was a great area as the transport to the studios were only a 10-minute walk. The studio we worked at was located in Aztec West Business Park which was also a surprisingly serene area with a lot of surrounding nature and Canadian geese!”

Jess said the placement “was for two interesting, jam-packed weeks” speaking of her time there and staying in Bristol she said “my classmate Mia and I were located in the city centre, where we experienced city life and made the most of every single day. There are two Aardman studios in Bristol and I had the chance to work directly with the art department in Aardman Features, Aztec West.” During the placement she said she excited to be able to see the development of a new movie “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl in real time (as well as working on it ourselves). Whilst at the placement my desk was positioned in the set dressing studio along with the other set dressers of Aardman, who were all working very hard to complete making props and sets for the movie.”

Speaking of how she found the experience Mia reflected; “during my stay at Aardman I have learnt a lot of new skills including how to make Jesmonite (a two-part process to make pourable clay which was put into various moulds), realistic props out of simple everyday items which was unexpected and using Milliput (an epoxy putty).

As well as learning all these new skills I got the opportunity to do a lot of painting on the background props which was one of my favourite parts of the placement. It was amazing to see props from start, where it would be unmixed jesmonite, to the finished prop that would be filmed.”

Jess said she worked on “the Wallace & Gromit houses, stripping them down, fixing any imperfections and building them back up to the iconic loom to fit the northern countryside. I learned many new skills whilst at Aardman, ranging from tips within the industry to working with new materials and machines such as jesmonite (to sculpt the chimneys) and Vacformer (to create the storm drainpipes out of plastic). I learned many new professional techniques that I will continue to use whilst creating art for myself and my FMP.”

This internship is a fantastic opportunity to build connections in the industry, both students reflected on how supportive and welcoming the Aardman team were. Mia commented; “This opportunity gave me a lot of insight into the industry as well as being able to network with a lot of the staff who were a joy to work with. The work environment was very relaxed, friendly and everyone has a good laugh while also being able to get the work done by their deadlines which was refreshing to see.”

Jess said that the team at Aardman were “so welcoming and I got to work closely with quite a few people in the art department. Each person had their own strengths and talent that they then shared with me. all in all, this made the placement a very pleasant experience and it was fun to work alongside the very talented staff at Aardman.”

Jess said that one of the most memorable moments in the placement was her studio tour on the first morning: “I’d say my most memorable experience was my tour around the studios on the first day, given by the Art Department coordinator, Katy Taylor. I still remember the first time I walked into set and was greeted by a breathtaking scene, all set up for the cameras and ready for shooting. It was also at this time that I learned we would be working on the new upcoming Wallace and Gromit movie, which was incredibly exciting.”

A mix of university work by Mia & Jess.

Mia even had the opportunity to work with the Art Director of Aardman’s Wallace and Gromit studio; “Working alongside Bridget, the art director of the Wallace and Gromit studio we worked at, was amazing as she was welcoming and gave us so many tasks to work on throughout our placement making sure we were always busy and allowing us to try a variety of work even if we had little experience in it. I felt like the skills I have developed over 2 years on my illustration course has allowed me to be adaptable and have an eye for detail which was crucial when working on such a small scale.”

Speaking of how the opportunity has helped her Jess stated, “The most important thing that I got out of this experience was industry experience and connections, which have already helped my future as an artist immensely. This work placement is something that I will be able to put onto my cv ready to take off into the industry after finishing my FMP. The insight I was given into the industry was helpful as now I can be focus on the skills I need to develop within my last year of university, which will help me professionally in the future.”

Speaking of how the skills she developed during her time at university informed the experience Jess said “even though the skills that my course had taught me were very different from the tasks I was doing at Aardman I was still able to apply the layer of professionalism to my work that I had been taught at university. I used my knowledge of previously studying Aardman in my projects to give me a leg up in my placement.”

Stay up to date with Jess and Mia’s work by following their Instagram: @meea__ and @_ye0man_

If you are interested in studying for a degree in illustration and curious about what a career in that field looks like make sure you check out our degree page here.