As this was my first ever job, I had no idea what to expect at the beginning.

The first day at the studio was mostly dedicated to getting familiar with the studio’s pipeline, and learning where to find the important files and resources; as well as meeting my team. That day was also used to get familiar with the in-house tools and the method for lighting and compositing a basic shot for Numberblocks. After that initial day, I jumped straight into lighting, comping and creating simple FX for shots in my first ever episode.

On a daily basis, my first task is to check on the renders that I had sent to the render-farm on the previous day. I then go through and work on shots which have been assigned to me and make fixes to shots where needed. I use RedShift to light, Nuke to comp and After-Effects to create the 2D FX. Once in a while, there’ll be a review of an episode that we’ve been working on recently. This entails of the lighters, the editor and the directors of the series watching through the shots once they’ve been edited together, and pointing out any mistakes or discontinuities in the shots. I work in a reasonably small team of four other lighters who are always happy to help me when I have any problems or questions. Lighting and compositing are a mixture of creative and technical, which can lead to some interesting problems which can be very satisfying to solve. Since you get assigned your own shots to work on, it’s easy to feel ownership and pride when you look back at your finished shots.

There’s a real sense of community in the studio and I felt welcomed from the very start. After being at the studio for just over two months, I have already learned so much through practice, my team’s guidance and learning from my own mistakes.  I’ve really enjoyed working at Blue-Zoo and I’m excited for the future.