Study task III - Professional contact - Erin Winn

Another professional that I reached out to over the past week was Erin Winn - A lead concept artist working at Rooster Teeth studio - a company that had been a major pillar of influence for my art journey. It was a very informative experience as I when I had work with RT, I've only exchanged some files and work on the company's server and didn't actually have the opportunity to talk to her. As such, this conversation has helped me to learn a lot more about her art journey, as well as the knowledge she has gained working as a character designer for major productions like RWBY and Gen-lock ( which is the area I'm very much moving towards).



It's quite funny then to learn that we shares a few similarities in terms of our professional aspirations. We're both are majorly inspired by Yoji Shinkawa's work on the Metal Gear solid series, and both of us wanted to go into Game studios. RT was her only animation studio application, and she's been with them ever since !

Undoubtedly though, the most important part was learning about her experience in working on projects, as well as Rooster Teeth working pipeline. Even though I have actually experienced working in the company's production and thereby have a pretty clear idea of how it works, its much better to get a point of view from someone who has a more broader role, as well as a longer history with the company than you.

This is really good to see with RT, as in the context of mental health being an ever increasing concern, especially in production companies where there's a culture of crunch time and tight deadlines, It is nice to know that the company makes an effort to avoid it !. 

Then, I picked her brain on what she found was the most challenging aspect of character designs.

This is all very insightful and it makes me really happy then about my decision to choose animation as my degree, as the experience working in uni animation projects certainly reflects what she said above and as a result,  prepares me better to tackle the challenges that she faces, and what I might as well.

And finally, I took advantage of the opportunity to ask her review my portfolio, which her feedback was more than encouraging and helpful in setting a direction for me to work on bettering it.