The Creator Curriculum

Jessica Rossier & Bastien Grivet are a husband & wife team of concept artists behind the style for Into the Spiderverse and Love, Death and Robot's jaw-dropping short The Witness. Under their alias Wardenlight Studios they have worked with the best of the best across film and videogames. They are wonderful people and utterly passionate artists!

Timecodes:

00:01:52 | Backstory: Switzerland & Ubisoft

00:10:30 | Origins of Wardenlight Studios

00:12:36 | Getting a Call from ILM

00:19:02 | Studio Growing Pains

00:28:02 | Personal Work Gets You Clients

00:31:52 | Working on Into the Spiderverse

00:40:11 | Working on The Witness

00:44:54 | Digital Impressionism

00:54:58 | Differences Between Film and Videogames

00:57:32 | Outro

GMUNK is a visionary whose creativity and innovation span a diverse range of mediums, and has established himself as one of the top visual design directors in the world.

Timecodes:

00:01:25 | Helicopter Photography & Peter Clark’s Energy Levels

00:12:50 | I F*cking Love Strobe Lights

00:17:37 | His Most Recent Mistake

00:20:55 | Evolving Into New Industries

00:26:44 | How to Get Into Practical Shoots

00:32:03 | What Excites GMUNK Creatively

00:36:12 | Iconic Motion Design Title Sequences

00:42:30 | Soul Extractions & DMT

00:55:03 | Narrowing Down Your Focus

00:57:47 | Working Strategically Versus Passionately

01:02:05 | Beeple Is a Legend

01:06:00 | Fame, Success and Remaining True To Yourself

01:10:00 | Being a Good Collaborator

01:16:42 | Tapping Into Your Creative Energy

01:17:56 | How Does GMUNK Use 3D?

01:25:13 | Making the Most of Your Time

01:30:10 | The Mythological Purposes of Marijuana

01:34:05 | Science, Space and UFOs

01:41:15 | The Origin of GMUNK

01:42:16 | How A Hangover Lead to Working on Tron: Legacy

01:47:20 | Yiddish Oversharing

01:51:30 | Wrapping Up

Ben is a talented composer who has done scores for brands such as Lexus, Nike, Google & Swarovski. He's a frequent collaborator with talent like Ash Thorp & GMUNK. He's done movies, TV shows and video-games and released self-titled albums under his own name. For anyone interested in what goes into scoring music, you got to check this out.

Timecodes:

00:02:13 | Backstory: Getting Into Music

00:13:37 | Scoring Movies

00:18:47 | Scoring Everything (The Game)

00:28:09 | Story Over Sound Design

00:32:50 | How Long Does It Take You To Put An Album Together?

00:39:48 | There Is No Favorite Album

00:44:40 | Making Money & Spotify

00:54:02 | Getting Your Music Heard

01:01:34 | Syncing

01:27:10 | Album Art Design Process

01:21:24 | Future Dreams

01:27:55 | The Composer's Guild

01:35:44 | Closing Thoughts

Niels Prayer was a former Technical Director at studios like Framestore & Illumination, but his taste lead him towards design and illustration. Incredibly talented, wise and humble, Niels shared his expertise on how to be extraordinary and happy at the same time.

Timecodes:

00:01:36 | Backstory: Framestore

00:06:06 | Working as an FX Artist

00:10:19 | Switching Into Title Design

00:14:32 | What He's Learned From Patrick Clair

00:21:14 | Honing In On the Important Feedback

00:24:38 | Handling Clients As An Art Director

00:27:56 | Niels’ Criteria for Good Work & Bad Work

00:31:28 | Living a Balanced Life

00:34:42 | Creating Music & Friday Night Jazz Lessons

00:40:06 | Sharing & Giving Feedback

00:44:22 | Niels Working Process (As an Illustrator & Houdini Artist)

00:51:42 | Why Should People Learn Houdini?

01:00:06 | Being a Technical Director at Illumination

01:03:30 | Niels Signed a Movie Contract!

01:16:06 | Final Words Of Wisdom

01:29:18 | Outro

Gustaf spent fifteen years in a band and twenty years as a Creative Director. He worked with acts like Dream Theater and people like Steve Jobs. Then he started his career all over to fulfill his dream of becoming a motion designer. It’s an episode with quite the story arc!

Timecodes:

00:00:44 | How We Met

00:02:08 | Making Music

00:10:00 | Performing in Maximum Indifference & Opening for Dream Theater

00:19:39 | The Touring Life

00:27:09 | Getting Your Music Heard (Or Not)

00:30:51 | NFTS & The Sevens Grant

00:44:52 | Getting The Attention of NFT Collectors

00:48:58 | Backstory: Gustaf’s First Career

00:58:48 | Backstory: Working for Apple & Steve Jobs

01:03:36 | Backstory: From Tech to Entertainment

01:08:47 | The Rise of Botched Creative: Rebooting a Career

01:20:32 | First Job as a Motion Designer

01:26:50 | Fulfilling the Dream: Landing a Title Sequence Pitch

01:33:52 | What Goals are Left?

01:36:50 | Outro

Diego is a Houdini artist who's worked on movies like Frozen II, Logan, Doctor Strange: In The Multiverse of Madness, Justice League and Into the Spiderverse. Studios like Walt Disney Animation Studios, WETA, and Buck think he's pretty good at his job.

Timecodes:

00:00:45 | Meeting Through Rebelway

00:02:21 | Backstory

00:07:30 | Starting Out In FX

00:13:39 | Specializing in FX

00:15:24 | Working On Movies as an FX Artist

00:19:10 | Crunch + Manpower

00:21:10 | Creativity & Favorite Shots

00:23:14 | Into the Spiderverse

00:24:13 | Working at Disney Animation Studios

00:31:37 | What Goals are Left At This Point?

00:33:26 | Realtime Work

00:36:57 | Favorite Types of Projects

00:41:12 | Immigrating to America

00:42:35 | Favorite Career Moment (Into the Spiderverse)

Coming highly recommended by Sam Mason, Saad was already pre-determined to impress. I was familiar with his work for the legendary Thom Yorke of Radiohead and saw some incredibly impressive projects on his site. Then I found out he had worked for Pixar, Stefan Sagmeister and Google’s Innovation Lab…

Timecodes:

00:01:24 | Backstory: Pixar


00:08:43 | Backstory: Sagmeister & Walsh


00:17:14 | CG Pipelines


00:21:08 | Saad’s Secret Sauce


00:32:35 | Motion Capture Working Process


00:44:50 | Music Video Pros & Cons


00:47:50 | Lil Nas X


00:51:20 | Radiohead & Making Work That Moves People


00:54:48 | The Feasibility of Making a Career On Music Videos


00:58:04 | The Dawn of Animated Music Videos


01:04:02 | Crucial Lessons from Pixar & Sagmeister


01:21:04 | Outro

Leader of his enterprise ALT Creative, Ash has made a name for himself as a designer & director throughout illustration, design, VFX, animation, and even automotive design. He's worked on films such as Ender's Game, Prometheus, Blade Runner: 2049 and Ghost in the Shell. He co-founded the education platform Learn Squared and sparked conversation across the industry through his podcast The Collective. Needless to say, Ash's extreme work ethic has made him a legend, known as much for his input as his output.

Timecodes:

00:01:52 | What Goals Are Left To Accomplish?

00:05:55 | You’re Making A Film By Yourself?!

00:11:13 | How To Become Great At Everything

00:15:54 | How To Grow the Fastest as An Artist

00:25:31 | The Artistic POV of Ash Thorp

00:31:42 | The Pain of Sharing Things On The Internet

00:34:00 | Podcasting: The Collective vs The Creator Curriculum

00:46:55 | Learn Squared & The Mirage of Passive Income

00:53:46 | Creating Financial Independence Through Art

00:59:24 | NFTs Bring Out the Worst in People

01:11:40 | Putting Yourself in Growth Situations

01:17:52 | Online Trolls/ Owning the Moment

01:24:23 | Creating Cultural Zeitgeist Moments Through IP

01:46:34 | Writing Scripts & Music

01:55:12 | Bootstrapping Anamorphic Lenses

02:02:06 | Do Things for Yourself, Not Results

02:13:08 | Outro/ Filipe Carvalho is Awesome

All the way from Iran, Armin runs an ambitious creative collective known as Microverse. Using Houdini, he makes gorgeous alien renders and amazing tutorials through his Youtube channel Simple & Procedural. A true asset to the community and a talented artist!

Timecodes:

00:01:52 | Microverse Art

00:08:49 | Backstory: Architecture & Photography

00:12:52 | What Made You Get Into Houdini? (The Answer Is COVID)

00:19:20 | Getting Into Teaching

00:21:33 | Am I a Professional CG Artist?

00:29:29 | Creating Tutorials to Teach Himself (And You)

00:32:45 | Learning German to Move to Germany

00:41:04 | Most Important Concepts To Understand Houdini

00:51:54 | Houdini Role Models

00:54:39 | Redshift Realtime Rendering & Other Cool Tech

01:09:33 | Advice to Beginners Learning Houdini

01:16:26 | Outro

Urban’s got crazy video experience, major VFX experience and co-founded online education platform Rebelway with Saber Jlassi of Blizzard fame. For anyone looking to break into the deep end of what CG can do, you’re in luck. Rebelway is just the place to look. (I signed up for a bunch)

Timecodes:

00:02:14 | Backstory: Freeloading & Film

00:08:55 | Starting out in VFX with Axis Studios

00:20:44 | Beginnings of Rebelway with Saber Jlassi

00:23:04 | The Optimal Way to Learn Houdini

00:31:45 | What are the Most Creative Jobs in VFX?

00:51:36 | Working in Realtime (On Gears of War 5)

01:00:00 | Digital Art Is Undervalued

01:06:00 | Rebelway Online Courses

01:18:48 | Why Pay For Courses When There’s Youtube?

01:21:13 | Teaching is Hard

01:26:40 | Finding a Niche and Becoming The Best

01:33:33 | Ash Thorpe is a Beast

01:40:36 | Outro