Interview with Catarina Azevedo
What is your current position? What kinds of tasks/projects are you doing and how much time are you roughly spending on each?
I'm a freelance Matte Painter at Giant Animation, for a Nickelodeon CGI TV show, I work 9:30-18h Monday-Friday. The studio is in Ireland but I'm freelancing remotely from Iceland and Portugal. Before that, just 2 weeks ago, I was Lead Background Artist on a 2D TV show in an Icelandic studio.
I've also been a freelance Educational Children's Books Illustrator since August 2022 for a US Company called Made By Things (contract ends December 2023).
As a Matte Painter, my tasks are varied but more often than not I paint part of the backgrounds or textures of 3D objects of certain shots in each episode, which would otherwise be too complex or expensive to be modelled/replicated in 3D. Skies, clouds, grass, wood… depends on the show! This one has a heavy graphic 2D style, but most CGI shows actually require you to paint in a semi-realistic way! My other tasks involve tidying up files and doing Colour Scripts for certain scenes or full episodes. Basically, I have to identify key moments in the storyboard and then paint the ideal lighting setup on top!
Like most jobs in Animation, there's always a certain number of meetings, emails and files + time management. So, my job at the moment is probably 40% matte painting, 25% colour scripts and 35% meetings/emails/tidying up.
Which of your tasks/projects do you find stimulating? Which less so?
Definitely doing colour scripts or the early rough pass of a painting are the most fun. I'd say even though it's great to be a part of big productions, after a while most of the jobs I've had get a little boring for me personally. In some cases, it's because there's too many meetings, which take time away from doing the actual work or severe organisational issues, that make me do-over a task many times!
Then in some cases, even though there's new locations to paint and design, the job feels like repeating a task over and over, since I must use same methods, layers, style, etc.
I also just complained about meetings, but I do love socialising with people and getting in-studio perks like going out for lunch or hanging out after work together! When working remotely, a few studios I've worked for do weekly hangout meetings or sponsor creative workshops and hobby clubs and those are super fun and interesting!
How did you end up in your current position? Which steps did you take to get from where you were when you started thinking about your career at GS to where you are now?
I think 80% of the jobs I've gotten so far were through sites like LinkedIn or the Animation/VFX/Game Job Postings Excel Sheet. I just apply to them via a form or writing a short introduction email with my portfolio and CV attached. In some cases, I've had to take a 1-day (often unpaid) test. Then you often get an interview and a few weeks later, an offer/rejection!
My first job, as a 2D Designer at Brown Bag Films, I got through a similar method, and it didn't hurt that I also got recommended by a friend that worked there. These days it's a mix of sending applications and companies reaching out to me (tip: if you cannot accept the job, but it's a good one, recommend your friends! Just this year alone, 8 of my friends got employed due to me recommending them and those kinds of things come around!).
While in GS, despite loving comics, I knew I didn't want to make a career out of that. I love Illustration but that's also a hard industry to get into! I must have applied to 50+ illustration agencies while at TAW and gotten 2 Yes (the rates were awful, so I had to refuse. Know your worth!).
I come from a lower-middle class family and am also a neurodivergent person, so I tried to balance out a career that I loved, was good at and that could bring me a stable income and work schedule. That to me felt like background painting and visual development in animation.
I started curating my portfolio around end of 3rd year GS to what I wanted to be hired for- the main categories in my website were Illustration, backgrounds and visual development. I'd still love to get paid to make comics, but I think I'd rather take that chance in my free time. I knew I didn't have time to make portfolio work on top of schoolwork, so I used my assignments and graduation project as a means to an end.
Besides applying for internships, I also applied to jobs. Do not be afraid to do that! I must have applied to almost 100 places and gotten like 10 replies, haha. The 3 places that accepted me at the time were:
- Internship as UX Designer at LEGO in Billund (I had no idea what UX Design was but LEGO is a great name to have in a CV, so I went for it and got it)
- Internship as Vis Dev Artist on a feature film at GaoChan in France. (amazing studio location, it's in an island near Madagascar!)
- Job as 2D Designer at BrownBag Films for a Netflix Series (remote due to COVID)
From these, I just chose the one that fit me the best at the time since they were all fun and unique opportunities!
Looking back from where you are now, what was the smartest thing you did to move your career in the right (for you) direction?
We have a saying in Portuguese that translates to something like "If you're feeling bad, you move" and that's what I've been doing! It's been very rare to stay until the end of whatever job contract I've gotten. You are more desirable by other companies while you are still employed, so I tend to apply 1-3 months before my contracts end or whenever I see an opportunity that's better. "Better" can be: good career opportunity, more pay, better hours, longer contract, better environment, etc.
Lately I've been trying to prioritise my personal wellbeing and free time, so I've been chasing after jobs that are a little less complex and have flexible work schedules (and paid holidays are also a bonus)!
If you could go back and correct one or more misunderstandings you had about careers in the creative industry when you went to GS, what would it/they be?
I think GS has actually managed to prepare me quite well for most of my jobs! I developed enough technical skills to solve most problems coming my way. With that said, besides the technical/artistic skills, GS should have focused a bit more on the social/networking/how to behave in a workplace environment skill.
There are a few people that I know that got hired just through their amazing skills, but in most cases that's not all that's necessary! I was not the strongest in GS class artistically, but I did my research and curation very well in order to write successful job applications and create a desirable profile and portfolio. This took a lot of extra-curricular hours, so would be nice if I'd maybe had an allotted time slot for that?
Another important one is learning to deal with failure and rejection. More schools in general should teach students how to cope with that and what to do during dry spells. Between the war, US writers-strike and the whole AI art ordeals, it's tough out there for plenty of folks!
Lastly, financial strategies. Things like accounting, investments, taxes, unions, savings accounts, a data base of salaries from graduates and teachers, would help immensely, especially when just starting out!
How does your career affect your lifestyle? Does your job influence your opportunities in other areas of life, for example in terms of hobbies, social life, starting a family? (If yes: How do you feel about that - and would you want to change it somehow, sometime?)
Definitely. Some jobs are remote while others forced me to move, so it's been a constant change! I've been lucky to always have been able to drag my partner along, but it's tough to make irl friends or be part of a community if you are always on the move!
I've also been a victim to burnout these past few years, but I keep applying to and getting jobs, so I haven't been unemployed a single day since graduating, despite having had like 7 different jobs so far. When you do art for others from 9-18h every day, it's tough to find the will to do art for yourself after work! My solution for that has been to give myself deadlines- these deadlines come in the form of convention dates! Just in 2022 I went to 6 conventions in 4 different countries (Canada, UK, Scotland, Portugal)! This has led me to talk to incredible people, see amazing places and eat great food! I've even gotten to meetup with some GS people along the way too.
Getting the opportunity to travel this much has been wonderful but it's not easy to have to do it all the time. Having most of my personal belongings sitting in boxes in my parents shed is not fun! I'd love to buy a house to call my own and put these things away but:
- House prices are insane (and so are mortgages, wtf)
- Renting prices are also insane
- My income isn't steady enough. 5+ years long jobs do not exist anymore!
- I might be sacrificing amazing career opportunities for me and/or my partner if I cannot relocate.
With all this said, the kind of lifestyle I have for now is fine but I'm very aware that it will not suit me long term. All I can do for now is save up and adjust my long-mid-short term goals every now and then and just rest whenever I can! Your job isn't your worth and the same can be said for your art!