Student Spotlight with Sameira Shroff
Meet Sameira Shroff for our Student Spotlight Interview. Currently pursuing an Animation Concept Art program at VFS (Vancouver Film School).
What led you to pursue a career in animation?
I’ve always been someone who would draw all the time, as a child all the way till adulthood.
At first, I thought of it as a hobby and even gave the MBBS entrance exam, but discovering animation as a career and learning it brought out a joy towards animating where it didn’t feel like a job anymore, just pure fun. I think that loving your career that much is the first sign that you’ve found your calling!
What are your views on the perception of animation being solely for children among the majority of Indian parents?
I think that animation is simply a medium of expression. Animation let’s the creator manipulate almost everything single element, as far as the colour of every pixel on the screen. Bright colours catch the eyes of children, which is why bright cartoons and even exaggerated live action costumes for kids shows and movies are popular. However, using materials that we can make entirely on our own, the show, movie or game can look hyper-realistic. I think animation gives exponentially more room for creativity, whether it’s for kids shows, adult movies and games, and for any genre like fantasy, gore, sci-fi, etc. Animation as a medium has an extremely wide variety of audiences, genres, and stories.
What factors motivated you to enroll in the animation program at VFS, and how has it impacted your career trajectory?
As I finished my course at ATLAS I realised that I would like to do more of a pre-production role in the film/game pipeline as a concept artist for props, characters and interior environments. While I am still very passionate about 3D modeling and animation, I wanted to get a better idea of how to be a good concept artist and understand more about the pipeline from different perspectives. I’m exactly halfway through the program and I already feel like I have learned a lot and understood many important fundamentals which immediately escalated my skill level, along with a ton of practice through exercises and projects.
What area of specialization are you currently pursuing at VFS, and what are your aspirations in animation post-graduation?
I’m currently in the Animation Concept Art program at VFS after doing 3 years of 3D Animation at ATLAS. I would like to be a concept artist for props in the gaming industry, where I would get some 3D modeling responsibilities as well. I keep in touch with 3D animation as much as I can in my free time as well, since that was what first made me fall in love with the field. I would also like to do character design and interior environments for films and games!
While attending Atlas Skilltech for animation, how did you manage to balance commercial projects along with studies?
At ATLAS we had a system where the school would help us get internships at local and regional studios in the fields we would like to specialize in during our Summer and Winter breaks. The heads of studios, or recruiters would be invited to watch our Term-end Juries online and give us comments, ask questions and overall feedback on our projects and assignments for the term. At the end of the term they would select a few of us to work at their studios as interns, and the rest were encouraged to reach out to previous jurors and teachers for internships at studios. Every student had an internship for the breaks this way so we could come to school with fresh perspectives!
Could you discuss your involvement in the “Disney-StarTV Network’s Deck of Pride” project?
The Deck of Pride project found me through my 3D animation teacher Mr. Mahee Pal. It was through his studio, DigitalClay, that I was able to get this opportunity. I was among 4 other artists who each had to design the face cards of the suit that was assigned to them and work with a specific colour. For me it was Clubs, and my colour was green.
It was an amazing experience that taught me a lot of client communication skills, teamwork, time management, and presentation skills. I met some amazing new artists who I can now call friends!
Could you share your experience learning Unreal engine for your floating island project and what pros and cons you see in using real-time software than the traditional render engines?
Learning and using UE4 was one of my favourite parts of the project. It boosted my confidence a lot because I could see real time development of my project at every step without having to wait for a finished product before rendering. I had a lot of help from my teachers and watched video tutorials, but I think the majority of my knowledge came from just pressing all buttons, sliding all sliders to the max or min setting, and seeing what happened. Fiddling around in a new software, especially one like Unreal, can also accidentally give you a product you didn’t expect, but was better than what you imagined!
You can connect with the Sameira at the following links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sameira311/
Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/vDAkZx
Sriram
That was a very good insight into her path, and I personally liked reading her story and experience. The explorations, animation exercises, and dips into 3D and perfecting them to a desired level, all seemed very inspiring. Good work!