If you aren’t willing to do the work -- and be anything else than an artist -- then you are going to fail. And that’s the brutal truth! That is because you aren’t just an artist. Being an artist is just your skill or your trade. You still need to do the other stuff. The reason so many people give up on their career is because they give up the minute it gets tough. You need to learn to manage yourself to be able to step up and look at what is working and what isn’t. Make no mistake: You are a bus...
Feb 16, 2021•21 min•Ep. 286
Beeple is Mike Winkelmann, a graphic designer from Charleston, SC, USA who does a variety of digital artwork including short films, Creative Commons VJ loops, everydays and VR / AR work. After he began releasing a set of widely used Creative Commons VJ loops he has worked on concert visuals for Justin Bieber, One Direction, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Zedd, deadmau5 and many more. One of the originators of the current "everyday" movement in 3D graphics, he has been creating a picture everyd...
Feb 09, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 285
There is an example in marketing: If you have a migraine and you head to a pharmacy, you’ll see one medicine that says, “Cures All Aches and Pains” and another that says, “Cures All Migraines”. They both do the same thing and they’re made by the same company. But their marketers know that the medicine that’s the most specific -- is the one that will stand out. Meanwhile, a lot of artists have this gut reaction that specializing is bad and that it’s better to generalize as much as you can. The tr...
Feb 02, 2021•22 min•Ep. 284
Hugo Guerra is a Portuguese born award-winning Director and VFX Supervisor. After finishing his Fine Arts degree, he worked in Portugal and Sweden before moving to the UK where he was a freelancer for several years. He joined The Mill in 2010 as a VFX Supervisor and as Head of the Nuke Department. Over that time, Hugo was a Lead Artist and Onset Supervisor for several productions, including Codemaster's Bodycount , Ubisoft's Rainbow Six , the VES awarded Audi “Hummingbird”, Activision's Call of ...
Jan 26, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 283
Most of us initially set small goals that we find socially acceptable. We’re too afraid to set bigger goals, or we don’t have them anymore because we find them to be impossible. The goals that we do say outloud are the ones that we find socially acceptable, without being laughed at. And that sucks! We’re afraid to dream big or to dream what we aspire to be. And it’s not because we decided that we weren’t good enough. It’s because others decided that we weren’t good enough. What if we stopped oth...
Jan 19, 2021•33 min•Ep. 282
A native Californian, David Tanaka attended the University of California at Berkeley where in 1989 he earned his bachelor's degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Film Theory. Upon graduating, he worked for post-production facilities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, quickly gaining experience through corporate advertising and industrial documentary assignments. In 1990, he joined Industrial Light & Magic, Lucas Digital Ltd., and served as a Senior Visual Effects Editor for fifteen yea...
Jan 12, 2021•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 281
Evercast combines video conferencing and HD live streaming in one web-based platform allowing for a secure, real-time collaboration — whether your team is across town or around the world. In this Podcast, Allan McKay talks to Brad Thomas and Roger Barton, two of the Founders of Evercast, about the inception of the company, its journey through challenges -- to becoming today’s groundbreaking technology for creatives working remotely. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/280/....
Jan 05, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 280
A lot of us have this myth in our head that if we work hard and stay out of trouble, good things will come our way. That is a mistake. The truth is that it doesn’t work that way. Nobody is paying attention. The other part of it is that we typically wait for our annual review. Most people if they don’t get what they want, they build a strategy: To get their reel around and get a better offer, then go back to their current boss with that offer. The reason this doesn’t work is because if the employ...
Dec 29, 2020•36 min•Ep. 279
2020 will go down in history as a big “What the Fuck?” Year! We’ve all experienced different things, but I don’t think many of us have had positive experiences. But to put things in perspective, we’re given an opportunity for a do-over. We’re all in this situation. When I realize that, it’s a bit more reassuring. How can we leverage things out? How can we turn this around? Maybe we haven’t done as much, but there is always time to hit the reset button. This is so critical right now! There isn’t ...
Dec 22, 2020•32 min•Ep. 278
Connie Siu is the Writer and Director of short film Jeffrey . She holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, graduated cum laude from SFSU with a BA in Fine Art, and attended UCLA’s Producers Workshop Program. Connie is the former Chairman and co-founder of the San Francisco Chapter of Siggraph, the former Vice-Chair of the U.S. Sports Film Festival, and served as Executive Director of the Pre-Visualization Society. Jeffrey is a short film that was shot as a v...
Dec 15, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 277
Originating from a very successful career as an advertising photographer, Mark Toia was coerced into directing TVCs by his clients. Being pursued by advertising agencies and production companies globally, he has a lengthy list of repeat business 8th the world’s largest companies that most could only dream of. Mark’s prowess and success is due to his ability to reinvent himself over and over again. He’s always looking for new inspiration, constantly finding new technologies to aid his work and le...
Dec 08, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 276
Roman Belov is the Founder of KeenTools, a Blender add-on for 3D modelling of human faces and heads based on photos. The models can be used for sculpting, animation, tracking or anything else in Blender or facial tracking with FaceTracker in Nuke; or to be exported for further modifications in any other 3D software. In this Podcast, Allan interviews Roman about the origins and development of this software, its current usage and its potential, as well as the future of cloud based innovations. For...
Dec 01, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 275
Michael Janda is an executive level creative leader with more than 20 years of experience in both in-house creative departments and agencies working with some of the greatest brands in the world. In 2002, he founded the creative agency Riser, a nationally recognized agency creating high-profile work for clients including Disney, Google, ABC, Fox, Warner Bros., NBC, TV Guide and numerous other notable companies. In addition to his robust experience managing creative and marketing teams, Michael i...
Nov 24, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 274
Let’s talk about it once and for all: How to get paid by your client and how to avoid getting screwed over; and what to do if you do get screwed over. Artists often tell the sob story of, “Art doesn’t pay and you get screwed over”. But a lot of the time, you need to do things yourself from the beginning. It doesn’t have to do with just art. It’s true for any industry. So level up and get your business hat on! All you want to do is do your artwork. But we do need to realize that we’re also runnin...
Nov 17, 2020•47 min•Ep. 273
With wisdom from the best and the brightest in the industry, The VES Handbook is a visual effects bible that belongs on the shelf of anyone working -- or aspiring to work -- in VFX. The book covers techniques and solutions all VFX artists, producers, and supervisors need to know, from pre-production, to digital character creation and compositing of both live-action and CG elements. In-depth lessons on stereoscopic moviemaking, color management and digital intermediates are included, as well as c...
Nov 10, 2020•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 272
Quixel Megascans is a massive online scan library of high-resolution, consistent PBR calibrated surface, vegetation and 3D scans, also including desktop applications for managing, mixing and exporting your downloaded scan data. It’s the product of 5 years of scanning and is a collaboration with top game and film studios worldwide. Quixel was founded in 2011 by Teddy Bergsman and Waqar Azim based on the vision of substantially speeding up how creators build digital environments, by giving them ac...
Nov 03, 2020•55 min•Ep. 271
Crafty Apes is a full service, boutique VFX company based in Culver City, CA & Atlanta, GA. The company was launched in July of 2011 by three visual effects veterans Jason Sanford, Chris LeDoux and Tim LeDoux. Believing that strong 2D compositing is the backbone behind quality visual effects, Crafty Apes was formed to primarily offer high-end compositing services for feature films and television clients. Crafty Apes specializes in compositing effects and visual effects supervision. By paying...
Oct 27, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 270
Andrey Lebrov is a CG and VFX Director, as well as a Co-Founder of Out of Nothing, Ltd. Andrey was born in Ukraine, raised in Liepaja, Latvia. He began working as a freelancer at the age of 15 as a Photoshop Artist. He eventually immigrated to the U.K. to pursue better opportunities in visual effects. Andrey is a self-taught CG Artist. He launched his YouTube Channel to share what he’s learned in CG and cinematography. In this Podcast, Andrey shares his journey of learning, perseverance and succ...
Oct 20, 2020•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 269
Writer, Director, Producer HaZ Dulull started as a VFX Artist on feature films such as The Dark Knight and Hellboy 2 . He quickly progressed to a VFX Supervisor role and was nominated for several VES awards on shows like Planet Dinosaur (BBC) and America: The Story of US (Discovery). His creativity and smart approach to production also led him to become a VFX Producer on series like Poldark Season 1 and The Aliens . In between VFX jobs, HaZ created a number of short films. His shorts Project Kro...
Oct 13, 2020•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 268
Gerald Undone is a YouTube creator whose channel is dedicated to different technologies used in the creative process. He tests a variety of tech and gadgets, reviews those products from a value perspective and provides tutorials and guides for content creation using that same gear. In this Podcast, Gerald Undone shares his experience with building a successful YouTube channel, finding a like minded community of creatives, the importance of narrowing down your brand and having side passions. For ...
Oct 06, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 267
Instagram is the number one platform to get exposure and to build your name, to build a following and to get known, and of course, to land clients as well. But how do you take advantage of this if no one is seeing your posts? If you’re posting with bad hashtags, your posts are going to get pushed to the side. A lot of us like using lots of hashtags, but that means that our posts will get lost in the shuffle because some of the hashtags weren’t laser focused -- while the right hashtags will incre...
Sep 29, 2020•51 min•Ep. 266
Looking back at the beginning of his own career, Allan examines what he should’ve done differently: Instead of sending out his reel over and over, he could’ve been asking for feedback: “I realize my reel sucks. Tell me what an ideal reel would be to you.” The key factor here is empathy. By putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, you’re able to get the most wins. You’re able to start thinking differently: What is it like for them? What are their needs? And what are their pain points? As soon as...
Sep 22, 2020•11 min•Ep. 265
American author, game designer, graphic novelist and screenwriter Jordan Mechner is best known as a pioneer of cinematic storytelling in the video game industry and as the creator of Prince of Persia , one of the most successful and enduring video game franchises of all time. His other games include Karateka, The Last Express, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Karateka was published by Broderbund in 1984 and became a #1 bestseller. One of the first ga...
Sep 15, 2020•29 min•Ep. 264
Because of the change that’s happening due to COVID-19 and quarantine, a lot of us had to shift to working from home. The day that the quarantine happened, everyone started to shut down. It got scary for a minute. But it’s really interesting how every studio was able to pivot and adapt to what was going on. And this is not just visual effects. This is worldwide! It’s reflecting on everything. The entire world had to learn to roll with the punches. The advantages are that you’re no longer stuck i...
Sep 08, 2020•58 min•Ep. 263
Chris Nichols is the host of CG Garage and Martini Giant Podcasts. He is a CG veteran and Director of Chaos Group Labs. In 2015, Chris founded the Wikihuman project, a first-of-its-kind panel of academic and industry experts to explore the combination of art and technology in creating a believable digital human. With a background in both VFX and design, Nichols has worked for Gensler, Digital Domain, Imageworks, and Method Studios. His credits include Maleficent, Oblivion, Tron: Legacy . Chaos G...
Sep 01, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 262
What if you had control over your time? What if you could track it and adjust your behaviors to increase your productivity? This system, developed by Allan McKay, takes about 5 minutes a day to do. It’s something that’s been adjusted and perfected over many years. In this Podcast, Allan McKay shares an every-day organizational system that he’s developed to increase his productivity, as well as the daily nine questions he asks to manage himself better. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.co...
Aug 25, 2020•14 min•Ep. 261
Rosana Sullivan is a Director, Storyboard Artist, Writer, and Executive Producer. Since 2011 she has worked for Pixar Animation Studios. In 2019 she wrote and directed her first animated short film, Kitbull , for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 92nd Academy Awards. Sullivan worked as a lead character designer at Ooga Labs and a 2D artist at Kabam before joining Pixar Animation Studios in 2011. With Pixar, she has contributed to the 3D ani...
Aug 18, 2020•54 min•Ep. 260
Rise FX was founded in 2007 by Sven Pannicke, Robert Pinnow, Markus Degen and Florian Gellinger in Berlin. Today, this award-winning company -- with offices in Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne -- has roughly 100 permanent staff members in addition to 100 freelance artists, which makes it one of the biggest VFX studios in Central Europe. Rise FX acts as collaborator for episodic series, as well as television and feature film, from early concept to mastering, concept art and previs, every day on...
Aug 11, 2020•47 min•Ep. 259
Emmanuel Shiu is a Concept Designer and Illustrator for film and video games. His credits include films Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Pokémon Detective Pikachu, Blade Runner 2049 , Ready Player One; The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Cloud Atlas, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Looper, Superman Returns and Hellboy; and video games including Lost Planet 3, Star Citizen and Destiny 2. Emmanuel began his career in CG as a Generalist at Lucasfilm. He then went on to work as a Matte Painter and Matte Painting Sup...
Aug 04, 2020•56 min•Ep. 258
To work in another country or to get a work visa, you need to qualify for it. Before an employer can hire you, you have to fit the criteria to get the work visa in the first place. Most of us realize that when it’s too late: When you need the job, or even have the job offer -- but we don’t qualify for the visa. Then it’s back to square one. So how do you go about getting a work visa, to work and live in the U.S.? if you’re from a different country, there is a lot of complexity around it and it’s...
Jul 28, 2020•32 min•Ep. 257
