This month, IO Interactive has kicked off the Rookie Awards 2022 Career Opportunity Mentorship Program which is an incredible opportunity designed to give this year's winners the break they deserve.
Artwork by Laura López López. Article originally published by IO Interactive.
This year we are hosting virtual mentorships in Concept Art and 3D Animation led by mentors Rasmus Jørgensen, Senior Concept Artist and Joshua Gleaves, Senior Gameplay Animator. We’re thrilled to have the talented Concept Artist Laura López López, 3D Animator, Javi Planells Crespo, joining us as mentees for this program. Let’s meet the mentees and mentors!
Laura López López is a student Voxel School and concept artist, residing in northern Spain. She comes from a background in Fine Arts and has a compelling focus on character design.
I heard of The Rookies during my master’s degree in Concept Art at Voxel School. The teachers encouraged us to participate since it was a unique opportunity to start our careers, and I also found it a great place to learn from other students. When I saw the Career Opportunity I thought “well this is awesome, the prize is great and there’s nothing to lose, let’s give it a try!!"
I hope to learn as much as possible from Rasmus (my mentor) and his great work, and be able by the end of the mentorship to be as efficient and professional as it’s required for the industry.
I’ve always dreamt of telling stories, whether it’s in a film, a videogame, or a TV show. My main aspiration is to find myself one day surrounded by talented people working on great projects, supporting and learning from each other, and finding creative ways to experiment and deliver something new and exciting.
This mentorship will help me to see how the artists I’ve always looked up to, do their daily work. Rasmus is a great artist and a very approachable mentor; with his guidance I know I’ll gain the needed perspective for studio life and will significantly improve my work.
Visit Laura’s Artstation and Rookies portfolio.
Javi Planells Crespo is a recent student at Animum Creativity Advanced School and 3D Animator from Valencia, Spain, who recently moved to the Canary Islands to pursue a career in Animation.
During my studies at Animun School, they have encouraged all the students to participate in The Rookies. This made me take a look at every career opportunity and the IOI one fitted excellently with my profile
I expect to create a great shot that will help me achieve my future goals.
I want to grow as animator. Currently, I am working on a cartoony film, though I am really interested in realistic animation too. I am also keen on VFX animation. My goal is to participate in a super-production!
Having a shot mentored for such a great professional in my reel will help me reaching out bigger studios and projects.
Check out Javi’s Demo reel and Rookies portfolio.
It’s a good opportunity to give a leg-up to somebody from an up-and-coming generation of artists. There’s every reason to – not everything has to be learned the hard way. That and the fact that the raw energy and enthusiasm from the mentees is fantastic! That’s what it’s all about.
The level of craftsmanship and the breadth of the entries, not just artistically, but also in terms of subject matter. I love the fact that so many had wrestled with highly different genres within the same portfolio and in some cases you could sense that it had partially been a struggle, but it’s courage to do so in the first place that’s important, not the result.
To lean back and rest comfortably on your talent. In other words: learn to trust yourself to do a good job when you put in the effort. Everything can be broken down into bitesize chunks so you can just work through it and enjoy the ride. You absolutely should enjoy it. It’s not meant to be easy, there’s always a problem to solve in an assignment, but that’s why it’s interesting. Not having the answer at first is part of the fun (and terrifying too)
Think about what makes you tick and then fire your best shot. When people make what they love it really shines through in the artwork. It’s a perfect opportunity to dive into a project that excites you and where there just isn’t enough hours in the day to make it!
I wanted to take on a new challenge of representing IOI, being a new senior at the company I feel it’s a great opportunity to give back to the animation community.
Applications all in all, were of a fantastic standard. I peeked at other crafts too and it’s really astounding the quality of work students are exiting education with, super exciting! I got a great impression from Javi’s portfolio submission. He displays such a good range of animation abilities. His reel showed many different approaches towards different styles all to a great quality. Animation in recent years has taking great strides out of education and it’s clearly visible with the submissions this year.
I really hope my mentee has a fulfilling mentee experience and will produce some work that he is proud of, helping him to make further strides in his career path.
Quality over quantity, it’s a simple tip but really drives home in animation. A short animation takes a long time to get right, and the quality will show through a little perseverance.