Escapes to a Career in CG

About the Artist—Aurora Jimenez

Aurora Jimenez is an emerging visual development artist and character designer who has worked on a variety of animated and live-action features, TV series and commercials, including The Tale of Despereaux and Felix & The Flying Machine, in addition to several Spanish language projects in her native Spain. Currently, Aurora is a concept artist at Electronic Arts in California.

Aurora’s Journey with Escape

After graduating in fine arts from Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain, Aurora studied art direction for film and TV at the Madrid School of Film &TV. Up until 2008, Aurora worked on a variety of film and TV projects using mostly 2D computer-generated (CG) animation, layout and design. Recognizing that the film and TV industry was moving to more high-end graphics and 3D graphics and imagery, Aurora began searching for continuing education programs that could help her enhance her resume and position her for the next wave in film and TV production.

Among the more popular 3D programs that many studios are using is Autodesk Maya, an end-to-end solution for CG production. Aurora was aware that learning Maya was crucial to her getting the career she was seeking in 3D Animation.

Aurora turned to Escape Studios in London, which specializes in helping students learn the Maya program at the professional level required by the industry.  “Escape has a tremendous reputation for 3D CG training, and it offers flexible programs for someone like me who is already active in the CG field,” said Aurora. “From its training facilities to its professional instructors, Escape understands what it takes to train and position CG artists for the next step in their careers.”

Escape Studios Maya Core Course introduces students to the program’s capabilities, workflows and interface, and then guides them through key 3D techniques, including:

• Nurbs modeling
• Polygon modeling and UVs
• Texture mapping
• Lighting and rendering

The 12-week course is designed specifically for people like Aurora who are actively working, and are looking to enhance their skills for the evolving job market.

“The full-time course was ideal for my schedule.  I attended class for 12 weeks, 6  hours a day,” commented Aurora. “The pace of the course was perfect and the instructors were extremely knowledgeable and eager to help me at any time.”

In addition to providing 3D training courses, Escape Studios is also one of the leading recruitment agencies for the 3D animation industry, given its extensive network of former students and associates that are now spread around the world.

“Over the years, we have established ourselves as an industry hub for training, networking and talent, as design agencies and studios have come to understand and appreciate the type and quality of recruits we can provide them to fulfill their CG needs,” stated Garreth Gaydon, Recruitment Manager.  “Her years in the industry, combined with her extensive Maya training made Aurora a very attractive candidate to a number of companies.”

Aurora’s Work

Following the course, Escape Studios helped to place Aurora as a concept artist at Painting Practice, a pre-visualization company based in London. During her time at Painting Practice, she worked on several commercials and music videos, including “Monkey Bee” by Jamie Hewlett, the co-creator of the comic Tank Girl and virtual band, Gorillaz. After working with the Painting Practice for two years, Aurora accepted a position as a concept artist with Electronic Arts where she is working on one of the company’s future games releases.

“Escape not only provided me with world-class training, they also served as my recruiter, helping me to land a job immediately upon completing the program,” added Aurora. “I could not have asked for a better experience, and appreciate the ongoing communications and support that I receive as an escapee.”