Hi, I’m Selom - Character Designer, Illustrator and Guest Google Doodler. Welcome to my world!
The first thing I want you to know about me is that I’m a career-changer who first heard the term ‘Character Design’ at age 26. I was working in Finance and on my way to becoming an Accountant when I started to have desire to draw again. I believe God gave me this desire as It had been 8 years since I’d drawn and the word rusty is an understatement! I did an eight-week short course to get back to a respectable level and it was called ‘Character Design for Animation’. I didn’t understand what I was signing up for but it was near work and taught by a former Disney animator so that was good enough for me. In week one, I was mesmerised and by week 3 I was completely hooked and had decided that was what I wanted to do with my life. I had no idea how but I knew I had to try. After having a dream featuring Fred Flintstone and Coco the Coco Pops monkey I knew I had to pursue it so I put together a portfolio and applied for a Masters in Animation. I got rejected and told to draw over the summer and keep a blog and I may get in. Again, I was rejected! This time I was told to go away and draw every day for a year - people sketching at cafes, on trains, life drawing, animals at zoos. I was finally accepted the following year and my dream could get some foundation. There was almost no Character Design teaching on the course which was a big disappointment for me but I kept learning in my free time while trying to learn how to animate. Since finishing the course I’ve balanced passion projects with providing for my family but I’m proud of what this career-changer has achieved!
So far, I’ve been fortunate enough to work both locally and Internationally with some major brands (Disney, Google, BBC, Penguin) on some really fun projects. My most recent Production experience was as a Character Designer on an unannounced TV series at Blink Industries. I also love to share my knowledge through tutorials and workshops.
Who knows what the future holds. Could you be my next colleague, client or boss? I love connecting with people so feel free to get in touch at selomsunu@gmail.com. God bless!