Laura Jane Spencer BA (Hons) Illustration with Animation
I am an illustrator and animator based in Cheshire. My practise focuses on my interests in poetry, folklore and literature. I have developed my practise a lot over the years, from focusing mainly on nature, into tackling more complex and character driven narratives.
Animation has become the main focus of my practise, combining traditional methods with the digital by using an iPad to do hand drawn frame by frame animation.
This is how I created my animation “Haunted Houses” for Unit X. This animation is based on the poem of the same title by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Finding this source material drew heavily on my interest in Gothic literature, and researching these themes is what led me to find and fall in love with the original poem. I enjoy how animating literature like this can breathe new life into old pieces of work and bring them forward for new audiences to enjoy.
The other animation on this page is titled “Growing Old”. This piece is based on a conversation from the BBC Sounds ‘Listening Project’ between a husband and wife about end of life and one of them inevitably becoming widowed. This project was a pivotal point in the development of the moving image aspect of my practise and in cultivating my personal style of animation.
I am now looking forward to continuing to enjoy developing my animation practise, whilst also revisiting working with still images to keep my practise diverse.
