PYXEL-PERFECT PORTFOLIOS #7 LEAD VFX INTERVIEW
Games are such an exciting world to work across, where dreamt-up worlds come to life in blistering colour. One of the most important elements in bringing a new world to life is of course the VFX involved. The right style of VFX can completely transform a location or attack move into something legendary, so making sure they have the right VFX team assembled is such an important part of a lead/director’s position. In this month’s edition of Pyxel-Perfect Portfolios, we will be speaking to Bogdan Suman, an 18-year veteran of AAA VFX, about what he expects to see on a portfolio.
VFX is again, a wide-ranging game art discipline, with such a variety of potential visuals needed for the coverage of a full game, everything from gunfire to pond splashes, from explosions to energy beams, the list is somewhat endless. Therefore, assembling the right collection of artists is crucial in setting the tone for your game's world, its characters and the overall atmosphere within it. With competition for VFX positions being tighter than ever before, we thought it would be a good idea to get some opinions from within the studios themselves.
Bogdan Suman is currently the Lead VFX artist at Playfusion, working on the highly anticipated Ascendent: Infinity title, the world's first adaption shooter, focussing on a combination of sci-fi and retro visual themes. With a wealth of previous studio experiences at Rebellion, Creative Assembly, Rocksteady, Supermassive, Microsoft & Stainless Games to name a few, we wanted to find out a bit more about Bogdan’s experience with VFX portfolios and what he would be expecting to see when making hires.
As a Lead VFX Artist, who has seen a lot of VFX showreels, what is it that makes a candidate’s work stand out for you?
The perfect animation, the lights, the sense of scale, physics, the power, and the optimisation of an effect stand out immediately. If an effect is overcomplicated it just won't feel right, it'll put me off. It needs to impact the viewer immediately.
Are there any technical VFX elements or attributes that you see as crucial to be on display?
Creating destructible assets, fluids simulations, CPU vs GPU emitters, shaders, draw calls, overdraw, number of particles, collision, culling an effect, fading it by distance, and the intersection of a sprite with geometry. These are the few technical points that a discussion might revolve around.
What would put you off a candidate's showreel?
If an effect doesn't feel right, it'll put me off no matter how beautiful the art is.
The way an effect feels is, in my opinion, very important. Most effects are short-lived and you know it is right in a split second. It's like the signature of the VFX artist. I also think it depends on the position of the VFX artist: i.e. junior, intermediate, or senior VFX. However, for all levels, some elements shine through, the sense of animation, weight, timing, depth, collisions, and the right amount of power. These attributes are all on an intuitive level. Of course, they can also be taught but it is visible in a good VFX artist from the very beginning.
How important is it to have up-to-date work on a showreel?
It is, and it is not.
It is because there is a saying that goes around that your most important project is the last one. Studios want people with up-to-date skills and the work you've done most recently reflects your skills most up to date.
It's not important because my personal experience says that one can get a good job with the latest work being 5-6 years old. That was my case after taking a break from my career to raise my two children as my wife was bringing in more income.
Would you also like to see more recent personal work on a portfolio?
I'm not interested, and my experience with adding personal work to my portfolio would agree. After failing twice to get a position in a really good studio and eventually getting it a third time, the lead VFX asked me about the personal work I added to my portfolio. I thought it was showing my technical prowess, instead, it put him off twice.
What would be your one piece of advice to VFX artists when constructing and updating their showreel & portfolio?
Keep it short, make it awesome. You're a VFX artist, you're on fire, always on fire!
These simple tweaks to your portfolio, in our experience, can make a huge difference in your appeal to your potential future employers and recruiters at Skillsearch, we are always happy to help advise you further.
Are there any specific art-based roles that you would like portfolio advice on? Feel free to get in touch at jrm@skillsearch.com or via the contact information below.
Keep an eye out for the next instalment in our Pyxel-Perfect Portfolios series coming very soon...
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