Ash Thorp is a graphic designer, illustrator, artist, and creative director for a multitude of media, including feature films, commercial enterprises, and print. Most recently, Ash worked on the concept for the Batmobile and the Batcycle, for the 2022 film The Batman directed by Matt Reeves. 

Previously, 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.

Allan McKay is an Emmy Award winning VFX Supervisor and Technical Director. He is responsible for many visual effects sequences including on hit titles like God of War: Ragnarok, Avengers: Endgame, Game of Thrones, Marvel’s Runaways, Bloodshot, Transformers, Blade, The Last Airbender, Star Trek, Superman, Flight, The Equalizer, and dozens of others; as well as many of the top video games worldwide: Halo, Destiny, Call of Duty, Bioshock, Prototype, Half-Life, and Team Fortress 2. 

Allan has over two decades of experience working in the visual effects industry for many leading studios such as ILM, Pixomondo, Blur Studio, Sony, Paramount Picture, Atomic Fiction, Prime Focus, Ubisoft, Activision and dozens of others.

In addition to his VFX work, Allan runs many online courses, as well as a mentorship. Throughout the past two decades, he has appeared as a speaker at events in over 15 different cities including Paris, Sydney, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Singapore, Helsinki. He has taught master classes at SIGGRAPH and IAMAG, and has spoken at events with Nvidia Google.

His hit Podcast is rated in the top 200 podcasts on iTunes where he interviews many award winning VFX Artists, Supervisors and Film Directors, focusing on both creativity and drive, as well as on how to boost your career and achieve success as a creative.

In this Podcast Ash Thorp interviews Allan McKay about his outlook on failure and how to move past it, AI and other technological disruptions, following one’s calling, as well as the importance of gratitude and always moving forward.

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/400.

William Faucher is a 3D Artist, Unreal Engine Educator, CG Spectrum Mentor and a successful YouTuber. He is a deaf 3D Generalist who’s been working in the entertainment industry for the past 14 years. Some of his titles include VFX / CGI shots in Marvel's Black Panther and HBO's Watchmen. 

He created his YouTube Channel over 2 years ago and it currently has over 165K subscribers. 

In this Podcast, 3D Artist, YouTuber and Unreal Engine Educator William Faucher talks about his journey of in VFX and Unreal, as well as gives advice to artists about the importance of being a generalist, learning new skills, embracing one’s soft skills, and knowing how to take criticism.

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/399.

Pindar Van Arman is an award-winning AI Artist who builds, codes and experiments with robots that paint in a variety of styles. Pindar was a winner of the Robot Art Competition for his home-made robots that use AI to paint artworks. He is best known for his robotic art project Cloud Painter, a sophisticated robot painter highlighted in videos below.

Van Arman’s exploration into robot art began by following his curiosity, attempting to answer the question: Where does creativity come from? To try to understand this universal question, he dissects his own artistic process and teaches robots to paint.

Van Arman’s impressive and award-winning works include CloudPainter, an autonomous robot that anyone with an Internet connection can control to produce artworks. He has been featured in many interviews, TV episodes, and conferences. 

In this Podcast, AI Artist Pindar Van Arman talks about his journey into AI art, the disruption of AI, singularity and the future of AI, the definition of “art” and where AI art and NFT’s fit into that, as well as answers the most urgent question of 2023: Will AI take our jobs?

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/398.

When it comes to job interviews, the number one thing to think about is putting yourself in the interviewer’s shoes. The more you can think like them – the pain points they may have, their wants and needs – the more you are in tune with what they’re thinking. It’s all about understanding their needs and alignment. By understanding what they want, you’re able to be the best fit.

Going for an interview is a chance to stand out, beyond your reel. A great interview is when you’re moving into the rates and start dates. It’s a chance for you to excel above everyone else. The interviewer will have a preconceived idea of who you are. They will look at your social media as well. So you can use this as an opportunity to put out more pictures of yourself at work.

One of the things that artists mishandle is asking good questions. If you blend in, you become forgettable. Figure out a way to be yourself but also how to stand out. What is your angle? What do you want to be remembered for? Also, think about speaking to them like their equal. Ask about the project or the client they’re working on. This way, you’re sounding like someone working with them. By asking questions, you can extract information that’s laser focused. 

Take the initiative to lead the conversation. That takes knowing exactly what you want. And if you know what you want – you can negotiate that naturally and in your favor. The more you’re clear about what you want, the more you’re able to express that naturally. It’s part of being a successful negotiator. So get clear about what you want: 

• Do you want more cool stuff for your reel? 

• Do you want a good salary? 

• Do you want to work with great people?

The key to getting what you want – is to give them what they want first. Negotiating is about both people making sacrifices. But it all comes back to asking the right questions.

In the interview, try to move the conversation along beyond the interview. When you start discussing the problems on a project, you’re starting to think as part of their team. You’re signaling that you’re working together. Another tactic is treating your interviewer as an equal. If you treat them as a friend rather than your boss, you may feel more relaxed during the interview. 

In this Podcast, Allan talks about how to stand out in a job interview, how to ask productive questions, how to be an active listener, how to communicate with the interviewer as an equal – the crucial skill of putting yourself into your interviewer’s shoes – and how to negotiate in your favor.

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/397.