Who am i?

about leroy

                         

Welcome to the site!

As you can see I am an Animator, so I am involved with movement and giving life to characters and objects in an animated film. Also I dabble in storyboarding and 3D modeling.

London based Animator with a degree and 4 years of industry experience. I have worked with and been mentored by some great directors within the TV, Film & VFX industry.

Mini Bio:

I started drawing at the tender age of just 2 years old, drawing my parents as what would look like Mr & Mrs potato head. Drawing became apart of my weekly regime growing up in south London as me and my younger brother would create our own comic book stories and characters to fit in their respective worlds. By the time I was nearing the end of secondary/high school I had decided that I wanted to become an animator.

Back then there wasn’t a clear path for me into the industry as not a lot of people around me knew any animators or how to become one (wasn’t as popular a job as it is today) but my school art teacher believed if I stuck with my art I would find my way, so I did just that.

Although still not sure how to reach my career goal I kept studying fine art until one day during one of my life drawing classes in college I noticed that my instructor was observing me paint for a lot longer than usual. My initial thoughts were I must of messed up real bad or my canvas/easel wasn’t set up right and braced for criticism (who would of thought drawing and painting could feel so intense) but nothing he didn’t say a word and carried on around to the rest of my classmates.

At the end of class my instructor called me back as I had just finished washing my paint brushes and handed me a piece of paper with some information on it and said “have you considered going to university?”…nope! never crossed my mind. May sound unusual to some but university was not a hot topic where I was from at the time. After our convo my mind opened to the idea and a new pathway unlocked for my next steps.

I was heavily influenced by Disney classics and Marvel comics as a child before leaning towards Japanese anime during my college/university days. On my journey to my animation course at university I refined my art skills by finishing my studies of Fine Art, Graphic Design and Life Drawing in college.

After graduating university (sensational 3 years but that would take a whole book to write down) and gaining some life long friends I took a break from my art to erm…enjoy life (party), worked in retail for a bit which helped build some more character until destiny called and my itch to become an animator became stronger than ever.

I’m now back in my artistic element having worked with amazing animation and VFX studios in London on advertising and film productions for the UK, Europe and USA. I can now proudly say that I was part of a crew that has won both an Oscar (Academy Award) & BAFTA. Even with such great achievements there is much more experience to be unlocked as I travel down my path to one day becoming a master at my craft.

Currently respond to the names of “Leroy”, “Graff” or simply “L” (…yes like in Death Note).

Oscar for Best Animated Short Film - The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

My showreel and artwork are available to view on this website which you are welcome to view, plus I have more projects and artwork that I will be uploading, so follow me on socials to keep updated.

Thanks for visiting!

clients

leroy.ayton@live.co.uk  |  instagram logo, icon, essential-1562139.jpg @leroyanimated