How to Get Hired as a VFX Artist: an Interview With Hannah Killian
If you feel like landing a job in VFX is nearly impossible, check out these job hunting tips from Barnstorm VFX’s Talent Manager Hannah Killian.
This week we thought it’d be fun to share some work created by our Rebelway Instructors.
Saber started working in CG over 15 years ago and has occupied different positions as an artist in various countries around the world.
Before creating Rebelway, Saber worked as a Generalist TD at MPC London, a Senior Lighting TD at Framestore, a Senior Technical Director at Blizzard Entertainment, and a Senior FX Artist at Barnstorm VFX, during which he received a VES and an Emmy nomination for outstanding VFX work.
His continuous pursuit of knowledge and learning inspired Saber to create Rebelway. Now he teaches around the world and to shares his profound passion for the FX industry.
Sabers’s Courses at Rebelway: Explosion FX in Houdini, Introduction to Houdini for FX, Advanced Houdini FX – Rise, Mastering Destruction & FX in Houdini and Advanced Houdini FX – The Chase.
With over a decade of experience in the VFX industry, Igor has developed robust simulation work for a variety of FX projects ranging from game cinematics to feature films. His focus on the technical side of FX has led him to craft realistic CG work that pushes the boundaries of realism and storytelling.
As a co-founder of Rebelway, Igor is now passionately sharing his FX skills with aspiring simulation artists around the world.
Igor’s Courses at Rebelway: Water FX in Houdini
Igor is currently working on his Showreel, but in the meantime, check out his awesome trailer for his class: Water FX in Houdini.
Urban joined Rebelway full-time in 2019 where he wears multiple hats. Urban’s path started as soon as he graduated high school. With his friends and family members, they began as a local online TV station which snowballed into making music videos and latest commercials, documentaries and a few short films here and there.
After about 7 years of running the studio, he decided to leave and embark on a new adventure at Axis studios, where he stayed for about 3 years. As an FX and Lead layout artist, he worked on games and cinematics for titles such as Gears of War 5, Destiny 2, Heroes of the Storm, Deathloop, Magic The Gathering, Love Dead + Robots, and many more. The path of knowledge brought him to teaching others and sharing the knowledge he acquired on his adventures
Urban’s Courses at Rebelway: Stylized Realtime FX for Games and Realtime FX for Games & Cinematics
Corbin has worked in CG for over 10 years, across multiple countries and in different positions. He began his career in modeling and Character FX, but his true passion for the technical side pulled him more towards FX.
Corbin has worked on FX for Feature Films, TV Series, Game Cinematics, and more. He has a rich love for teaching FX to artists looking to make a name for themselves in the industry. His training has empowered hundreds of aspiring FX artists via classes, workshops, and internships.
Corbin’s Courses at Rebelway: Math for FX Artist, Houdini Fundamentals, VEX for Houdini Artists and Python for Houdini.
Jayden has worked as a Houdini FX artist since 2008. His work ranges from small TV advertisements to large scale cinematic content for AAA games.
His education in Animation led him to work as a generalist and animator before joining Axis in 2008. During his time at Axis, Jayden has gone from sole FX artist to eventually leading large teams on projects like Dead Island, Halo, Destiny, and many more. Jayden is now in a supervisor role where he tries to be as hands-on as possible.
Jayden’s Courses at Rebelway: Mastering Magical FX in Houdini.
Nick is currently a Compositing Supervisor at Barnstorm VFX, working primarily on television shows (with the occasional feature film). Over the last 5 and a half years, Nick has received many award nominations for his work including 2 Primetime Emmy nominations and 3 VES nominations.
Working in television has taught him not only how to realistically composite shots, but also how to composite efficiently and quickly to match the break-neck speed of television schedules.
Nick is also a Houdini FX user and highly involved in most dynamics-heavy sequences for Barnstorm VFX – typically as a Compositing Supervisor, but also occasionally as an FX artist. He enjoys teaching his fellow artists and is always absorbing as many new techniques and workflows as he can to improve his craft.
Nick’s Courses at Rebelway: Compositing in Nuke.
Here’s a trailer featuring Nick’s work on his Compositing in Nuke course.
James is currently a CG Supervisor at Axis Studios. For over 6 years James has climbed the ranks, moving between assets and lighting while specializing in Environments.
He has worked on projects for major studios including – Microsoft, Sony, Blizzard, and Riot to name a few. His professional work covers in-game cinematics, game trailers, and advertisements in many different styles.
James’s Courses at Rebelway: Mastering Environment Creation in Houdini.
Russ Gautier is a Los Angeles-based motion designer, animator, and creative director specializing in design for technology, television, and feature film. His projects typically include depictions of futuristic technology (known as FUI), future-tech consulting, and title sequence & main title design. Some of his projects of note include Black Panther, Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and many others.
Russ’s process often involves equal parts technical and creative solutions and, as such, he has been an avid Houdini user for several years. He has taught Houdini to graduate and undergrad students of the Computer Arts department at SVA, as well as acting as thesis advisor for many students during his tenure. His other tools of choice are Cinema 4D, Redshift, and After Effects/Adobe suite.
Russ’s Courses at Rebelway: SCI-FI Visualizations in Houdini
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If you feel like landing a job in VFX is nearly impossible, check out these job hunting tips from Barnstorm VFX’s Talent Manager Hannah Killian.
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