The Interview Portal is hiring: VFX Artist Interview in California

Overview

A good story supported by breathtaking visuals, has the power to raise awareness in human society, awaken human consciousness, and show different perspectives of life.

Dhaval Parmar, our next pathbreaker, Co-Founder/Creative Director at White Flame Studio, works with brands and corporations which need VFX/3D effects.

Dhaval talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about his work as an FX Artist at several studios such as DreamWorks Animation (California), where he was involved in creating stunning visual effects.

For students, the universe has opportunities for everyone and that too multiple times in life, work towards getting ready to grab those opportunities when they arrive.

Background

Hi, I am Dhaval, I grew up in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, studied in Hiramani High School Ahmedabad. I have always liked Art and Design since very early childhood. (which is one of the key factors why I chose to become a VFX artist ) I come from a middle class family, my father is a government employee and mother is a housewife.

Education and training

What did you do for graduation/post graduation?

I graduated from DA-IICT Ahmedabad, finishing my BTech Degree in ICT (Information and Communication Technology). After one year of thorough thinking went to pursue MA in Academy of Arts University AAU in San Francisco, USA studying Animation and Visual Effects.

What were some of the key influences that led you to such an offbeat, unconventional, and unique career in Visual Arts and Design?

Although I graduated as an engineer from a very prestigious college, I never really felt very passionate about working in the tech industry. While still studying for my BTech degree, I was introduced to the world of art and design again after a long time through our college campus during our annual college fest. This reignited the spark in me about pursuing art and design as a career. I started learning more about how to build a career being an artist or a designer, did multiple internships as a graphic designer, animator, photographer, cinematographer, pre post production video editing, UI UX product design, illustrator while still pursuing my BTech degree and at last, I found out about VFX which became my career later. I got attracted to VFX as it is a very cool career to pursue and very challenging as well, especially back in 2016. One of my core personality traits is that I have always liked challenges and VFX is not only challenging but also related to Art and Design which I have loved since my childhood.

Career path

How did you plan the steps to get into the career you wanted See about your career path

After doing some research, I found out that the VFX industry in India was not very well established and the scope of work and salaries of VFX artists was very limited compared to how it was in Hollywood USA. That is why it became very important to me that, if I want to pursue a career in the VFX industry, then I would have to go and study in the USA and get work there. That is how I transitioned from being an engineer to an artist.

My dream after completing BTech was to start a studio here in India after I gained experience working in big studios in the USA.

After completing my BTech, I studied at the AAU SFO. When I joined AAU, I was very unclear about which department I wanted to focus on in order to major. There are various sub domains in 3D Animation and VFX like 3D modeling, Concept Art, Rigging, Shading, Texturing, Rigging, FX, Animation, Lighting, scripting, pipeline development, compositing and rendering. I personally explored compositing, shading, texturing and look development for 3 semesters. While I was in my last semester, one of my classmates who is now co founder of the studio talked about SideFX Houdini and that is how I got introduced to the software, and I was awestruck by its capabilities. After a week or so, I decided to become a FX Artist even though there was only a semester left for graduation. For landing a job, it is very important to have a solid demo reel. I figured out that learning everything related to FX just in one semester and making a demo reel as well was a very challenging and tough task. That is why I decided to get a mentor who could guide me with more clarity as time was a huge constraint for me. I found out about Albert Szostkiewicz from some internet searching and decided to ask him to be my mentor as he has more than decade worth of experience in the industry and a wizard of Houdini. I and Albert worked on some personal projects and he taught me the skills and more importantly the mindset one needs to become an FX Artist. After graduation, I worked at Ingenuity Studios as an FX Artist and Crowd Artist. Worked on multiple, movies, TV Shows and Music Videos My IMDB profile nm12355297. As an FX Artist you have to work on making simulations like Rain, Snow, Explosions and other procedural animations. Similarly, as a crowd Artist, you have to work on crowd simulations and crowd extensions. One of the very interesting projects I worked on was at Dreamworks Animation on the movie Trolls 3 which was to create a traffic simulation system, make a crowd simulation system for the traffic and characters dancing in the traffic, such that you can have control over how you want the traffic to look. I was given 1 month for doing some research and development for the project and then after the setup was ready, it was distributed among multiple artists in the team so they can work on the individual shot. You can see some examples in my demo reel.

First break

How did you get your first break?

After finishing my MA, I had to find a job in 3 months, or else I would have been deported back to India, which is a law in the USA. So, I had a lot of pressure to find a job after graduating, since I also had a student loan to pay for my MA degree.

Challenges and solutions

What were some of the challenges you faced How did you address them

Challenge 1 Understanding what skill sets the VFX industry needs. What they want to see in the demo reel and what mindset/attitude they expect from an employee/artist in their studio/company. Albert was a great help in helping me understand these challenges as he was part of the industry. Having a right mentor is always a good thing as you can either run blindly on a road, or follow one that has already been paved. So, that time can be saved by having a mentor. Also, talking to employees and artists, understanding their perspectives about the job from a similar domain helps a lot.

Challenge 2 Building a demo reel with your acquired skill set, based on what the industry needs. For this again, my mentor helped me a lot and talking/connecting with different artists helped a lot. Taking feedback constantly from trustful sources, putting your ego aside, understanding their perspective and implementing whatever you need to, in your demo reel, after reviewing the feedback is key

Challenge 3 Having a healthy mindset. You can get lots of rejections initially, but it is very important to be aware that there can be a lot of reasons for that and one shouldn t take that rejection personally. Your work doesn t define you as a person. All you need is one acceptance for the job. I initially applied to more than 300 studios and only got interviews from 3-4 and from that got selected in one. So, that is how things might work. Very important to keep trying and be persistent. Be a self-critique and keep working and improving on yourself.

Where do you work now?

In January 2024. I started a studio with my co-founder.

For now, we are focused on working with brands and corporations which need VFX/3D work. Though I would like to mention that the need of 3D Art and VFX is needed in almost any industry, the domain is pretty vast from applications in the financial sector, mechanical industry to the entertainment industry.

We as a studio dont see this as a ART AS SERVICE We rather focus on understanding and identifying client s needs and come up with a creative solution in the form of visuals.

For the type of work we do, you can visit : www.whiteflamestudio.com

instagram link: www.instagram.com/whiteflamestudio/

As a cofounder right now, my work is split between working as an artist as well as working on my business skills to get more clients and work, by building a relationship with clients for sustainably running the studio.

Typical day

What is a typical day like

My day starts with playing a game first on my PC while drinking coffee. After that, I go to a company which is incubating teaching business and marketing skills to me, that is how my morning goes by. After noon, I work on interacting with clients, reaching out to new ones and making proposals to get clients. After that, I work on the projects that we already have at the studio and on the studio s other creative tasks. Before going to sleep, I meditate and then go to sleep. I am also trying to inculcate workout in my routine as physical, mental and spiritual health is very important.

Societal impact

How does your work benefit society

Over the years, I have discovered that the reason I am more into art and design is because of storytelling. A good story helps raise awareness in human society and human consciousness, and shows different perspectives of life. Honestly, my overall goal with the studio is to raise more awareness in humans by telling and showing stories for a healthier society for the future. I have realized that for me personally, movies, TV Shows, stories, helped me a lot to become the person I am right now.

Memorable work

Tell us an example of a specific memorable work you did that is very close to you

When I was in my bachelor s pursuing my engineering, I had wished that if I could work on a Coldplay Music Video, that would be so awesome, and interestingly at my first job, I had an opportunity to work on a ColdPlay x BTS music video, it was like a dream come true.

Other highlights of my career would be working at Dreamworks Animation in California which is one of the pioneering studios in the world. I worked on the latest Kung Fu Panda movie and Trolls 3 as an FX artist. I am really grateful that I got to be part of such a huge and renowned studio and classic movies and with so many talented and creative people.

Advice to students

Your advice to students based on your experience?

I would like to say to students that, pursue your dreams, never give up, don’t let your dreams and your inner child die. Operate from love and listen to your heart. Universe has opportunities for everyone and that too multiple times in life, work towards getting ready to grab those opportunities when they arrive. Everyone has a different path and journey, there are no rights and wrongs about living life. Live your life to the fullest!

Future plans

Future Plans?

For now, my focus is on building up the studio and making animated movies in-house.