Hello creatives, Ryan wants you to meet Jet Olaño. Jet wears many hats; he works with Unreal Engine Virtual Production Fellowship as an Instructor/Unreal Engine Technical Artist and is the Owner Operator at The Secret Hideout. He helped to instruct Industry Professionals learn a hands-on approach to In Camera Visual Effects (ICVFX) using the Unreal Engine. Also, to teach skill such as: Camera Tracking with Optitrack System, Camera Calibration, Ndisplay Configuration Creation, LED Wall Panel Replacement of ROE Black Pearl panels and Stage Operations. Make sure to learn more about Jet Olaño at the links below. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jet-ola%C3%B1o-6a55709/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejetshow/?hl=en Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

Hello Creatives, Ryan wants you to meet Jason Belic. He has known Jason for a really long time. All the way back to when Ryan worked at Pixologic. Ryan is putting the spotlight on Jason, so you can see a whole other dimension to the type of people and jobs in our industry.  Jason is an artist, but he’s worked in development and building technology solutions most of his life. All of this is to get you ready for a class we’re building that will teach Creatives more about coding. Make sure to learn more about Jasonat the links below. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonbelec/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jasonbelec Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

This week we're bringing you a talk by the amazing Ashley Sparling filled with career advice for those looking to get into the game industry. Ashley is a veteran of the industry having worked at studios like Ubisoft and others and now running his own company, K9. Make sure to learn more about Ashley at the links below. Ashley Saprling's Artstation: ArtStation - Ashley Sparling Instagram: @ashleysparling K9 DIGITAL: 3D character art | K9 Digital | United Kingdom Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

This week Ryan is turning the mic over to Jacob Claussen and his career talk. Jacob Classen is currently a Lead Environment at Fall Damage Studio in Stockholm, Sweden and a Mentor at Vertex School. In this episode, Bita and Jacob go through his amazing journey to become a professional artist and the courage to continue push his creativity. Along with being a recognized artist in our industry. Jacob is also an educator who resonates with his student and shares many of the workflows that he uses in the Game Industry. He has worked on with studios like Ubisoft (Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and The Division 2: Warlords of New York Expansion) and Starburst (Overkill´s The Walking Dead). Make sure to learn more about Jacob at the links below. Jacob Claussen's Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/jacobclaussen Jacob Claussen's Twitter: https://twitter.com/jacobclaussen Fall Damage Studio: https://www.falldamagestudio.com/ Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

This week Ryan is talking with the Co-Founders of The Rookies, Alwyn Hunt and Andrew McDonald. Together have put together a platform for first year artists to show their hard-earned talent, in a highly commentative industry. Alwyn has an established background in fine art and the CG industry. Some notable credits are The Hobbit 1 & 2, Watchmen, Harry Potter and many more. Andrew's background is as an Industrial Designer, Animatronics Specialist, and Full-Stack Web Developer. Some notable credits are Suckerpunch, Watchmen, The LEGO Movie, Legend of the Guardians and many more. Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Learn more about Filipe The Rookies (20) TheRookiesCO (@TheRookiesCO) / Twitter Learn more about Alwyn Alwyn Hunt | The Team | The Rookies (20) Alwyn Hunt (@alwynhunt) / Twitter Learn more about Andrew Andrew McDonald | The Team | The Rookies Andrew McDonald - Creative Director (myportfolio.com) Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

Join Ryan this week as he interviews Sean Spitzer, Unreal Enterprise - Senior Instructor/ Master Mentor Artist for VP at Epic Games. Sean has been in the games industry for 18 years working in both console and social gaming verticals. He has an extensive background in education teaching game art and design related topics at both the Academy of Art University and The Art Institute of California. During his time in the Games Industry, he has worked within and alongside companies such as Sony Entertainment, Interplay, Infogames, Zynga, Shiny Entertainment, iWin, and Gazillion. His credits and experience encompass titles like Run Like Hell, Enter the Matrix, Tribal Rivals, Yo-ville, Family Feud, and Wheel of Fortune as well as others. Over the last 8 years he has focused on servicing the social gaming industry and has built a deep knowledgebase of different art methodologies and pipelines. Sean’s experience includes TV production and the development of animation content. He has worked with the Academy Award Nominated studio, Bold Studios on interactive TV, animated children’s TV projects in Europe, raining Disney’s animation team and visual development to help create Frozen’s MYTH a VR experience and even Worked on Love Death and Robots Season 3’s short Vaulted Halls with lighting and shading work. Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Learn more about Sean Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/spitfire2709 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanspitzer3d/details/experience/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/snsptzr Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

This week Ryan is interviewing Dam Weiss, Senior Character Artist at Untold Studios. Dan has worked as a Character Artist, Creature Artist and look Dev Artist in some very well-known films and shows. From titles such as Man From U.N.C.L.E., Captain America: Civil War, Renegades, Lion King and  Moon Knight. Dan gives us a glance at working film in today's evolving industry, form being ready to strike at unexpected opportunities and how normal it is to move between studios.  Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Learn more about Dan Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/danielweiss Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artofdanweiss/?hl=en Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

This week Ryan is talking to the industrious Nora Shramek a Senior level Lighting and Render Artist. She helps shed some light on what it is to be a lighting artist in a studio. Learn how a robust skill set helps in her communication and collaborate in her studio pipeline. Plus, how modern artist can benefit from a background of traditional art skills, married to a fundamental knowledge of science and math to attain not just a look; but rather a functional understand of why the end result looks right. Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Learn more about Nora Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/norashramek/profile Twitter: https://twitter.com/norashramek?lang=en YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXrWRJ8ovHu__md8U_VDivA Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

Tune into this episode were Ryan sits with James Jacob Co-Founder of Ziva Dynamics and Director of Technology Incubation at Unity. James talks about his time working on project like Lord of the Rings and Avatar, as well as his current venture in tools for Rigging. See how the industry has blossomed through James eyes. Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Learn more about James LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesj/ Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

This week Ryan has the pleasure to present to you a conversation with Vimal Kerketta, a digital sculptor/character artist whose work has been featured in many movies, video games & toys.  To shed light on his beginnings for aspiring artists, Vimal recounts how he started off his artistic career. Like many it did not start in the area of art, but rather in a different field. Vimal has an unapologetic attitude that is too be admired about making art that he loves first and then share it with the world. Which helps us better understand what so many artists say, "...do what you have passion for." And he reminds us that this is different to each person and to be thoughtful in where our passion stems from. Vimal Shares what it was like to work on the Matrix and what it was like to sculpt some of the most recognizable face in the production. Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Learn more about Vimal Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/vimalkerketta/profile Portfolio site: http://vimalkerketta.blogspot.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kerkettavimal?lang=en Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vimkerk/?hl=en  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/VimalKerketta87?app=desktop Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

Ryan is excited to present his conversation with Ian Spriggs, 3D Portrait Character Artist, who's portraits push our expectation of 3D character work. Ian's work is raw and true to the subject, but in his chat with Ryan we are shown the artistry woven into his work.  How there is an intension behind the eyes, or a thought placed into the mannerisms and posture. Listen in, Ian talks about how he started in art, the trials encountered with finding artistry in higher education to how he found his niche in 3D. Also, we ponder on the future and how we can evolve art past our current understanding to utilize 3D to newer heights. Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Learn more about Ian Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/ianspriggs/profile Portfolio site: https://ianspriggs.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpriggsIan YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYL_RE56zhEA9_DuUPyyCGA Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

Ryan has the pleasure to chat with Jasmine Jai, Senior Sound Designer at HoYoverse. She crafts the sound and acoustic mood in games. Listen in on this conversation and start to listen to the ambient noise that defines your surroundings. Jasmine's job is one layer that helps build an immersive experience in the game design pipeline. Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Learn more about Jasmine Portfolio site: https://www.jasminejia.com Twitter: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKgTDwH6ihX3V5Gnn4-w1b Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKgTDwH6ihX3V5Gnn4-w1bg Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

Listen in on Ryan's chat with Nacho Riesco. Nacho is a Freelance Digital Sculptor well known for his elaborately crafted jewelry and highly engaging demos on Pixologic's YouTube channel. They will discuss Nacho's start as an artist and his view on digital sculpting from the point of view of a traditional who is less concerned the technical side of digital art. Nacho's work often ends up printed, cast or even translated to run on a CNC machine. He touches on the integration of digital sculpting in modern projects and how it aids modern tractional artist with sculptures and reliefs. Plus, we learn from Nacho the art of freelancing and with a focus in the jewelry arena. Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Learn more about Nacho Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/nachoriesco Portfolio site: https://www.nachoriesco.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/nachoriesco Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/esculturadigital15/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NachoRiesco Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

This week we have our Producer at Vertex School, Jean-Marc standing for Ryan. Join Jean-Marc's conversation with Thomas Tobin, a talented Senior Tech Artist at Unity Technologies. Also, Thomas teaches Houdini at the Vertex School and shares his knowledge of procedural design with his students. Thomas gives us an in-depth view of his process and how he found his niche as a Tech Artist, from working as an Environment Artist to an internship at SideFX to learn about Houdini.  Kurtis has worked on with studios like Scanline and Zoic Studio. Make sure to learn more about Kurtis at the links below. Thomas Tobin's Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/thomasctobin Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/

We invite you to listen in on Kurtis Dawe and Ryan's conversation about Prime Ape Panet. Kurtis Dawe now has decided that he wants to use his skills and experience to bring a high-value project to NFT space with Prime Ape Panet. The project is headed up by Kurtis and a team of designers who are known for many productions like The Lion King, Godzilla, and many other animations for Marvel, Disney, MGM, and much more. Kourtis gives us an in-depth view of his process for how his team creates the insane volume of work, from sculpting in Zbrush to rendering in Houdini and finally the loving touches in Photoshop. Also, he gives us a sense of perspective from the Artist point of view as a creator in the ever-evolving NFT community. Kurtis has worked on with studios like Scanline and Zoic Studio. Make sure to learn more about Kurtis at the links below. Kurtis Dawe's Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/kurtisdawe Kurtis Dawe's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kurtis_Dawe10 Prime Ape Panet: https://opensea.io/collection/primeapeplanetpap Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ 29 / 200

Have a listen to our chat with vertex mentor Chico Spans. Chico is a vegetation artist at Massive entertainment. Before that Chico was an environment artist at playground games as part of the road team working on Forza Horizon 4 and before that he was at Sticky studios. Chico gives us an in depth view about his journey as an artist and how he intentionally set specific goals to work for a AAA studio and the perseverance needed to get there. Chico talks to us about mega scans and some of the most powerful artistic lessons he has learned. Have a listen and get inspired by Chico's unique story. Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Learn more about Chico: https://www.artstation.com/chicospans/profile Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

Datagen provides high-performance data that is key to production-ready algorithms to accelerate R&D and improve computer vision models with access to a fully controllable synthetic data generation platform. In this episode, Ryan meets with Gil (CTO and Co-founder), Teddy (Marketing Manager) and Evan (Director of 3D Technologies and a Vertex Mentor) to discuss the synthetic approach to computer vision. Make sure to learn more about Datagen at the links below. Datagen's Website: Datagen | Synthetic Data for Computer Vision Teams Datagen's Twitter: https://twitter.com/dgupdate Datagen Careers: https://datagen.tech/careers/ Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

Jacob Classen is currently a Lead Environment at Fall Damage Studio in Stockholm, Sweden and a Mentor at Vertex School.  In this episode, Bita and Jacob go through his amazing journey to become a professional artist and the courage to continue push his creativity. Along with being a recognized artist in our industry.  Jacob is also a educator who resonates with his student and shares many of the workflows that he uses in the Game Industry. He has worked on with studios like Ubisoft (Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and The Division 2: Warlords of New York Expansion) and Starburst (Overkill´s The Walking Dead). Make sure to learn more about Jacob at the links below.  Jacob Claussen's Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/jacobclaussen Jacob Claussen's Twitter: https://twitter.com/jacobclaussen Fall Damage Studio: https://www.falldamagestudio.com/ Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

Tyler and Larry have a PHd in NFTs and host a popular podcast called That's Nifty where they interview amazing artists working in this space. In this episode, Ryan talks with Tyler and Larry to unpack what an NFT and what they've learned from collecting and interview artists like Aeforia, Smeccea, Kid Mograph and more. Learn more about That's Nifty Podcast: https://twitter.com/Thatsnft Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program

Jama Jurabaev is a concept artist working at Lucasfilms and is founder of BigMediumSmall Studio.  Recently complete design work for episodes of Boba Fett on Disney +. In this episode, Ryan and Jama go through his twitter feed to talk about Jama's amazing artwork and the tools he uses.  Along with being a recognized artist in our industry, Jama is also a powerful educator and shares many of the workflows that he uses on a daily basis on his twitter and Artstation. Make sure to learn more about Jama at the links below. Learn more about Jama: https://www.artstation.com/jama Jama Jurabaev Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamajurabaev1 Big Medium Small Studio: https://www.bigmediumsmall.com/ Learn more about Vertex School: https://www.vertexschool.com/ Want to learn skills for creative tech jobs in games, film, XR and the Metaverse? Apply for your spot in our upcoming Game Arts Program here: https://www.vertexschool.com/game-arts-program