Lianne Milward

Lianne is an animator and artist who works with 2D digital, hand drawn and rotoscope animation in conjunction with installation. She uses her practice to examine the world around her with a focus on human experience.

With a background in painting, Lianne has previously held residencies in St George’s Hospital in London, Intercambiador in Madrid as well as being a part of LCN with SPACE studios. Since starting the course she has set up the RCA Animation Society and been involved with other students producing a sting for LIAF in 2022.

Lianne came to the RCA to follow her passion in animation, broaden her practice and develop directorial skills. 

Her final piece will be an animation-based installation using loops to examine individual experience of habits, rituals and obsessions during the global collective confinement during Covid lockdowns.

My practice sits in and beyond the screen, inhabiting the creative space between animation, art and installation.  

I am interested in examining human experience, often through the lens of health or the impact of digital technology. I’ve always strived to create work that can be understood and openly interpreted by the individual audience. 

It is important to counteract the singular visual focus we have on screens, and develop ways to experience the visual language of animation beyond a single viewpoint. I believe that to place the audience within a space is an antithesis of the screen. 

Whilst a conceptual underpinning is important to my process, I let work evolve through an intuitive practice-led approach. My departure from painting has seen animation opening and changing the way I work. Drawing is central to my practice as a thinking process as well as a way of making. Thus Animation, in the literal practice of bringing drawings to life, becomes a supremely magical way to communicate. 

Throughout my time at the RCA I’ve been driven to make work with as much playfulness and experimentation as possible. This has involved a lot of 2D animation using a rostrum camera and techniques ranging from stop motion and riso printing to paint on glass. 

My final piece is a multi-channel installation using animated loops to examine individual habits, rituals and obsessions within the collective context of the global covid lockdowns.