What sparked my interest in 3D animation and visual effects? This is my story and journey for my career in visual effects so far.

 

It began when I saw the sandman pit scene from Spiderman 3 in 2007. I was amazed by the realism and simulation of it. I then saw Devastator on the pyramid in Transformers Revenge of the Fallen in my friend's basement in 2009 and was amazed by the detail and realism of the scene. I was blown away.

 

Starting in 2010, when I was 10 years old, I created LEGO stop motion animations for YouTube. I created at least a dozen animations, mostly in my basement. I then got my own laptop in 2013 and started learning mine-imator, a software for basic minecraft animations.

 

But in 2014, I was visiting LA with my Dad and saw a cool minecraft animation with nice lighting and graphics. I was inspired by it and decided to get the student version of Maya and 3ds Max. Maya came much easier to me and I created tons of various minecraft animations. I loved it. I also did it consistently for over 5 years, getting faster at Maya, and 3D animation.

 

In 2016, I started using After Effects for compositing, and other software for visual effects. Some animations got thousands of views, some not so much, but along the way I didn’t look at other animators as competitors, but rather inspiration. 

 

Then in 2018, my Toy Story 4 minecraft animations exploded in views, followed by Frozen 2, which exploded my YouTube channel. I was recreating movie characters, trailers and scenes as minecraft animations, and people loved it.

 

I then went to SCAD in Fall 2019, got my bachelor’s degree in VFX in June 2022, and went into the industry to do what I love to do, visual effects.

 

I’m thankful for the career I’ve had so far, the passion, the encouragement and support from family and friends, and look forward to what the future holds.