Welcome!
Glad, you made it to my page.
My name is Janina Pawlewicz and I am a passionate Animator.
There really
is nothing else I would like to do instead, this is my dreamjob.
Ever since I was little I watched animated movies and drew as
often as I could. So many inspiring books and movies in the 80ies.
My aim was clear - so, I tried to pursue it.
Initially I was interested
in 2D Animation or Stop Motion, as I did not have a clue what it was with those
computers.
As fate wanted it, I came across a company that produced the
first computeranimated series in Germany: „Stevie Stardust".
So I came up quickly with some drawings - and applied.
They put me directly into the Art department of the studio, but did not have much work for me unfortunately.
But again - lucky for me - there was
an unused computer standing around with Maya 1.0
installed and a handy tutorial book on the very same desk.
So... I used it!
I learned about this funny seal and the bouncing ball.
I
learned about the space ships and how to create them and
soon I was asked in which department I would like to go, Modeling or
Digital Layout.
I chose Layout to be closer to animation and found out the hard way, that when you set up scenes with lots of props it is very important to save OFTEN!
It was an incredibly enriching time.
I learned so much and I got to know so many great people, that just started in the industry and are doing so good now all over the world and in all the great studios.
Be it Film, Commercials, Series or Games.
So, just as I got on the directors nerves enough and was allowed to animate some small scenes, the mismanagement of the project took it’s toll and the company filed for bankruptcy.
But as fate wanted it, I had applied at the „Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen - Konrad Wolff“ just then and was I lucky enough to be chosen to become one of those ten students per year, to study what I love: „Animation".
To be honest, it was not quite what I expected, coming from the industry and being eager to join it again, I was done with my pre-diploma so early, that I just did not know what to do for the rest of the regular period of study.
So out of that, I started playing computer games.
Or one - „World of Warcraft“ to be exact.
Before that, I only played a few simple games like „Tetris“ or "Super Mario“ on my Game Boy.
Nothing prepared me for the immersion and social dependency this game brought, so I was consumed by it in a very short amount of time.
Playing was my main hobby for several years.
I finally managed to get my diploma anyways and was now eager to get an animation job again.
My focus changed - I wanted to work in the Gaming Industry!
I applied, was hired and then moved to Mainz to work at Ubisoft’s daughter company „Bluebyte“ or „Related Designs“ as it was still called back then.
I was trained in 3D Studio Max and then worked as the only in-house animator on „ANNO 1404“.
Besides doing my own animations for the game, I was responsible for keeping track of animations still needed
and giving feedback to outsource-animators.
Again I met lots of lovely people and am very grateful for this time.
When the project came to an end, I wanted to come back to Berlin and find a job there, which also worked out immediately
(fate liked me so far) with „Bigpoint“, as they were just looking for animators this time around.
So I started working on „Drakensang Online“ the successor to the „Drakensang“ Box Titles, which got quite successful in a very short amount of time.
Up to now I am still working on the project - filling the world of Dracania with all sorts of nasty creatures, funny Pets, Mounts and mighty Heroes to make it feel as vivid as it possibly can.
Thus make people enjoy it as much as possible.
Cause that’s what animators do - we do our best to transport emotions to the audience.
And this is what makes me happy as well.
<3
Here comes my most recent CV (January 2018):
