â–¼ABOUT MARIAâ–¼
Maria Birmingham is a 2D Character Animator from London, UK, who is passionate about all things films, animation, acting and storytelling. Maria first trained as Theatre Designer, before going on to study Character Animation at Central St Martin’s. After graduating she went straight into an internship at Cartoon Network and has worked for companies such as Cartoon Network, NFTS, The BBC, BBC World Wide, Tiger Aspects and Mind Candy during her career, doing animation, production, design and games related work.
In 2010 Maria worked for nine months in Shanghai, China for animation studio Jetoon and during this time she worked on children's TV shows such as 'Silly Bitty Bunny', 'Groove High' and 'Trust Me I'm A Genie'. Since returning to London, Maria has worked as an Animator on TV series such as 'The Animated Series of Mr Bean', 'Driftwood Bay', 'Kiva Can Do', 'Pablo', 'Jazz Duck', 'Doctor Who; Power of the Darleks' and 'Rita and Crocodile.'
Alongside work, Maria attended ICAT (Independent Centre of Actor Training) where she trained as an actor for stage and camera. She also studied clowning, laban, movement, voice for stage and radio, Chekhov, Stanislavsky and Shakespeare while on the course. Maria has also trained in Toon Boom Harmony with Escape Studios and Character Rigging for Cel-Action with Screen Skills. Since then she has worked on 'Horrible Histories' and with Lupus Films on a new series, while continuing to develop her own projects 'The Lilies' and 'Sands of Gold' in her free time.
â–²QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLSâ–²
2D Character Animation / Character Design / Drawing / Illustration /Life Drawing / Storyboarding / Toonboom / Abobe Animate / Cel-Action/ Character Rigging / Photoshop / After Effects / Spine / Blender / Creative Story Writing / Acting
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Screen Skills & Cel-Action
Cel--Action Character Rigging
June - July 2021
Maria did the two month course organised by Cel-Action and Screen Skills. During this time she learnt how to rig simple to advanced characters, props and backgrounds, how to set up shape groups and shape links, paths, limbers, constraints and built in effects.
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Escape Studios
2D Animation with Toon Boom Harmony
March - June 2020
Maria did the ten week evening course with Escape Studios so she could learn how to use Toonboom. During this time she learnt how to use the software to animate and do character rigging.
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Schoolism
Painting with Colour and Light with Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi: Studying
September - December 2019
Maria did Schoolism's Painting with Colour and Light online course to improve upon her understanding of colour and light and how they can be used to in visual storytelling.
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ICAT - Independent Centre for Acting Training
Attended September 2016 – June 2018
Maria trained for two years on the part-time course alongside freelancing as an animator. She studied acting for stage and camera, clowning, Laban and movement, voice, radio, Chekhov, Stanislavsky and Shakespeare and more while at ICAT's London school.
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Schoolism
Storyboarding with Kris Pearn: Completed
Attended September 2012 – Januaray 2013
Maria did Schoolism's Storyboarding online course with Kris Pearn to improve her understanding of storyboarding and visual storytelling
Schoolism
Character Design with Stephen Silver: Completed
Attended April 2012
Maria did Schoolism's Character Design online course with Stephen Silver to improve upon her drawing and character design skills.
PostGrad Dip, Character Animation
Central St Martins College of Art & Design, London
Attended 2007 – 2008
Graduated: June 2008
Qualifications: Post Graduate Diploma in Character Animation – Distinction
Central School of Speech and Drama, London
Acting - Text 1 - Completed
Attended April 2014 – June 2014
Maria completed the evening course 'Acting - Text 1' at Central School of Speech and Drama to help further her understanding of character and animated performances.
BA (hons), Design for Performance: Theatre
Central St Martins College of Art & Design, London
Attended 2004 – 2007
Graduated: June 2007
Qualifications: BA (Hons) Theatre: Design for Performance – 2.1
