How Difficult It Is To Be A Successful VFX Artist?

Visual effects (VFX) is the skill of manipulating imagery on-screen via techniques and tools. You will be able to create or manipulate literally anything on the screens which cannot be done with a camera. Just think of a scenario which is impossible, e.g. alien spaceships. Now, think of the number of films where you have seen those (Star Wars, Star Trek, Pixels and a million others). VFX makes it possible for editors and filmmakers to bring their passion for vision and reality.

However, being a VFX artist comes with certain challenges of its own. The perception of the multimedia world has been very much dominated by hoaxes and myths but we will prove to you that it is not all true. When you learn VFX diligently, you prepare yourself for a career of success and triumph.

Imagination and Execution

The bridge gap between imagination and execution is the frenemy for VFX artists.  It is both your friend and enemy. You have to ensure that the vision of your imagination and idea must reach its fullest capability while you are at execution. The synthesis of imagination and execution is extremely important. Sometimes you will find that the final product is completely different from what your creative vision was. Therefore, it is important to execute the imagination and vision of your idea properly.

VFX artists often face the wrath o executing others’ ideas too. When you are working on a film or video project for clients and production studio; you might come across several unclear explanations. The director might give you a haphazard and vague explanation of what he has versioned in a particular shot. It will be up to you to fulfill those shoes. Hence, as VFX professionals, one also needs to understand the layman’s perspective and their ideas.

Annegein Schilling wrote a book called “Imagine.Shoot.Create”. The whole emphasis of her book for artists was to follow the process in that chronological order. Prior to having the raw footage and adding any visual effects in it, you must have some solid idea of where it is going to land up.

Keeping up with the advancement

Turns out Kardashians are not the only thing you need to be keeping up with. The advancement and progression which takes place in the field of visual effects need to be kept up with. Technology and science are ever-evolving. Every other day there is some new technique or effect which you can incorporate in your videos.

There is a reason why the CGI in films keeps getting better and larger than scale over the years. Who could have imagined that Shah Rukh Khan would be able to play his own doppelganger or play three foot shorter than his actual height? With Red Chillies Production his studio has shown that VFX is the future and we will be fools to not invest more in it.

Hence, if your aim is to become a successful VFX artist then we suggest that you keep up with the new films and the kind of CGI they use. There is something to learn from almost everywhere.

A never-ending tale of Trial and Error

Artists are perfection freaks who won’t stop until and unless their creative hunger is satisfied. The same would go for a VFX artist. You do not stop until and unless you have completely given your 100% towards a project. Trial and tribulations are part of the job. If you are scared of a little experimenting then we urge you to learn VFX. It will shape you as a more confident artist, to begin with. Until and unless you see a number of different versions of a project; there can never be the perfect outcome.

The difficult part might have to do with so many trial and errors. But you cannot get frustrated with that. You are going to get a couple of wrong edits before you seal in the final deal. That is how VFX works.

What did we learn so far?

Visual Effects is not the toughest job on this planet. It is creative, emphatic and definitely refreshing. Other than being the highlight career option, it is also a very interesting field for anyone who wished to discover their potential as an artist. Hence, you will need to put in great efforts and work but the results will definitely be fruitful.

Stay focused, diligent and dedicated to become a pro at visual effects.

All the best!