I roughly made a list of animation studios and agencies in London starting from the big and the obvious ones like The Line studios, Blink Industries, Cookie Studios, Flying Duck Studio Lab, and Grizzle studios, to the ones who master different niches like Bigfatstudio Limited which specialize in Children’s series production. I sat down with the list for long and scrolled through their websites, clients and portfolios, which helped me acknowledge my inclination towards animation for children.

My interest in children-focused animation stems from my leadership role with a non-profit organization back in India which worked with shelter homes and worked on their holistic development. It was during that time that I tried to use art as a way of storytelling and educative purposes and was surprised by the impact it had on the kids.

I did not have a portfolio ready in the summer so I applied with a cover letter and my resume to multiple roles. I did not hear back from some of them whereas some others reached out to explain what they are looking for and asked me to get in touch with them once the course gets over to see if they have anything available that could align with my expertise and interests. One of them was kind enough to actually get on a brief call with me to answer some of my questions. She mentioned that when it comes to animations for children they look for straightforward themes and stories. Even the character designs are fairly simple with colours that would catch the eye. I showed her a couple of my illustrations and she pointed out that my style is fun and it could actually be relevant. Even though they weren’t hiring and she couldn’t offer me any position or internship, it helped me build a connection which might come in handy later on.

I may have written roughly about 20-30 emails and it was a good exercise because I was trying to customize each email based on the company’s requirements and work. All in all, this exercise was super helpful.