The Beginners Guide to Becoming a VFX Artist

If you are planning to take up a career in VFX, it is quite evident that the stereotyped options are certainly not your thing. However, to get started, you indeed need to learn the basics of how to become a VFX artist. Today, the entertainment industry is hitting a new ultimatum with stunning and realistic visual effects. In recent times, VFX has drastically changed the film industry. And eventually, there remains a substantial demand for expert VFX artists who can hit up the mark.

Therefore, becoming a VFX artist can open up a plethora of opportunities for your career ahead. The application of VFX is no more limited to the genre of Hollywood and has thrived in the era of technological advancement. Even Bollywood &Tollywood too vouch a lot of VFX, to come up with brilliant productions. Therefore, thriving in the age of ‘Avengers’ and ‘Bahubali,’ nobody can deny the fact that visual effect can happen to be a promising career in the long run.

This article will provide you a comprehensive idea about how to become a VFX artist for experienced personnel in the field of VFX and a fresher. All you need is to be a little tech-savvy and an inclination towards creating innovative visuals. With a career in VFX, your gateway to a robust future is just around the corner. Let the discussion begin.

A Quick Insight to the Basics of VFX

Visual effects artists can easily be interpreted as creative engineers. Whenever you come across the ‘larger than life’ scenes or the ‘out of the world’ depictions in movies, be sure of the fact that it involved the sweat and toil of the VFX artists and the creative team. So, while discussing how to become a VFX artist, it is essential to understand that a VFX artist can either play a general role in the overall production or may specialize in a particular genre to come up with the best outcomes.

Some key responsibilities of a VFX artist can is as follows :

Learning to use relevant computer programs efficiently
Applying illustrations to create brilliant graphics and animation
Co-ordinate and perform with a team of animators and artists
Researching upcoming projects
Facilitating to create realistic visuals, animations or design
Learning to develop the storyboards to chalk out critical scenes in animations
Receiving and responding to the feedback from directors, clients or other team members
Making the needful edits and inputs as per the feedback received

So, it provides a clear idea about the key responsibilities of a VFX artist. Hence before you wonder how to become a VFX artist, make sure you can meet the duties as mentioned and perform seamlessly. Just like any other VFX artist, you, too, will be subjected to cater to the need of the industry. So, it is always advised to look before you leap, and take your career choices carefully.

What are the Skills Required to Becoming a VFX Artist?

The inevitable question that comes to your mind next must be ‘what are the skills required for VFX artist?! And that’s what we will discuss now. To be a VFX artist, the very first thing that you need within is:

Confidence
A Creative Mind

Firstly, if you are not confident in yourself, you cannot succeed in any career option you choose. VFX is just a name. And secondly, the work of visual effects is entirely driven by imaginations and creative skills. So, to determine the path of visual effects as a career option, you need to have a creative mind in the first place. So, if you have these two primary components in you, continue to read further. Apart from the two essential components mentioned above, there are several set of skills needed to become a VFX artist. A concoction of technical skills and creative prowess is required if you are wondering about how to become a VFX artist. After all, the entire responsibility of a VFX artist encompasses bringing complex life structures to the silver screen.

Some vital technical skills essential for any VFX artist can is as follows:

Adobe Creative Suite
UX Wireframes
Prototyping
User Interface Design
Java Script
MAYA
3D Modelling

Apart from the technical skills, there are some essential transferable skills as well, which is mandatory for any VFX artist. A comprehensive list of such transferable skills necessary for a VFX artist is as follows :

Creative Thinking & Execution
Communication Skills
Collaborating Qualities
Researching Skills
Organizational Skills
Attention to Details
Problem Solving Capabilities

So, provided the skills that mentioned just above match up with that of yours, then needless to mention, you are at the right place. If you have the set of skills, then you consider yourself to have qualified the primary step of how to become a VFX artist.

What are the Key Roles and Departments of VFX?

The procedure of creating visual effects is lengthy, challenging, and highly technical. The tasks are, hence, divided into teams, and each group is assigned to the respective departments. So talking about how to become a VFX artist, here comes the most crucial part of the discussion- The key roles and departments of VFX. In this section, we will discuss about that only.

The Art Department: Initially, a script is prepared based on the vision and ideas of a director. The script and the views are then subjected to the art department. Now, the entire team analyzes and understands the technical challenges, and work on it to create the visuals. The illustrators and concept artists then execute everything from storyboarding to photorealistic artworks, and finally, the finished shot is produced.
Pre-Viz: Pre-Viz is an abbreviated form for the pre-visualization artists. The primary role of the pre-visualization artists is to create the first 3D representation of the final shots of visual effects. Discussing how to become a VFX artist, the work of pre-viz artists mainly encompasses using artwork and basic 3D models to create a low-quality version of the action sequences. The director can then make way to further proceedings.
Assets Department: Often, there are several scenes in which virtual assets are needed. This is mainly done when it turns out to be extremely expensive to create such real objects in reality. So, virtual assets are created with VFX and worked on to make it look realistic. That is the function of the assets department. This department is taken care of by the modeling artists, texture painters, shade developers, and riggers.
Research & Development: While the discussion encompasses how to become a VFX artist, it is mandatory to talk about the research and development section. The core function of the R&D team is to conduct continuous research and develop new tools and software. The primary purpose of this department is to make the work process more seamless and glitch-free. Also, the department facilitates to waive out the effort of manual labor and thus saves a lot of time. The R&D department is highly technical. So those who are more inclined toward the technical nitty-gritty of VFX, this department can be the right choice for them. Also, the role of an R&D team involves strong knowledge in computer science and an unmatched passion for problem-solving.
Animation Department: Animation forms the backbone of every moving creature in a scene. Therefore the roles and responsibilities of the animation department also add input to how to become a visual effects artist. Be it a usual prop or a vast spaceship, every moving object in a scene is animated. And behind that, it involves the sweat and toil of an animation artist.
Matchmove Department: Without the matchmove department, it is impossible to incorporate the 3D data into live-action footage. In the live-action footage, there remains the need for a virtual camera that shoots like a real one. This virtual camera helps to make the digital assets appear more authentic and lively. And this task is executed by the matchmover artists. Their job is to use the live-action footage and take care of the virtual camera for all the departments.
FX Simulation: Talking about how to become a VFX artist, the role of the VX Simulation department, too, deserves a special mention. An FX Artist is responsible for creating FX animation, procedural simulation, dynamic simulation, and particle & fluid systems. They recreate the real-world components like fire, water, blasts, explosion, cloth, hair, and so on in a motion frame. Their work involves so much expertise that often, it is hard for the audience to differentiate whether it is real or created. FX Simulation is another crucial section where VFX artists can enthrall. Although highly technical, but yet it is a creative role.
Lighting Department: Another essential aspect to discuss how to become a VFX artist, is the lighting department. A lighting artist performs the job of applying all the lighting effects on the digital scenes. The artist considers the source of the lights from the live-action plate and utilizes virtual lighting to mimic the existing illumination within the environment. The role of a lighting artist ensures that the VFX and the Live-Action elements blend smoothly but bears the presence in the background of a scene.
Matte Paint: Using traditional and digital painting techniques is another aspect of how to become a VFX artist. And that’s where the responsibility of the Matte Paint department lies. There are certain scenes in movies and videos, which are impossible for the filmmakers to create in real life. In such cases, the Matte Paint artists come to play. They create a matte paint image of that scene using the relevant techniques. Often, it is also practically hard and financially not feasible, to reach a particular landscape for just a couple of shots. The role of a Matte Paint artist also plays a pivotal importance in such situations.
Rotoscoping: The technique of rotoscopic is mainly used to create a matte or mask, for an element. The primary function is to extract that element out of place on a different background and mask out to change the colors and some other set of criteria. A rotoscopic artist uses a set of tools to create a new alpha channel for a specific part of an image sequence or video.
Compositing: One of the essential act of how to become a VFX artist, is to learn the art of layering all the various elements in a live-action shot. The compositing artists are the ones who are responsible for this job. The multiple components in a shot can include live-action, matte, multiple CG passes, 3D lighting, animation, and particle effects. A compositing artist blends them all uniformly and creates the final shot. While working throughout the process of production, a composition artist needs to collaborate with the other VFX departments, and cooperate to solve the problems accordingly.
Production: Some people are efficient in managing teams and bear excellent leadership skills. The production department can be the right place for them to thrive. The purpose of the department is to manage teams, allocate budgets, prepare schedules, and so on. The top role of a production team in a VFX unit is the VFX Producer. The concerned person in the designation works closely with the VFX supervisor to manage the whole process, figure out the required resources, hire artist and crew, manage budgets and deliver the project within the proposed deadline. Also, there are other promising designations in the department, like production manager and production coordinator, whose task is to support the producer liaising with artists, flagging the issues, track the progress and make sure everything is on track as per the schedule assigned.

The Conclusion

Thus, as the discussion comes to an end, it eventually provides a detailed, clear, and informative idea about how to become a VFX artist, and what are the associated roles and responsibilities which come along. So, if creativity is what drives you towards constructive works, then this article is dedicated to you only. Re-read again if you want and make the right decision. A career with flying colors is awaiting just around the corner. Take a step today, and look forward to a brilliant tomorrow. The world of VFX is in dire need of creative and constructive persons like you.