Aardman Academy alumni Kessiah Arthur on Stop Motion 1 and festival success

Since graduating the Aardman Academy’s 12 week Stop Motion 1 course in May, Kessiah Arthur’s final project has received recognition from a number of international film festivals. In this blog, Kessiah shares her experience, from her motives for signing up to her hopes for the future.

Growing up with Aardman classics, series like Brambly Hedge and Old Bear Stories, and films that featured much larger characters, like Jurassic Park, Alien and Pan’s Labyrinth, I have always been mesmerised by the life that can be captured with puppets. They’re real, living and breathing, have personality and, in my opinion, are the finest examples of true movie magic! Having now found a career in the world of practical creature FX in the film industry, I have been wanting to extend my knowledge into learning more about my other childhood inspiration: stop motion animation.

To do this, I had been considering learning stop motion animation in my own time for a while, and when I finally paused due to a worldwide pandemic – where I suddenly had a lot more free time on my hands than usual – I started looking into it more seriously, and was thrilled to discover the launch of the Aardman Academy’s new Industry Training: Stop Motion 1 course. I jumped at the chance to learn properly from seasoned professionals with a company that has been creating some of the most inspiring stories and endearing characters during my lifetime.

When signing up for the Aardman Academy’s first run of Stop Motion 1, I was very excited but also apprehensive at the learning curve ahead, having had no animation experience at all! But anyone who knows me, knows that I love a challenge, and it was one I was particularly happy to dive into with both feet (actually, probably head first) with total trust that I would get as much out of it as I possibly could, which I did – and more!

Despite the learning curve being quite challenging, I loved the process and had so much fun coming up with silly short scenarios for my character to go through for each task. Each week was a vital stepping stone and a bigger step than the last, but the progression with each push was totally worthwhile! The most challenging week for me I think was week four, when we started properly animating with the full biped armature. It was hard keeping track of each joint for each new frame, and smooth animation seemed impossible at the time, but as the weeks continued, I started to get the hang of it and quicker than I would’ve thought!