Rick Makoul has a passion for all things CG and a desire to teach what he’s learned from the industry. He says that one of the neatest things he does as an instructor is to help others discover the sometimes “invisible” art of visual effects. He hopes that one day just one lesson will unlock the creativity and drive that will take his students head on into a twenty year long career.

Rick landed his first CG job at the SIGGRRAPH conference in New Orleans in the gaming industry as a CG artist. That job led to the next level in his career as a compositor.  

Rick enjoys working on TV episodic and commercial style work. He likes the feeling of always having to be on one’s toes and ready for the next challenge as it makes for an interesting day. He loves the day-to-day challenges, the fast pace and seeing immediate and continuous results in a rapid fire environment. He recently worked for Encore Hollywood-Deluxe, YU+CO, and Identity FX. With work on notables that include The Office, NCIS, Lock & Key and Perfect Couples, his areas of expertise include keying, tracking, multi-pass CG, compositing, VFX, rotoscoping and paint. 

Rick has a Bachelor’s of Arts in Visual Communications and Design from Bradley School of Art in York, PA. He studied 3D CG art at the School of Communications Arts and later studied in post-production and compositing with top industry professionals. He’s worked extensively with NUKE, Shake and Fusion.