Beginner’s Guide to Becoming a Visual Effects (VFX) Artist in 2022

Want to be a VFX artist but don’t know where to start and what to begin with? Phew! Don’t worry champ, we are here to help you. If you think whole medicine or Chartered accountancy with a suite and boot is not your take on the job environment and in addition to it if you are someone who is curious and fascinated by design, digital art, technology, films, and coding you can definitely think about VFX, 53 billion rupees worth industry as your career plan.

We present you this guide to become a VFX artist in 2022 which is for absolute beginners on where to start regarding their VFX passion. And also a great material to share with people who really do not get your passion, especially our parents and or other guardians. Let us dig into this guide for VFX artists.

Let’s understand what VFX or Visual Effects mean

VFX basically is an abbreviation of visual effects. In visual effects, some manipulative or digital imagery is added to enhance live-action footage. The main reason why VFX is done is in order to create something that is totally out of the question to shoot in real life.

A few examples where we can see the amazing visual effects work are movies like Avatar, the Harry Potter movie series, and our very own Bhahubali.

Who is a VFX or Visual Effects artist?

A VFX artist is a person that belongs to a team, that creates the manipulated footage for television and or films. To add the naturalism factor these visual effects artists use some computer software to create the special effects and animations. Visual effects have an array of jobs under its umbrella. You could be an animator or a multimedia artist, all depending on your specifications. And the work expected from each could be different depending on the job role they have been recruited for. Studios of all kinds and sizes are actively recruiting VFX artists as they are the one that helps them to bring their imagination to the picture.

What are the job responsibilities of a Visual Effects artist?

The visual effects artists not only design, animations, and graphic designs, but also are expected to meet the production crew. The production crew might include important members like writers, creative directors, and directors who discuss the project. These discussions are an important part of a visual effects artist’s job because in these discussions he or she will be able to verify whether the artist’s vision and the crew member’s vision are in sync. This sync is very important for the outcome. Another important job done by the visual effects artists is to manage the changes that other team members make to the design.

Other responsibilities are:

• Tracking the progress through daily and weekly reports

• Getting project designs done within the expected timeline.

• to ensure they function and appear correctly visual effects artists will have to test the visual effects

• Special effects, designing like shader effects and dynamic simulations

• References and inspiration researches

The skills required to be a visual artist

Technical skills like computer software could be learned in academics. But before that, there are some general skills that’ll help with your career big time. Some of them are

• Critical thinking

• Creativity

• Passion for film

• Communication

• Drawing

• Mechanics and movement

• Composition and light

• Photography

• Visual aesthetics

• Sculpture and anatomy

• Project management

• Real-world observation

Career path:

In the VFX field, there are many teams as the jobs are diverse. They’ll need a nonartistic managing person to a hardcore coder to a creative illustrator. So there are abundant job offers in this community. Some of the technical roles are

• Asset department

• Matte paint

• Pre visualization

• Art department

• Research and development

• Lighting

• Match move

• Composting

• Animation

• Fx Simulation

• Production

• Rotoscoping

Estimated Salary

In general Visual effects, artists choose to do freelancing where they get to work with multiple clients. But some also prefer to work for media companies and film studios. The average salary is expected to be ₹338,462 per year

Where to begin

You can learn VFX in two mediums. You can either teach yourself or go to a university. Confused about which medium you should choose? Well, this totally depends on you. You can choose any method, but the most important part is to start. Watch a movie, try analyzing the VFX or take a book and a sketch. Whatever may be the medium you choose, always make sure you have the passion to learn VFX. If you want to learn VFX from a university, but don’t know where to start? Well, Arena is a good option to consider. We provide you with placement assistance throughout the process. GIT for further information.