Role: Realtime Technical Artist at Goodbye Kansas Studios
Graduated: 2017
My name is Mica Olsson and I am currently working as a Realtime Technical Artist at Goodbye Kansas Studios in Stockholm, graduated from gscept in 2017.
As a Realtime Technical Artist in a VFX studio, my focus is to be the link between traditional VFX production and Realtime rendering in game engines such as Unreal Engine. So, that takes skills that come from what previously was two different industries - game development and VFX - and mixing them together. My role is about to being a bridge between artists who want to learn or need to familiarize themselves with real-time focused projects, develop tools to facilitate and automate production in the game engine, and generally follow the development of real-time rendering to be able to get the best results.
I have always been interested in games and game development, long before I entered the industry. When I was young I liked to sit in different game level editors and design my own maps, which then grew into making my own material for games - such as 3D assets, mods, etc. Eventually, I realized that it is actually a growing industry that you can work with!
So I started studying computer graphics at gscept at Luleå University of Technology in 2014, and graduated in 2017. After an internship at Ubisoft Massive as Level Artist down in Malmö, I have worked at Goodbye Kansas Studios.
During the gscept education, I got a very good overview of what computer graphics can mean and all its uses, such as in games, film and advertising, and how work differs within these. I think my greatest strength has come from this, as I have gained a broad competence and understanding. This makes it easy for me to communicate with different roles in the profession - everything from lighting designers to programmers and developers in different industries.
My tip here is to have an open interest in all the different parts of the profession, and to be aware that it takes a lot of work to become a specialist in one of them. But always remember that it is your artistic skill that, ultimately, is your most highly valued asset for working in this industry, as the end result always must be visually appealing.