The Allan Mckay Podcast

Edwin Braun is the CEO and co-founder of Cebas Visual Technology, the developer of Thinking Particles for 3DS Max, as well as other plugins. Cebas’ software has been used in a number of influential films such as Lost in Space, 2012, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Harry Potter.  In this Episode, Allan McKay talks with Edwin Braun about his co-founding the company with Achim Smailus in 1988, in Heidelberg, Germany; and the journey of Thinking Particles through the decades of change and the new demands of the VFX industry. Check out the show notes at www.allanmckay.com/82/

In this Podcast, Allan McKay interviews Wirginia Romanowska, a VFX Lead for id Software. Wirginia's extensive experience as FX lead at id software on Doom, as well as working on many other major titles around the world. Wirginia shares many insights into her experience. After graduating with a Masters Degree in Engineering from a university in her native Poland, Wirginia’s first job was working on the title sequence for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, at Eurocom in the U.K. She then moved to Singapore to work on Assassin’s Creed 3, at Ubisoft. Since joining the team at id Software she has worked on games like Doom, Far Cry 4, Watch Dogs. In this Episode, Wirginia talks about her decade-long experience in visual effects, working abroad; and shares insider tips on successful demo reels and job interviews.   for show notes, visit http://www.allanmckay.com/81/    

So one subject commonly coming up is all about hardware! Inside of the FX TD Mentorship, Troy Buckley who's part of my team, helps out a lot of people building hardware specs and figuring out what hardware they should buy depending on if they need generalist work done, or simuatlions etc. So you have the ultimate bang for your buck. Troy's originally a student of mine IN the FXTD Mentorship, but he's shown so much passion and care, and shared so much knowledge in there (like a lot of people) that bit by bit he's organically evolved into being someone I work with closely on a lot of ideas for extra things we can do inside of the course etc. and Helps me out a lot. This episode dives into everything you need to know about hardware. Missed something? Got something to add? Leave a comment Show notes are at http://www.allanmckay.com/80/    

This episode dives right into a subject that we all are probably guilty of not applying. Eyes glazed over during book consumption, clicking away on Facebook while watching tutorials, or playing around on our phone during lectures. How do you watch, read, listen to information and absorb it, retain it, and apply it? This episode is focused on a lot of core fundamentals Allan applies to his learning, as well as many well documented and proven approaches to keeping your core knowledge. http://www.allanmckay.com/79/ for show notes    

Jeff Okun is a Visual Effects Supervisor who has worked on wide-ranging effects in award winning films such as Blood Diamond, Stargate, Sphere, Red Planet, Deep Blue Sea, The Last Starfighter, and many more. His career spans for nearly four decades. In addition, Jeff is Chair of the Visual Effects Society, a global community of visual effects artists and businesses. Jeff was fundamental in starting the VES 2.0 initiative which brought together studios, facilities and artists to explore new business models, pipelines and technologies. Jeff has also created and co-edited the VES Handbook of Visual Effects, a 980-page reference book covering all aspects of creating visual effects, techniques and practices. for show notes visit http://www.allanmckay.com/78/    

Episode 77 - Interview with Action VFX NOTES   For complete show notes visit http://www.allanmckay.com/77/   ActionVFX (www.actionvfx.com) is a website that provides stock footage for visual effects, from smoke plumes to fire, from sparks to explosions. Before the company was launched in 2016, its CEO Rodolphe Pierre-Louis, along with Joe Camarata (Marketing Manager) and Luke Thompson (Operations Manager) conducted an extensive survey among visual effects artists, which determined the type of files the site would contain, and its content.   After only a year, ActionVFX’s footage has been used in television shows like Flash, Fear of the Walking Dead, Legends of Tomorrow, How to Get Away with Murder, Narcos, Series of Unfortunate Events; as well as in video games, music videos and the live Lady Gaga performance at this year’s Grammys.   In this Episode, Allan McKay interviews Rodolphe, Joe and Luke about the beginnings of ActionVFX, the challenges of starting a company, the strategies of fundraising and brandin

Andrew L. Schmidt is a Director of Trollhunter (DreamWorks Animation). With a 20-year experience in the industry, he has a long list of credits to his name: The Iron Giant, Monsters, Inc; Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and many more. Andrew has worked at studios like Amblimation, DreamWorks, Warner Brothers and Pixar. Guillermo del Toro’s Trollhunters is his first directing credit.   For complete show notes visit http://www.allanmckay.com/76/   Andrew L. Schmidt on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2112570/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 Trollhunters on IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1734135/ Andrew’s talk at IAMAG Master Class: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/iamagmasterclasses17/ Andrew Schmidt quoted in the New Yorker’s article The Fun House: Life at Pixar: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/05/16/the-fun-factory   Episode 76 - Interview with Andrew L. Schmidt NOTES     [-1:21:11] Hey! This is Allan. Just a quick thing to check out: www.vfxrates.com. This is a website that I created to solve a massive proble

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/