25 Feb 2025
A COLOURFUL AND DYNAMIC UNIVERSE
My name is Julie Ducos, and I am a Background Artist / 2D Animator. My universe in 5 words: colourful, shapes, graphic, outdoor sketches, texture.
Main inspirations
I have many! I’m very sensitive to colors, so my references are often artists whose use of color I admire, like Cézanne or Marie Spénale. I also love Fruits magazine, which captured passersby in Harajuku, Japan, for their unique and quirky styles.
In animation, I’m a big fan of Satoshi Kon’s works, especially Paprika, and I love Cartoon Saloon for the hand-drawn feel of their animation.
I’ve been reading comics since I was little, so I’d mention The Many Deaths of Laila Starr for its art style and colors. Music-wise, I listen to a lot of Susumu Hirasawa, whom I discovered through Paprika, but he’s composed many other amazing soundtracks. And since my second year of my master’s, I found out I draw twice as fast when listening to eurobeat, so Initial D has been on repeat!
MY YEARS AT ECV
It was a great experience!
I really appreciated that our master’s classes weren’t too crowded and that communication with the administration was smooth whenever we needed to report a problem or make a request.
A special memory from ECV Bordeaux: In my first year of the master’s, we printed out an almost life-size Pedro Pascal and stuck it at the entrance of our classroom. It scared us every time we walked in!
From Classes to the Final Year Project
My master’s specialization: 2D Background! I initially started in 2D Animation but later shifted to background design. I still love both, and during my internship, I had the chance to work on both animation and background art.
Our final year project (PFE) is called Chardent. It takes place in a medieval fantasy world and tells the story of a couple of peasant women fighting for their ideals. We had an amazing experience working on it, especially meeting Célyne Baudino, our composer, as well as the Master 1 students, bachelors, and some of our fellow M2 classmates who helped us finish the film’s clean-up.
Did you always want to study Animation?
No, I discovered animation careers quite late—I initially wanted to work in architecture or fashion.
What I love about animation is that it brings together many of the fields that interested me: fashion in character design, architecture in background art, and so on.
FINAL YEAR INTERNSHIP IN HO CHI MINH CITY AT XILAM
Arrival and First Impressions
I had never been to Vietnam before, nor had I ever traveled that far or stayed away for so long.
I really enjoyed being in the country—the food was amazing, and the coffee was delicious (I’ve been struggling since coming back to France, haha). The biggest challenge was the language barrier, as the vast majority of people don’t speak English. I even tried learning Vietnamese, but… let’s just say it didn’t go too well!
Life at the Studio
The onboarding at Xilam was fantastic! The studio team really took great care of us, and everything was very well organized. I had an amazing time with the team! Our leads were super nice and trained us well. They paid attention to what we enjoyed doing and did their best to assign us to projects that suited our interests. When we arrived, we were placed in a room with all the young artists at the studio who spoke English, so we made some great friends!
Workdays at the Studio
I first worked on The Doomies (a Disney+ production) and did key/tie-down animation for a French animated feature film. Later, I worked extensively on Submarine Jim, a Xilam series, contributing to pre-production (background tests, reference poses, props) and production (layout, line-art backgrounds).
I started my day with a coffee at a café next to the studio—it was amazing and super cheap! Work itself wasn’t all that different from school in the end. We used the same software at the studio to assign shots as we did in class, and the animation programs were the same, so I never felt lost.
One of our friends from the studio, who worked with me on backgrounds for Submarine Jim, made us custom blind boxes with figurines of us as fish for our farewell gift. It was such a sweet gesture, and it really touched me!
We were lucky to work on a variety of fun projects and met some incredible people I’d love to see again in the future. I also spent almost six months living with the other interns who went with me, and it was a great experience—I hope we get to work together again someday!
RETURNING TO FRANCE
Continuing with Xilam
I’m starting work at Xilam again in January, but this time in Paris! I’ll be continuing on the same project I worked on in Vietnam, but now with the French team. It’s funny to have been on both sides of the production process! I also hope to develop my own projects on the side.
Lessons from an International Experience
One of the biggest takeaways is learning to accept feedback from those around you. Constructive criticism isn’t meant to be harsh—it helps you grow and improve so much!
I’m incredibly grateful for this experience, and if you ever come across an opportunity like this, go for it—even if it seems scary at first! I’d 100% recommend it! Vietnam is an amazing country, and I learned so much during my internship.
