Our Mission
She Drew That (2019 - 2025) was a community of women in the UK animation industry.
Our focus was on the promotion, support, and development of women in the UK animation industry. Through community, we supported the growth of female talent within a male-dominated industry. Through our various programmes, we promoted and developed women’s skills to reach senior roles within the industry. And through our resources, we demystified the industry and created more access to jobs at every level. Our mission was to open the industry up to more women and inspire them to reach further and achieve their goals.
2019 - 2025
Events
From the beginning in person events were at the core of She Drew That. Being able to spend time and connect with people was a cornerstone of the community. We initally held monthly meet ups till the pandemic, then began online discussion groups and an active Slack, now Discord.
Alongside our casual meet ups, we've run sketch events at festivals, as well as showcases and panel discussions.
2021 - 2024
Mentoring
We offered a mentoring programme that ran once a year, supporting 1-on-1 mentoring sessions between experienced women from the animation industry and women looking for assistance to develop their career in animation at whatever stage it is currently.
Our aim for this programme is to create a supportive and nurturing environment for professional development. Offering a structure that can be moulded to fit each mentee, ensuring consistent engagement with mentors and a structure that provides mentees with a clear focus.
2022 - 2024
Salary Reports
One of our most successful resources was our Salary Report, which we conducted three years in a row. The main aim of the salary survey was to capture a snapshot of salary data reported by current animation professionals and to use the findings to promote awareness about pay levels and to support more salary discussions in the animation industry.
The 2024 Salary Report shows the survey’s findings, comparisons, and comment summaries on fair pay and good practice on rates/salary negotiation, as well as suggesting some recommendations for the industry.
2021 - 2024
Resources
We've been creating resources throughout She Drew That to help demystify the industry. This began in 2021 as we collated useful tips from our portfolio review sessions. As we did more events and interviews, we continued to collate resources in the form of applications and deck guidance on approaching animation festivals.
2020 - 2023
Interviews
We conducted interviews throughout She Drew That, initially in the form of Q&As in our newsletter and eventually as podcast series.
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The podcast began with conversations between junior and senior women within a specific specialism in animation, and as it evolved, we discussed broader topics such as funding, our salary report and even recorded our live panels at festivals.
2019 - 2023
Workshops
The workshops ran monthly for the first yea of She Drew That. Centering on successful women from the industry speaking about their careers and how they got to where they are today.
At the end of their presentation, these women would provide our audience with a style frame, which they could then use the month to create an animation from.
This challenge would then be supported by weekly ‘WIP sessions’ via Slack, with the directors and community. Here feedback could be provided to develop the skills of women within the community. The final versions would then be presented at the following workshops before the next speaker would introduce themselves.
2020
Directors Residency
During the pandemic, in the summer of 2020, we launched a residency programme. This programme was set up with the intention of promoting gender equality in the industry by increasing the chance of employment for women animators at a directorial level.
To achieve this goal, we collaborated with Strange Beast to support women animators in completing a self-directed 30 second animation and partnered them with a sound design studio to add audio to their work. Residents were assisted with building a professional network and developing their skills and confidence to help them feel more able to contribute to the animation industry at the directorial level.
We are proud to say that, since our programme, two of the three residents have been signed as directors to animation studios, and our third resident has gone on to work as an Art Director.
