Last Year's CG Whiz Winner Gives Tips for This Year’s Contenders

We just caught up with Stu Schwartz—last year’s CG Whiz winner. Here’s what he had to say about the experience and knowledge he’s gained and, of course, a few tips for this year’s submissions:

I learned a lot this last summer at Escape Studios as a student and intern but one of the most important things I want to make sure students and aspiring artists know is that I found out how important networking can be. The more you get out there and meet people, the more opportunities will present themselves. Escape is located right near the heart of countless studios and is always putting on events and connecting with other studios and industry professionals. It's been a great environment for meeting other artists and potential employers. So keep that in mind as you move forward in your careers.

• Now for some tips for those of you that are going to present submissions to the upcoming CG Whiz competition. Many of these seem obvious but are worth a mention.
• Pick your best work. Ask others for feedback and get outside opinions on what others think is your best work. Try not to get too emotionally attached to your work.
• Keep it short. Focus your work. If you have a three minute animation, find the shots within that animation that are the best and exclude the rest from your demo reel. Your demo reel should be focused, not cluttered.
• Show breakdowns of your work, but don't dwell on them for too long. As part of my experience this summer with Escape Studios, I learned that EVERYONE has seen a million breakdowns, and they understand the different elements involved in 3D. But it is important for them to see what is CG versus live action.
• Explain your roll in each piece. If you did everything, make note of it. If you worked with a group, and you did the modeling and texturing, then be sure to specify that too.

That’s it for now. Good luck to everyone who is planning a submission. It’s worth the effort to be a part of CG Whiz!