Graduate Spotlight: Hoching Kwok – Storyboarder at Gutsy Animations

The Spotlight series looks at what our recent graduates have been up to since finishing their studies, gathering advice and ideas of potential pathways for emerging animators. This month, we spoke to Hoching Kwok, who graduated from the BA Animation in 2022 and is now working in Bristol at Gutsy Animations as a storyboarder. 

What have you been working on since graduating?  

When I was in my final year, I won a competition called Secret Story Draw, a competition to place animators from under-represented ethnic backgrounds in top animation studios. The prize is a 3 month paid internship at an animation studio. I worked remotely for Fourth Wall Studios in Liverpool, mainly doing the relatively unglamorous job of rendering, but it was a great foot in the door towards some more exciting work! 

This win led the BBC to get in touch about a commission, which I delayed doing until after graduating so that I could focus on my final year film. The brief was to make a short film showing a Chinese cultural festivity, and other than it being 1-2 mins, I was given free reign! It was very fun having a paid project with this level of freedom straight out of university, and I feel very thankful to supervisor there who has been kind and patient and all the people supported at the company. They truly believed in the project, which made the experience really special.  

How did you get your current role at Gutsy, and how have you found it?  

I wrote them an email after graduation, saying I’d love to have a portfolio review and come in for a chat. They liked my work, and asked me to do a storyboard test for them as they were looking for a junior storyboard artist. They sent me a file with character turnarounds, script, and the brief. I was very nervous and took 2 days to do it, but luckily, they liked what I produced and offered me the role! 

This is my dream first job and it’s exactly what I wanted to go into – I can’t imagine a better first full time role post graduation.  

What makes you so passionate about storyboarding? 

To me, storyboarding is the closest you can get to being a director without being a director and needing the support of a huge team! In a way, you don’t have to make as much effort to draw very beautiful pictures and render the colours exactly, but at the same time you have control over the camera, as well as the characters and how they perform.  Different elements are in your hands, including the camera movements and character actions, and of course timing. You have a lot of control and it can be very freeing. There’s not as much responsibility as a scriptwriter or director, but you’re heavily involved in the story that you create.  

In terms of the day to day, you draw these characters a lot, sometimes you get feedback from directors and need to add drawings or change some things, which can be stressful but is part of the role. If you bother the editor you can go into computer room and see the sequence come together with voice acting and everything, and it feels so satisfying seeing it all come together.  

What did you enjoy most about working on your latest/favourite project? What was it? 

The storyboarding!! I’m a one dimensional animator – my favourite part is my current job. Storyboarding is the most satisfying and most challenging part of any project. Eit’s ven if really rough, it’s the first step to telling your story, and having a glimpse of it onscreen, which is very exciting. And then you have to do the hard work of animating which is… less fun. 

How did UWE help you prepare for life post graduation, and help develop your work? 

Shout out to Luis [Cook, Senior Lecturer in Animation]! He was very encouraging to me, critiqued all my work in a way that helped me grow, and believed in my story and the potential of me storyboarding and animating. My classmates were also very important in getting me where I am now. We learned from each other a lot, and without them I wouldn’t have the motivation to make my final film. The degree show played a huge part, as that’s where I met our industry guests and chatted to people from different studios, networking and building connections. 

Have you got any advice for current students?  

Work hard but don’t forget to have fun – if you don’t enjoy yourself then there’s no point! 

To keep up to date with Hoching’s work, you can follow her on insta @frozenladybugo and check out her website https://hochingkwok.com/