Ashley Dean (Broken Pixel)'s reply...

So here's what Ashley had to say back to me when I emailed him yesterday (a copy of said email is on a recent post):

"Good to hear from you!

I'm glad you have enjoyed my work, I've been very fortunate to have had a long career in animation.

The simplest answer to all of your questions is that I joined a band. I was asked by a friend if I would be interested in doing live visuals for his group and I jumped at the chance. The band was iLiKETRAiNS and the 5 years I spent with them were very useful, I was given the chance to make all their music videos and I met a lot of contacts who I still work for today.

Lots of bands will be happy for you to take one of their songs and animate it... You will have a to work for free for a while, but that's the best way to get experience.

These days, Twitter is an essential tool for chatting to potential clients and keeping an eye on what is happening in the industry.

In terms of improving your skills, the only way is to practice and innovate. Give yourself short briefs, I'm doing a 100 Frame / 4 Second project with some students at Leeds Met at the moment; it's a very manageable amount of time to work with! Also, look out for competitions, they give you tight deadlines and focused briefs. The E4 Estings are great, as is the current Red Bull Canimation project..."

I' am really excited from what Ashley had to advise me. I've already started brainstorming some ideas for the Red Bull Canimation competition, which I plan to start production on very soon.

It was also very reassuring to hear Ashley found a route through producing music videos for iLiKETRAiNS so this proves that if you approach the right band at the right time, opportunities can arise. This has really got me thinking about who I could produce an animation for as a fan, which could hopefully turn in to a professional relationship.

I might even email iLiKETRAiNS (their music is awesome) once I reply to Ashley quite a few times and develop a conversation. The advice he's offered so far has really enlightened me and furthered my understanding of how he "got in" to animation on a professional basis.

In a bid to keep the online conversation flowing, I' am going to email Ashley back with some schpeil that expresses my intrigue.