John Simsek -2018/2019

What education did you have before you took the Visual Effects for Film and Television course?

Before coming to Seneca College for VFT program, I had some work experience in printing industry as a graphic designer and I always wanted to learn about 3D applications and 3D Animation. I decided to take 3D Animation program at Centennial College and I acquired basic skills in 3D Animation, modeling, texturing throughout the course. Even though I came to realization that 3D animation wasn’t exactly something I was seeking for, the course gave me a small taste to understand general knowledge of 3D world. I didn’t know much about Visual Effects until my last semester during the program when I had some introductory VFX courses. I quickly developed a strong interest in Visual Effects and since I had some experience in Photoshop, I knew at that point matte painting would be something I would love to do. I just needed to push a bit further myself and learn more about VFX. That’s when I decided to join Seneca College’s VFT program.

Tell us a bit about your experience at the college.

It was a great journey, I was fortunate to meet with some amazing artists who all come from different backgrounds and each of them bring something unique on the table. Yes, I learned from assignments, projects but as well as from my classmates. There was so much to learn and discover in a short period of time throughout the program and of course, it was an overwhelming experience but at the end it’s rewarding too. It was quite amazing to have the professors who are some of the best in the industry there to help you and prepare you for the industry with their experiences, techniques and knowledge. All the assignments, projects push you to learn more and not just in artistic way, you start learning how to manage your time and how to approach to the problems that you might have in the future.

How do you use the education you got at Seneca in your job today?

Well, I really can say that I felt very confident at work for the first day and all that learning wasn’t for nothing, it gives you that solid foundation before you jump in that big sea and start swimming by yourself, it helps you start building on top of that foundation everyday. Currently I work as a Digital Matte Painter and I mostly use Photoshop, Nuke and sometimes Maya at work. I apply most of the techniques that I learned from Compositing class at Seneca and approach the problems differently.

What advice would you give potential students who are thinking of taking the course?

Don’t lose time and find out quickly what you would love to do everyday and be passionate about.

You should learn how to take criticism from your professors and classmates, at the end it helps you a lot and it pushes you more for better and don’t just try to learn from assignments, learn as much as you can from your classmates.

(Written in 2019)