Mentorship Services
Hi, I hope you're well! If you found this page, it means you have been given an access to this link and you are probably in the group of those who could be interested in some help and guidance.
Let's face it - ''getting into'' the animation industry is HARD. This field has a lot of interest and is extremely selective. If you have no connections it might feel like it's impossible to ever get in. It might be also hard for artists to understand the nature of business and strategic thinking when it comes to job hunting. We work so hard on our portfolios and most universities are not very helpful in explaining the complexity behind ''getting into'' a competitive field.
Trust me, I am someone who knows very well how difficult it is to start from point 0 and build your way up. I had no connections, no financial help from anybody and I wasn't even born in America to start with. Here are some facts about me, so you know better my background:
I was born in Poland to a working class family. During my senior year I had to pass two final exams - Polish and American. I got into all schools in America I was interested in but ultimately I went to school in London - University of the Arts London (UAL). Throughout university, I studied and worked part-time at the same time, which definitely wasn't easy to do in a fast-paced and expensive city like London.
When my time at the University started coming to an end, I landed my first ''proper'' studio job at Moonbug Entertainment. If you are familiar with them, you know they develop multiple kid's series - it was a very hectic time but it challenged me to get my name under many titles. One of them was Cocomelon - the biggest kid's show on Netflix - and that was the name I needed to get many doors open for me.
Not very long after, I was offered to work on incredibly special and unique film - Nimona, which was a truly amazing experience. If you are familiar with the title, you might know Nimona was once developed by Blue Sky studios. Sadly, the studio was shut down and Nimona was cancelled with 70% work done at the time. Fast forward few years, the film was rescued and overtaken by DNEG Animation. I was honoured to join the ship and coordinate the building phase of the film. Being a 2D artist, it was my first on-hands experience of a 3D pipeline and a great chance to observe the best 3D artists in their element.
Working on Nimona not only gave me extensive production knowledge (try working with 300 people across 4 different time zones!) but also inspired to develop more of my technical knowledge. Being passionate about character design specifically, I decided to learn costume design modelling and get better at surfacing (which was one of the departments I coordinated on Nimona). I understand how hard it is for 2D artists to transition from two-dimensional thinking to three, but I strongly advise being open-minded and can help you with said transition.
Today I live between London and New York and work as an Art Director. I'm responsible for a development of multiple IPs (IP = Intellectual Property if you don't know!) and I love to create technical solutions for our animation pipelines. Besides my full-time job, I try to establish my social media presence as I plan is to release webtoon / graphic novel very very soon :)
As an Art Director I also had a chance to be on the other side of hiring process when expanding our team, which gives me extra knowledge on ''behind the scenes''. I saw hundreds of resumes, supervised junior artists but also mentored current students from my University. As someone with working-class background, I feel like I understand very well the struggles the majority of students faces and I truly support everyone who tries to chase their dreams, even if the path is meant to be bumpy.
Considering my background, I try to share my knowledge on social media but I understand nothing is as good as individual interaction. Even for those, my intention is to keep the price as accessible as possible so I am able to help people regardless of their economic situation.
Contact
Like what you see? Get in touch to learn more.
Resume Feedback - £15
The feedback will be done via email. If you send me your resume, I will create copy with fixes and suggestions how you can maximase the space, elaborate on most important information and craft it to your current experience.
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Portfolio Feedback - £20
The feedback will be done via email. You can ask for web layout advice and artwork critique. I am also able to provide suggestion on how to continue developing your portfolio for the chosen job role, as long as the feedback can fit on 2 pages.
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1:1 session - £40
I would like to offer a 45-minute call, where you can ask me anything you want. You can also send your portfolio and resume prior to the session, so we can go through it together.
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