Yesterday I was asked to crit' an applicants reel who wanted to be a modeler - I wrote the following and sent it along its way. I thought I'd post the email here as well. A word of warning - it was late in the day and I've had a sinus thing for a week now that has me looking longingly at an ice pick top open things up so it may come off as a lil, ummm, shall we say cranky. Still I stand by the opinion offered.
R.
Ok, my thoughts – please keep in mind that I am hopped up on Dayquil as I write this:
At an animation or vfx studio modelers (which is what this guy wants to be) model what we show them we want built. If we want a turkey built, as a timely example, we don’t just say, “Hey, build me a turkey” and then head out to lunch. We give them drawings of what our turkey should look like. We show them maquettes that we paid top dollar for to show them what our turkey should look like. And on and on – at no time does the modeler really get to make their idea of a turkey – they build our turkey. Period. End.
90% of recent graduates who want to be modelers fill their reels with stuff they have made up. They will build a fantasy creature, a cartoony car, a scary tree, whatever strikes their fancy – this tells us nothing. Case in point this guy’s reel. He’s built a bunch of stuff but shown me nothing of his skills. He should, in my never to be humble, opinion throw it all away and do this instead:
Show reference of a car – I don’t care what kinda car; just make sure it’s a real car. Then he should build that car in CG. Not his idea of what the car should be, not his artistic interpretation of the car – just build the damn car. And build every teeny-weenie detail, if there are 5 lug nuts in reality – there should be 5 on the model, etc. I should look at the model and say, “Wow, that’s a _________ and look at all the detail, that’s awesome”.
Next, show reference of a movie star – pick one, anyone, male, female – I don’t care, just make sure they are a big star that everyone will recognize. Then he should build a model of that movie star – every detail. If he or she has a gap in their teeth or a cute lil dimple in their chin that detail must be in the model. Extra points if it’s a girl, girls are harder than guys. Ugly is easier than pretty. Don’t believe me? Draw me a very pretty girl, now draw me a monster – what was easier?
Next show me a hand prop – a gun, a cell phone, whatever – but it should be really complicated – lots of detail, then build it, etc. See comments above – I should be able to look at the CG model and say, “Well, looky there, that’s a ____________________ and look at all the detail – it looks real!”
Building stuff that you make up is easy because who can dispute it not looking like you intended it to look? No one, that’s who! A modeler who can model stuff we recognize is a skilled modeler.