Connect and learn Our festival of digital art, animation and VFX is back as a live event! Tanya Combrinck explains why you should join us in central London on 19 April
One of the best things you can do for yourself both personally and professionally is to build connections with similar souls. That’s why we got together with sister publications 3D World and Creative Bloq to create the Vertex conference.
It’s a place where artists can come together to find community, guidance, inspiration and friendship, as well as an opportunity to build the kind of professional network that will boost your career. Not only that, the day is packed with talks from industry pros about exciting new technologies and techniques, career advice, and other topics that will get you motivated.
One of the speakers heading to the event is Anna Hollinrake, a creative director who works in the video games and animation industries. She has attended the conference before, and found it to be particularly valuable for new artists looking to find people at a similar point in their career. “Building a community of people at the same point as you cannot be overstated in its impact,” she says.
Anna’s talk is about environment concept art. “I’ll be talking about breaking down those mental barriers that a lot of the newer artists among us can have when it comes to creating backgrounds and environments,” she explains. “It’s something that a lot of artists, myself included, have had to wrestle with when developing their art practice for professional work, as the ‘safe zone’ is most commonly character illustration.
“We don’t have the same innate knowledge of a bridge or a building that we do with the human body, and so the blank sheet of paper effect is often much more pronounced. I’m going to be talking about ways to reduce that feeling, and telling stories within those spaces too.”
There’s a lot going on at Vertex, so Anna recommends that you make some specific goals about what you want to get out of the day before you get there. “Being precise about what skills you want to develop and how you’re going to find answers to those challenges is often really impactful,” she says. “Looking at a schedule can feel overwhelming, but I really recommend checking out the artists in advance and seeing whose work not only inspires you, but is created in a way that is applicable to your process.”
