You recently landed your first major gig in the VFX industry. How did that come about?
In the last two years I spent the majority of my time learning Houdini and FX and creating a reel on the side while also jobbing.
After 1 ½ years I started applying for a few jobs which were in the middle of the corona pandemic. I didn’t get many replies…
At first I blamed the pandemic for all of it, but on second thought I realized that my skills or my demo were the reason. So I looked over my reel, analyzed my weak shots, and tried to replace them with better ones. While doing so, I furthered my knowledge with Rebelway courses in the areas that I knew I was lacking professional info.
After another 6 months, I applied again with the improved version of my demo reel (seen below) and that’s where I landed my first job.
I had a minor in VFX at that point, and I eventually found myself in SCAD’s procedural modeling class. I was having a blast working in Houdini, and mid-way through the year, Dreamworks visited campus and hosted a Q/A. I took a chance that same day and switched majors to VFX, with a focus on Houdini FX. It has turned out well so far!