The Allan Mckay Podcast

On this Podcast, Allan McKay interviews Jason Scheier, a Conceptual Illustrator who has worked with a number of studios including DreamWorks Animation, Warner Brothers Feature Animation and Walt Disney Imagineering. His projects include Kung Fu Panda, Rise of the Guardians, The Croods, Battlefield 4 and many others. A graduate of CalState, Fullerton, Jason has also studied media arts and animation at the Art Institute of California and entertainment design at the Art Center College of Design. He brings his strong instincts for design, composition, color, and lighting and his experience in cinematography to his passion for virtual environment creation. He has also taught at the Art Center College of Design, Brainstorm School, Concept Design Academy, Laguna College of Art and Design, and Computer Graphics Masters Academy.   For full show notes visit http://www.allanmckay.com/75/

In this Episode, Allan McKay interviews Joaquin Baldwin, a CG Layout Supervisor for the Walt Disney Animation Studios, as well as a photographer and animator (www.joaquinbaldwin.com/). Joaquin has been working for Disney since 2010 where he’s been a part of films like Zootopia, Moana, Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph and many more. Joaquin’s short animated short films Sebastian’s Voodoo and Papiroflexia have earned him over 100 awards in festivals such as Cannes, Student Academy Awards, USA Film Festival, Cinanima. Joaquin holds a Masters in Animation from UCLA. Complete shownotes can be found at http://www.allanmckay.com/74/

Pixologic are the developers of Emmy award winning Z-Brush, the industry standard for sculpting and surfacing in 3D. Throughout this episode Allan talks with Paul Gaboury and Sol Blair about some recent announcements from Pixologic, as well as much of the in-depth history of Z-Brush and the CG industry. Loads of great insights and core knowledge shared, as well as lots of great laughs!   For in-depth notes check out http://www.allanmckay.com/73/    

Allan McKay interviews Mike Blum, an Emmy-nominated director who has won awards as a director, writer and producer. Prior to opening his boutique animation studio Pipsqueak Films, Mike worked as an executive and a supervisor at Walt Disney Feature Animation for over a decade. His Disney animation credits include Chicken Little, Lilo & Stitch, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and many more. Mike’s current studio Pipsqueak Films has completed animation projects for clients like Comedy Central, Netflix, DreamWorks TV, MTV and others. Mike is currently in development on his original series Enko the Eskimo which he sold to Cartoon Network. At the same time, he is directing and Executive Producing the animated series Super Slackers with David Silverman (The Simpsons). He also runs a live-action production company, Blumayan Films and as well as Our Next 4 Years, a volunteer organization staffed by over 250 animation professionals that create animated PSA’s countering the regressive policies of the current administra

Some of us make the mistake of thinking we can just 'go it alone' and not need guidance from others. This episode we break down the importance of mentors, but also how to find them. In addition, going beyond this and starting to target mentors in many parts of our life and career, building a braintrust to help as stay motivated, and give key advice, as well as help us see when we're F!@#'ing up and maybe don't even know it..   Check out the in-depth show notes @ http://www.allanmckay.com/71/ Also check out the December Live Action FX challenge at www.allanmckay.com/challenge/  

Episode 70 - Ash Thorp Interview Allan McKay interviews Ash Thorp, a graphic designer, illustrator, artist, and creative director for a multitude of media, including feature films, commercial enterprises, and print.   Ash has worked on graphics for Ender’s Game and Total Recall, as well as contributed to the design concepts for Spectre, Prometheus, X-Men First Class, Call of Duty and others. His first directorial debut started with the assembly of an international team for his Ghost in the Shell tribute, as well as the main title for OFFF Barcelona 2014. In 2015, he was requested to assemble an international team of designers and create the title sequence for FITC Tokyo. Later that year, Ash co-directed “Ares -- Our Greatest Adventure”, a promotional trailer for the feature film The Martian. Alongside with co-director Anthony Scott Burns, Ash created a concept short film Lost Boy, based on Ash’s graphic drawings. In this podcast, Ash and Allan about the entire process -- from pre- to post-production -- “step

Andre Cantarel is a LA based CG Supervisor originally from Germany, he's worked on films such as 2012, Whitehouse Down, Independence Day Resurgence and dozens of others. He has a ridiculous attention to detail in his work, and it shows on everything he touches. This episode discusses everything from Andre's work history, to behind the scenes on many of the projects he's worked on, his early career as well as personal projects and health. In general this episode has been a great insight into what's involved to pull off some of the biggest visual effect film projects. Check out the show notes at http://www.allanmckay.com/69/  

This episode dives deep into the topic of pricing and going after what you're worth. This is actually a snippet of a live webinar with the FX TD Mentorship which we touched briefly on the subject of pricing. This conversation started as a question proposed "How much money could I expect to make in Los Angeles?" and grew into a much bigger topic about pricing and getting what you're worth. This episode was not intentionally made for release to the public and covers a lot of subjects no holds barred. Check it out and share this around with those who you think will benefit from this episode! Check out the show notes at http://www.allanmckay.com/68/ Don't forget to also sign up for the live career intensive December 7th! Where we will hold a live webinar and go over many core subjects as well as talk live with Allan McKay about many career related material that will push our careers into overdrive as we prepare for 2017!

An overview of the process to safely switch careers down the road. Some of us are in careers that we aren't 100% satisfied and want to make the change over to a creative industry. However there is so much risk that we face that it's almost a gamble this late in our career. This episode we delve into the process and thoughts behind how to build a plan around switching successfully from your current career path to your dream job!   Check out the shownotes at http://www.allanmckay.com/67/

While speaking at the It's Art Masterclass 2016 event in Paris, we teamed together to enjoy some beer and talk VFX for this episodes podcast. This episode dives into many subjects from what we look for when hiring or building teams for projects, what it takes to work at big studios, lots of great insights into getting work and being a better artist, as well as workflow, process and what our electricity bills tend to look like when boasting a render-farm! Mark Theriault is an FX Lead at Image Engine in Vancouver, previously working for studios such as Industrial Light + Magic, Dreamworks, Blur Studio, Frantic Films/Prime Focus and many others. He has an extensive background in VFX working on films such as Star Wars, Deadpool, Independence Day: Resurgence, Avengers and many others. Anselm Seherr-Thoss (Ansi) is a VFX Supervisor located in New Orleans, Louisiana. He's worked for studios such as Blur Studio, Frantic Films/Prime Focus, Atomic Fiction, Pixomondo and many other studios around the US and Europe. Some

I've gotten into so many conversations about the gear lying around my house from camera equipment to art on my walls with friends and with everyone on Facebook when a photo gets posted that I thought I would share some of these things. Better yet, I wanted to share the devices, apps and services I use almost DAILY to freelance and get my work done, work faster, more efficiently, even if it means coming off a bit weird with some of these things! Oh and lastly - I have no affiliation with any of this stuff, other than I use it, no profit or gain from sharing this, other than if I get to start seeing people standing on foam rollers at their stand up desk one day, I'll feel a little proud inside. So I just wanted to get that out of the way ;)   For an in-depth report and links to all of the tools, check out the show notes here      

After a small hiatus, Allan McKay returns with a new episode 'Creative Negotiation'. Learning to step away from the black and white form of trade that we're typically used to, and instead prioritize what your real current career goals and needs are, and proceed to negotiate actual needs that benefit you more. While also acknowledging the other party's needs to align the discussion with what they want, to get what you really want. Show-notes at http://www.allanmckay.com/64/  

Probably one of the more controversial episodes put out - as is anything to do with money. But this episode dives into understanding the logistics of what you charge as a freelancer and how to re-think it all to get what you are worth, but also do it in a way that your clients get exactly what they want as well.Show notes at http://www.allanmckay.com/63/

Pete Draper is an industry veteran with 20 years of experience working in the UK and India on many amazing projects. He's co-founder and CTO of Makuta in Hyderabad, India a vfx studio responsible for many high profile feature films. This was a fun chat covering so much from freelance to relocating to new countries, touching on much of the 3D industry 'back in the day' as well as productivity and his book 'Deconstructing the elements' as well as plenty more! Makuta VFX Pete Draper's Website Deconstructing the Elements Check out show notes at http://www.allanmckay.com/62/  

This episode is a sit down with Chad Wanstreet (Episode 18 and 19) casually talking about overtime, burnout and a lot of issues with the industry. This is from two people who know the grind all too well and shedding a lot of light on it from many different and unique perspectives.   Chad Episode 18 Chad Episode 19 Chad's Vimeo Show notes located at http://www.allanmckay.com/61/  

  Jami works at Bungie in Seattle, WA well known for Halo and Destiny among other high profile projects. This episode we dive into her role at Bungie on Destiny, as well as her experiences graduating from college and going into video games, and how she managed to literally walk into a job at Bungie and a lot of the key reasons behind that which I think is really fascinating. As well as sharing her own female perspective of working in the video game industry as well. There's a lot of really valuable takeaways from this episode as well as just being an all-round fun episode to listen to!   For show notes visit :  http://www.allanmckay.com/60/ Jami's Twitter : https://twitter.com/justjamij Jami's GDC talk handout : http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1021793/Animation-Bootcamp-The-Missing-Link  

Matt Conway is a Digital Matte Painter having worked on movie projects such as Avatar, Avengers Age of Ultron, Shutter Island, Game of Thrones and dozens of others. During this interview we discuss everything from his initial upbringing and transition into VFX to travel, techniques and superbowl, as well as Stallone and Arnie and a heck of a lot more. We dive into lots of good stuff, lots of goofy stuff, we do talk sex and censorship and other ridiculous things - so those who might be a bit sensitive maybe skip ahead if hearing words like 'boobs' offend you.   Matt Conway's Website : http://mattconwayart.com/ Artist Insight Series :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kScuvirgjjI  

Omar is a character TD at Dreamworks Animation in Los Angeles working on projects like Kung Fu Panda 2, How to train your dragon 2, Rise of the Guardians and many others. During this episode we cover a lot of really great subjects and particularly dive into his experience going from a student into a character TD role at one of the biggest animation studios in the world, and many of the struggles we typically face that he was able to overcome.  

Darryl Johnson is a 3D generalist working for studios in LA like Blur and Blizzard Cinematics, as well as previously in Detroit at various car commercial houses.This episode is a fun filled episode covering everything from video games and getting started, to diving into a lot of bigger subjects to do with career, moving city's and working at big studios.Show notes here Darryl's Website Darryl's Vimeo Linkedin The Wedding Video!   Join the career intensive here  

Ash Thorp is a director, illustrator and creative director - who has worked on countless feature films and other creative projects. Some of his projects include Dawn of the planet of the apes, Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation, James Bond Spectre, Call of Duty, Prometheus, Iron Man 3, The Walking Dead and dozens of others. He also has a podcast 'The Collective' which interviews many creatives and I highly recommend it. Ash also runs his own online school 'Learn Squared' and his various personal film projects in the works. This is a fantastic episode that covers a lot of insights into working, life balance, keeping your creative drive, and so much more. Ash is as insightful as he is talented and shares a lot of really vital information that any creative in the industry should benefit greatly from. (More links to come) Shownotes @ http://www.allanmckay.com/56/Sign up for this video series to receive more information about the mentorship The website of Ash ThorpThe CollectiveOur episode of The Collective - episo