Press Release for Heather's VASE Lecture

You can check out the full release HERE

The Department of Art + Design, with support from The Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, is pleased to welcome award-winning senior matte painter & environment designer, Heather Abels, to Austin Peay State University.  

“Abels is a Clarksville resident and friend of the Department of Art + Design who works with major film, TV and animation studios such as Walt Disney Animation Studios, Rhythm and Hues and Nemesis Collective,” Michael Dickins, chair of the Visiting Artist Speaker Committee, said. “She is credited on such films and TV series as ‘Frozen II,’ ‘Deadpool,’ ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events,’ ‘Zootopia,’ ‘Django Unchained,’ ‘300: Rise of an Empire’ and ‘Moana.’ We are really excited for her visit as she will give an artist lecture on her creative practice and her life and career as a sought after, award-winning, Hollywood matte painter.”  

Abels’ lecture – which is free and open to the public – is at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, in the Trahern Theatre, located in the Trahern building at Austin Peay. All ages are welcome. 

Abels has contributed to multiple Academy Award winners 

Abels is a senior matte painter with over 12 years of experience in the visual effects industry. Her work encompasses live-action blockbusters, animated feature films, national advertising campaigns, cutting-edge VR and concept work. She also has taught at several universities and has an ongoing workshop at CGSociety.She has worked at top studios including Walt Disney Animation, Blur Studios, Weta Digital, Matte World Digital, The Orphanage and Rhythm & Hues. During her time at Rhythm & Hues, she became matte department supervisor. In doing so, she was able to cross the divide between artists and technicians in order to build and adapt the department to meet new demands, as seen in the Academy Award-winning film “Life of Pi.” 

She worked on other Academy Award winners in best animated feature or visual effects include “Zootopia,” “Big Hero 6,” “Avatar” and “The Golden Compass.” Abels was mentored and inspired early in her career by the legendary matte painters who made the leap from traditional painting to digital. She has focused on mentoring the new generation of artists to take the next leap and evolve from digital 2D to digital 3D matte painting techniques.

UNL Alumni Magazine - Interview

UNL Alumni Magazine - Honors Day

Heather Frozen II Interview

Heather was interviewed about her work on Frozen II (which comes out today!) for this press release from APSU.  Check out the full article HERE

What was your experience working on “Frozen II” with Disney?I worked at Disney years ago on “Big Hero 6,” a little bit of “Zootopia,” “Moana” and some other projects. After that, we moved to Clarksville. All my friends that are still there are really great artists and a really fun collaborative environment, so when I got the opportunity to go back for a couple months, I was like, “We can go to Disneyland all summer and work on a movie and hang out with my friends? Heck, yeah! I want to do that! That sounds great!”  The first big thing was going back to Disney and seeing how much things had changed. The whole building has transformed, the people are reinvigorated. Seeing the familiar faces was nice. But every team on every movie is different, but for me, getting to meet and work with the art directors is always thrilling. When you’re working remotely, it can be very isolating, you don’t have any colleagues to work with, you don’t have anybody to go have coffee with. So just getting to be around all these people is really exciting. Everybody there gets along incredibly well. Getting to see the movie ahead of time is always exciting because you don’t just see the movie, you’re seeing it as a work in progress. The versions of the movie I’ve gotten to see are part storyboard, part rough animatic, part completely finished. Even the last version I saw is not the last version of the movie. I can’t wait to see the final product because I’ve had the songs stuck in my head since June, but I can’t sing them out loud! Even if I’m humming a tune to myself, nobody’s going to know what’s going on. It’ll be nice for the rest of the world to see it. 

How is matte painting different when working on a live action film vs an animated film? Fundamentally they’re similar. With live action you always have a plate. You always have a reference to real life. The goal is to make it as photoreal as possible. That can be quite easy with all the photographic references. You know what that target is right away. With animated movies, the target is always different. The style changes on every movie and even on every sequence. While you want it to look real, it’s also very stylized. Everything has to fit the style of the world. You have to have very strong painting skills in addition to being able to do a bunch of generalist work. With animated movies, it’s trickier to fit matte painting into the schedule and find reference for what you’re making. 

Does there ever come a point where you can be picky about the projects you take on?Since I’ve moved here and decided to only freelance, I have been able to pick and choose whichever jobs I’m interested in. But more importantly than the jobs is that I get to pick my colleagues or the companies I work with. I choose the companies that are easiest to work with and the most friendly as opposed to working with another company with a cooler project. At this point in my career I have enough cool titles and shots that I’m not worried about building my reel. I’ve already led teams. I’ve helped companies build their departments. Now I just want to have a good working relationship with my colleagues. 

Is there a dream project for you?Not really. Everybody used to want to work on “Star Wars” or “Avatar” or “Harry Potter,” and I got a chance to work on all of those. Part of the problem is, if you love a franchise, working on it is like seeing behind the curtain. Then you have all these different memories that changes the movie for you. There’s not a whole lot I would choose over my family now. The whole reason we moved here was that we chose family over fame.  

What are you up to now?Now I’ve got my own office at home. I work on a lot of different projects. I don’t get as much feature film work now. I get a lot of commercials and game cinematics. I got to work on “Game of Thrones” and “Lemony Snicket’s” series on Netflix. I get to help companies train their matte painters. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of work for a company that does all the park shows that use projections at Disney World. 

Are you teaching or doing any mentoring?I had been teaching online at CG Spectrum and a class through Pluralsight. I also taught electronic imaging here at Austin Peay when we first moved here. That was really fun. I was just really excited to teach people. I still have hundreds of students that I have taught in the past that keep in contact letting me know if that they got a job interview or asking to use me as a reference. It’s really exciting to see your students successful. 

What is your opinion on what the animation department is doing here at Austin Peay?I think it’s really exciting that students have a place to go that isn’t too far from home. I had to go five hours away when I was going to school to get something even close to what I wanted to do. But now students have so many opportunities so much earlier in life. With any education, it’s all about the effort you put in. If you put in the work, you can go anywhere and do whatever you want. Everything we do online is something that has been designed by artists. There’s so much to do out there. It would be very difficult to design some web pages without animation knowledge. What’s great about Austin Peay is how much students get to dabble in everything.

24 Hour Animation Preview Press

Check out this great article following our teams as they compete in the 24 Hour Animation Contest for Students again this year!  The full article is HERE

Ten Austin Peay students will muster all they’ve learned from the university’s emerging animation program when they test their skills in an international 24-hour movie-making contest Oct. 4-5. 

The 24 Hours Animation Contest for Students tasks students with creating a 30-second animated film from scratch. Before the 24 hours is up, the teams must submit a YouTube link of their completed film to a panel of industry professionals. 

“It’s so fulfilling to go from nothing to a completed animation with a completed story in 24 hours,” said animation and computer science senior Peyton VanHook, who will serve as leader of one of the two five-member teams.

The task is large, said the other team lead, animation junior Claire Layne. Animators need to create 24 high-level drawings for each second of a two-dimensional film. That’s at least 720 drawings for a 30-second film, not including coming up with the story concept and polishing the product. 

“It definitely takes every second,” VanHook said. “It’s always fun trying to balance what you want it to be against the amount of time you actually have to get it done.”

And that comes with little (or no) sleep and working through the dawn.

“You think, ‘I’ve stayed up for 24 hours before, it shouldn’t be a big deal,’” said Scott Raymond, an associated professor of animation in APSU’s Art + Design department. “But trying to do it in this very focused way with this deadline looming, it’s a pretty intense 24 hours.” 

‘Mimics’ crunch time in professional animation

This year is the third time Austin Peay State University students have participated in the October contest, which starts Friday night, when organizers unveil the year’s theme during a livestreamed video.

“Every year there’s the same trajectory of excitement and momentum,” Raymond said. “In the middle of the night, you start seeing how much there is to do and how much time is left and there’s a bit of a lull. Then by morning, everybody starts to rally again. But those last two hours are rough.”

The contest parallels life as a professional animator, especially the days leading up to a project deadline, he said.

“It really mimics a little bit of when you’re in a studio setting and you’re in crunch time and you need to get a shot out by Friday,” Raymond said. “You’ll do what you have to do, pull the crazy 80-hour workweeks to get things done.” 

‘You see them become a mini-studio’

The contest also reinforces teamwork, he said.

“You realize, ‘We’re all in it together,’” Raymond said. “Animation tends to be a solo adventure, but that’s not indicative about how it is in the real world. In the real world, you’re part of a team and you can’t do it all.”

During the 24 Hours Animation Contest, “you can see (the students) become a mini-studio,” he added.

Austin Peay’s teams will take on two mediums of animation. Layne’s team will create a film using two-dimensional (hand-drawn) animation. VanHook’s team will use three-dimensional (computer-generated) animation. 

“The 2D animation is something I’ve always felt more confident about because I’ve drawn all my life,” Layne said.

Animation industry supports, judges contest 

Last year, 219 teams from 49 colleges and nine countries submitted films to the contest. The films are judged on such criteria as storytelling, art direction and creativity.

The contest awards five teams with prizes from industry sponsors. This year’s sponsors include DreamWorks Animation, the Cartoon Network, Blue Sky Studios and Sony Pictures Animation. The contest is an event by Animation Educators Forum, a subset of the animation industry group ASIFA-Hollywood.

Last year’s judges included Delia Gosman, a story artist who worked on such movies as “Rango,” “Storks” and “Smallfoot” and John Musker, an animation director who worked on such movies as “Moana,” “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin.”

Catelyn DaSilva, Jonathan Bruns, Nicholas Stiers and Jeremy Vega are on Layne's team.

Myles Johnson, Savannah Debord, Kayleigh Baird and Paul Gibson are on VanHook's team.

Heather and Disney Bagel Friday

Friday is free bagel day at Disney Feature Animation.  So each Friday, Disney Animation posts an employee's bagel recipe.  This Friday they feature Heather's!

UNL Alumni Board Awards Announced

I've been selected to receive The Alumni Achievement Award in Theatre and Film from University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Hixon-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts!  You can read the full press release HERE

Here's an excerpt from the article:

The Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Alumni Board has selected the recipients of this year’s Alumni Board Awards. The awards will be presented at the College’s Honors Day Dinner on Saturday, April 27. The dinner is by invitation only. 

The Alumni Achievement Awards honor alumni from each academic area of the college who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and overall professional excellence.  

The Alumni Achievement Award in Theatre and Film will be presented to Scott Raymond (B.F.A. 2003). Fifteen years ago, Raymond was a member of the first graduating class of the new film and new media program in the Carson School. He received a second Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre design and technical production. 

Following graduation, he earned is Master of Fine Arts cum laude in animation and visual effects from the Academy of Art University. He did post-graduate work at Animation Mentor, where he received a certificate in advanced studies in character animation. 

He then worked at elementFX and ultimately worked as a crowd artist at PDI/DreamWorks, one of the most prestigious animation studios in the world. He spent nearly eight years at DreamWorks on such well-known projects as “Trolls,” “Kung Fu Panda 3,” “The Penguins of Madagascar,” “Madagascar 3” and “Shrek Forever After.” 

In 2015, he began teaching at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. Although a full-time instructor, Raymond continues his work as a freelance animator. His recent freelance clients include “The Highway Rat” for BBC, the Racing Legends ride at PortAventura Theme Park, and the Kid’s Choice Awards for Nickelodeon. 

Additional faculty, staff and student achievement will be celebrated at the Honors Day celebration. 

Kaye Visit Press

Check out the full article online HERE

‘Fortnite’ animator to Austin Peay animation students: Be humble, persist 

“Fortnite” lead technical animator Kaye Vassey’s art origin story involves her grandfather’s tractor doodles and, of course, Bob Ross. 

“My grandfather was a World War II Marine Corps vet – full on Marine Corps tattoo on the arm, the South Pacific war horror stories, the whole thing,” Vassey recalled to an animation class at Austin Peay State University. “But what he really wanted – his family were plumbers, so he became a plumber – was to be an artist. 

“When I was probably between 4 and 6, I’d always get him to doodle, and I would love it, and I would copy it,” she continued. “I’d always get him to doodle this little tractor, with this little guy in there, and it was every day. ‘Draw it. Draw the thing. Draw the thing.’” 

Later, the two watched Bob Ross’s “The Joy of Painting” together. 

“My grandfather and I tried to copy his paintings, to my great frustration,” Vassey said. “Fighting through that frustration, I just kept going and going and kept coming back for more and more punishment.”  

Vassey – who worked on such movies as “Shrek,” “Madagascar” and “How to Train Your Dragon” before joining Epic Games and the “Fortnite” team – visited APSU on Oct. 23 to give a public lecture about her work and artistic practice. She also gave two workshops in animation classes before the lecture.  

She was the second artist to visit during the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts and the Department of Art + Design’s Visiting Artist Speaker Series.  

BIG-TIME ANIMATION’S CONNECTION TO APSU

Vassey visited Austin Peay associate professor of animation Scott Raymond’s class the morning of the public lecture. The classroom and equipment in the new Art + Design Building impressed her. 

“You guys have an insane classroom,” Vassey said. “This is amazing. I’m super jealous. I’m blown away by this insanity. I was an art student in a basement.” 

Vassey and Raymond met while working on secondary animation, such as crowds, at DreamWorks Animation. They worked on “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted,” for example.  

“If you want to work in the industry, I would say the best thing that I could tell you is to be nimble, you have to be able to pivot,” Vassey said. “Get in, get your foot in the door, and work from there to get to where you want to be. Stay humble, it’s truly a team effort. 

“But enjoy every minute you have in this classroom,” she added before pointing at Raymond. “And you have an amazing resource who is awesome.” 

WHAT ABOUT THAT LITTLE GAME ‘FORTNITE’? 

“Fortnite: Battle Royale” passed $1 billion in sales in less than a year from its September 2017 release. Most people know somebody who plays the game.  

“When you step into the creative endeavor, you never know what’s going to be a huge success,” Vassey said. “You hope you have successes. We’re super lucky to have ‘Fortnite’ to be such a huge success.  

“It feels good to work on something that other people enjoy so much.” 

Even though working on movies and on video games is similar – “Underneath it all, it’s 3D computer graphics” – working on video games offers a more constant pressure, Vassey said.  

“The video game model now is very much a living, breathing thing,” she said. “You have to keep it fresh, keep it relevant. 

“In movies you have a relationship with the audience for an hour and a half or two hours,” Vassey said. “Whereas video games, you have a long-term commitment to the player base, and you want to be sure they’re happy and having a good time.”  

For the record, Vassey isn’t a good “Fortnite” player.  

“Actually, when I started working in the video game industry, I didn’t play them anymore,” she said. “When I get home, I do not want to think about or see a video game.” 

BACK TO THOSE TRACTOR DOODLES 

After her grandfather died and Vassey and her family went through his belongings, she found a doodle of the tractor he used to draw for her when she was a child. 

“The drawing was folded up on a sheet of paper inside a city-delivered manual of how to survive a nuclear attack,” Vassey told the students. 

She held up her arm and pulled back her sleeve. 

“That’s the tractor,” Vassey said, displaying a tattoo on her inner wrist. “It’s colored in, those are actually crayon marks that were on the drawing I found. 

“That’s how I got started.”

VR at TN Arts Conference

This past week I had the awesome chance to hold several VR workshops for the artists and art educators at the Tennessee Arts Commission’s 2018 Tennessee Arts and Arts Education Conference.  The event was titled "Design Thinking: A Pathway for Innovation in the Arts" and was held at APSU this year.  It was a lot of fun to have people explore virtual painting, sculpting and animation for the first time and talk about the possibilities that VR opens up for students. APSU featured us in a video and press release that you can read below or HERE

APSU’s CECA highlights art innovations on campus during state conference 

More than 200 art educators, administrators and artists from across the state visited the Austin Peay State University campus this month to discover new, innovative ways to teach and advocate for the arts in the coming year. Austin Peay’s Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts (CECA) hosted the Tennessee Arts Commission’s 2018 Tennessee Arts and Arts Education Conference, which allowed CECA to show off the groundbreaking projects taking place at Austin Peay. 

“It was an honor to host this conference at Austin Peay and be able to showcase our amazing facilities and faculty, many of whom were session presenters,” Dr. Janice Crews, CECA director, said. “Providing meaningful resources to arts professionals and getting such positive feedback made it all worthwhile.” 

Scott Raymond, APSU assistant professor of art + design and former DreamWorks animator, unpacked two of the University’s new virtual reality systems so attendees could walk through 3D virtual paintings they made. 

“Coming from digital animation, virtual reality is really taking off,” Raymond said. “They’re making interactive cartoons and shorts. And for artists, you can now paint and sculpt in a three-dimensional space.”   

Educators from public and private schools took turns donning the VR headsets and hand controllers, and then they created wild, three-dimensional works in their own personal worlds. Down the hall in the APSU Art + Design Building, a group of music teachers huddled in a classroom, learning to play the Beatles’ “Let It Be” on ukuleles. 

Other sessions included incorporating visual arts in elementary music, presented by APSU music professor Eric Branscome, and improv for everyone, led by APSU theater professor Talon Beeson. Arts administrators participated in sessions on grant writing, strategic planning and more. 

The three-day event, titled “Design Thinking: A Pathway for Innovation in the Arts,” marked the first time APSU has hosted a Tennessee Arts Commission Conference.

APSU Press Release On Highway Rat

Austin Peay ran a press release about my work on The Highway Rat.  I was interviewed and they came to take photos of my Animation II class.  The official APSU link is HERE, and some of the local online papers also posted it HERE and HERE.

Here's the article:

APSU professor contributes to BBC animated special, “The Highway Rat”

On Christmas day, when four million Britons saw a talking rat on the telly, they also glimpsed the creative work of an Austin Peay State University professor. That evening, BBC One broadcast the animated special “The Highway Rat,” based on a popular British children’s book, and Scott Raymond, APSU assistant professor of animation and former DreamWorks animator, contributed about 20 seconds to the movie.

“Toward the end of the film, in the final sequence, there are three shots I did with the Highway Rat and a couple of other characters,” Raymond said. “I animated the characters—make them move, give them expressions, look around. I’m one cog in this whole process.”

The Daily Telegraph gave the film four stars, saying it was “Delightfully told by Magic Light Pictures.” That company partnered with Triggerfish Animation, a South African animation studio that recently earned a Best Animated Short Film Oscar nomination, to produce the film staring famed British actors David Tennant and Rob Brydon. Triggerfish contacted Raymond last summer to help them finish the 30-minute film.

“What happens with most freelance work I get is, deadlines are approaching and the studio needs some overflow work,” Raymond said. “It’s real short term. We call it ‘911 work.’ For me, it was only about three weeks.”

The project came at a time when Raymond was preparing for the fall semester and moving into a new office and animation studio in the recently finished Art + Design Building. During this busy period, he spent about eight hours a day figuring out how the characters would move and react to certain situations. Then he animated those performances.

“In my Animation One class, I tell my students that as an animator, you’re a director, an actor, a screenwriter and a cinematographer,” he said.

Raymond came to APSU in 2015 to help build the Department of Art + Design’s animation program. He was a good fit, considering he’s worked on animated features, such as “Trolls” and “Kung Fu Panda 3.” Since arriving at Austin Peay, he has also animated on a spot for Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards and a ride at the PortAventura Theme Park.

At Austin Peay, the animation program continues to grow, with the University offering its new visual effects and digital 3D classes next fall. The Department of Art + Design is working to eventually offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in animation.

Featured in APSU Alumni Magazine

It was great to see this article in the APSU Alumni Magazine this week.  Barry and I got to trek onto the construction site this summer for the photo shoot.  It's great to see the excitement we're getting already with the animation classes.  This also publicly confirms that Animation is getting it's own lab in the new building!

You can read the whole publication HERE

Heather Interview with The All State

One of Heather's former students at APSU writes for the school paper, and interviewed her for a feature article.  Check it out at:  http://www.theallstate.org/2016/09/21/qa-with-heather-abels-matte-painter/

Begin by introducing yourself and giving a brief summary of what you do professionally, your educational background, your time at Austin Peay and what you’re doing now.   

My name is Heather Abels.  I’ve worked as a visual effects matte painter for the last 10 years.  My educational background begins at East Tennessee State University where I earned my BS in Animation, Illustration and Digital Media.  After working for a few years in graphic design and print pre-production, I moved to San Francisco to earn my MFA at The Academy of Art University.  From there, I had a really great internship at  Matte World Digital that set me on my path professionally as a matte painter.  Last semester I had the opportunity to teach Electronic Imaging in the Art & Design Department at Austin Peay.

I currently work remotely as a matte painter and concept artist from my home in Clarksville, TN as well as teaching an online Advanced Matte Painting workshop at CG Society/CGMA to students all over the world.

 What does a matte painter do? What are the main types of media you work for (commercials, movies, TV) and where have you worked?   

Matte painting is the creation of virtual sets or environments using digital painting techniques with baked in lighting, 3d geometry, and projections.  It’s also known as set projection, set extension, or digimatte.  Matte paintings are used to create worlds or backdrops where they do not exist in real life, or would be too expensive to create as a fully built set either practically or digitally.  My experience in visual effects can be seen in feature and animated films, commercials, television, game cinematics, and on virtual reality platforms.

How long have you worked for Disney? Describe what your work is like, where you work and how long you typically work on a project.    

Before I left California, I got to work for Disney Feature Animation for a year and a half on films like Big Hero 6, Zootopia and Moana.  Working on animated films was an exciting change for me, since every single element in every shot is created virtually by artists (there are no live action plates on an animated film).  Set Extension is a step that occurs after the sets are built, cameras are created, and lighting has been started.  Disney films themselves take years to complete, but Set Extension might be the last 6-9 months of production. The wonderful thing at Disney was that if we didn’t have any set extension work to do, we got to expand our skill set by doing some basic modeling, and look development, so we were always being useful in production even if there was downtime in “set extension” production needs. 

 The most recent project you have worked on that will be released in cinemas is Disney’s “Moana.” What was your contribution to this film, and how would you describe the experience? 

My work on Moana was very brief, and was primarily helping paint and project some skies and clouds on test shots.  Before I left I tried to develop some tools to simplify some of the technical work of projecting our paintings.  Moana itself really has a magical feeling to it, and even with my brief time working on it, I knew I was contributing to something really special.  The work I did was used in a digital teaser short created for D23 last year, and was in the first public trailer released for Moana.

In addition to Moana, you have worked on films such as Big Hero 6, Zootopia, and Life of Pi. How are you contacted to work on these films? Are you asked, or is there an interview process? 

Up until we decided to leave California, all my work has been done as an employee of the companies I worked for.  I was lucky in that I had long stays at many of the companies I worked for, and I didn’t start freelancing until I moved here.  To get hired, you have to have a good demo reel, and go through an interview, and from there you keep your position by performing your  job well.  As a freelance artist, I have a lot of experience under my belt, and I am occasionally approached for work, and often times reach out when I hear a company has a need.  My work these days has a much tighter turnaround time than the features I used to do back at Disney and Rhythm & Hues. 

 As a personal note, what have been some your favorite projects you’ve worked on? 

All projects have their ups and downs.  My favorite part of working with a large team of people has always been the people.  It’s always exciting to have a big epic shot to work on, but what really inspires me is having amazingly talented co-workers.  When you are surrounded by talented people, you strive to improve your work as well.  You can collaborate together, complain when things are difficult, but ultimately improve each other. 

 Your husband, Scott Raymond, is also an animator and a professor here at APSU. What is it like being married to a fellow animator, do you two ever work together or compare work? 

My husband and I met in grad school at AAU.  We got along so well that we decided to collaborate on our graduate thesis project.  After surviving that we decided to be lifelong collaborators.  It’s wonderful to be in the same industry, while each having our own speciality, because there’s no competition between us.  I rely on his feedback and advice, and we often work together on freelance projects, as we each take on different roles.

For our readers who are interested in getting into “the industry,” can you describe the steps you took to get where you are, what education and skills you think are necessary and your advice for getting your work out there? 

The “industry” is constantly evolving.  Finding your passion, being truthful about your skills, and perfecting your demo reel are the most important things.  I always suggest that people have a backup plan.  These days, it’s easy to find the information you need to pick up the skills required for a job, but each role is very specific.  There’s modeling, lighting, rigging, compositing, look development, matte painting, animation, fx and more!  Each and every one of these roles has a constantly evolving list of requirements as the technical demands of the industry grow.  I made it in the industry because I had really excellent instructors and mentors, so my solid advice would be to find the right mentor and really listen to their advice.

What are your plans or goals for the future? 

My goals are to keep working in the industry for as long as I can while trying to raise my family.  I also have a passion to teach others the skills I’ve learned over the years, and pay forward the advice and help my mentors gave me.

Wrote a Tutorial for 3D World!

I'm very excited to share a glimpse of the 4 page "Tips & Trick" tutorial I wrote for 3D World Magazine in their Sept issue.  It was a nice chance to show a peek behind the curtain of creating the Bink short.  The hardest thing was trying to condense my tips down to the proper length!  I remember spending about a half hour once just talking about proper blinks to the crowds team at DreamWorks - and now I had to get that down into about 75 words!  I owe much of this to all my mentors from DW that showed me many of these same tips for the first time.

You can preview and buy a copy of the issue at 3D World

Heather's Interview with CGSociety

I'm super excited for Heather's interview and article with CGSociety.  She talks about her experiences at Disney Animation and some insight to the general world of being a production matte painter.

Check the full interview with some great production images at:
http://www.cgsociety.org/news/article/2470/heather-abels---the-invisible-art-on-matte-painting-at-disney-feature

Heather is a senior matte painter with over 11 years of experience in the visual effects industry. Her work encompasses live-action blockbusters, animated feature films, national advertising campaigns, cutting-edge VR, and concept work. She has worked at top studios including Walt Disney Animation, Blur Studios, Weta Digital, Matte World Digital, The Orphanage, and Rhythm & Hues. We sat down with Heather to talk about matte painting and her role on Disney Feature films like Zootopia and Big Hero 6. 

CGS: To start us off, what inspired you to become a matte painter and work in entertainment?  

My passion for movie effects first started when I saw Jurassic Park at the age of 13 with my family. I was amazed by how realistic the dinosaurs were.  Not long after I caught some episodes of the tv show “Movie Magic” that aired from 1994-1997 on Discovery Channel. There were dozens of artists and craftsmen whose job was to create these amazing epic film moments! While I was completely fascinated by this world of movie magic, it wasn’t until Toy Story came out that I realized that these things were created with computers.Then I found an issue of Cinefex (featuring Small Soldiers on the front), and I realized that this could be a legitimate career path for me.  Having absolutely no computer experience, I sought out a school where I could learn how to create 3d art on a computer.   It took me many more years to realize that my passion was in matte painting. I knew that I loved creating environments. I loved looking at and creating textures, modeling and painting in photoshop, but it was at least 10 years after my initial interest in visual effects was sparked before I realized what matte painting was, and that matte painting was my true passion. 

CGS: What an incredible journey! For those of us who might be not be as familiar with the craft, what does it mean to be a matte painter in your industry today?  

The job title “matte painter” has evolved so much - even from the time I discovered what matte painting is. Back when I was watching “Movie Magic”, Matte Painting was done on glass and filmed in camera.  Now you’ll find a lot of different titles encompass the role of today’s matte painter. Digi-matte, Set Extension, Background Artist, Environment Artist, Matte Painter. The new names indicate a shift in the technical demands of the job. Today’s matte painter needs to be able to create backgrounds that hold up to modern camera moves and stereo films. Today we use not only photoshop, but projection software and 3d software to create full 3d environments. 

CGS: When people go to watch feature films the story and the characters take precedence, but what’s going on behind the characters is just as important. How does the world and settings you create in a film impact the film and what do you enjoy most about your role in bringing a space to life? 

There’s a reason that matte painting is called “the invisible art”. If we’ve done our job right, the characters on screen are transported to a new location or world. Matte painting can set up and transport the viewer to enhance the film experience. The background should never be distracting or upstage the actors.  That’s what I’ve always loved about matte painting. I’ve always loved researching and creating an environment of rich textures, studying how the light plays on different surfaces. I love how the lighting and color temperature of a shot can change the emotional impact of the scene. When you create a matte painting for a show, you are trying to execute someone else’s vision (the director or supervisors), but you really have a lot of creative control on the direction of that shot and the final pixels on the screen. I love seeing my pixels and painting up on the silver screen. I imagine that’s how broadway actors feel when they see their name up in lights. 

CGS: It sounds like your work requires you to be very versatile as an artist, what are the different positions a matte painter can take on in a production pipeline other than the traditional matte work? 

In our regular roles as matte painters, matte painters utilize concept painting skills, modeling, texturing, lighting and compositing. Depending on each particular matte painter, many roles could easily be filled when the matte work is done. In a lot of studios, it pays to at least be familiar with matte painting and projection techniques, because they are incredibly versatile tools that transcend matte work. In the past, I’ve helped out with modeling, lighting, concept art, look development and final layout. It’s really a great thing to be able to jump into different roles, and gives you a greater appreciation for all the other artists you work with. 

CGS: We understand that you held different roles between working on Big Hero 6 and Zootopia, can you tell us how you fit into the pipeline on each project and how your experiences varied? 

My role at Disney was the same for both shows, but the technical needs change. A Set Extension artist at Disney is part of the Look Development department. Matte painting (the set extension part), is a role that comes on later in the production pipeline after cameras and environments are built, and lighting has been started. Until that stage of the movie, set extension artists will help out by doing environment tests, modeling, and joining the look development team with environment assets. Every show is different - supervisors and art directors change, technology and environments evolve with the story, and we adapt along with all those changes to contribute to the final film. 

CGS: Can you tell us more about the importance of things like environment tests? How do the earlier stages of development, such as working on a test shot for Zootopia, shape the rest of a film? 

Test shots are particularly important for big animated features and vfx work using new technology. The work at big companies like Disney are always at the cutting edge of technology. There are teams of people devoted to overcoming technical hurdles to better support the story on screen. This could be creating a new renderer (Disney’s Hyperion), new hair and fur technology (Life of Pi, Zootopia), or finding a new way to populate a 3d city (Big Hero 6). Each and every visual effects film has its own set of hurdles, and sometimes the best way to test those challenges is with a test shot where some of the kinks can get ironed out early. Ask any supervisor working on a big animated feature or blockbuster vfx show how they are going to make that movie, and they’ll say “We’ll tell you when we are done”. 

CGS: I know that Zootopia, like a lot of animated feature films, went through many changes over the course of development, can you give us an idea for how many iterations an environment might go through over the course of creation? 

Sometimes with animated features, as the story develops and changes whole characters and environments are cut from the film. You read about it happening all the time in live action as well. I worked extensively on the background buildings in Zootopia for Sahara Square, and after seeing the movie in theaters realized that the whole sequence was cut. It’s all about supporting the story. As for how many iterations an environment might go through, it’s impossible to say. A lot of visual effects and animation work is about iterating until the final look is achieved. I’ve had matte paintings that were finaled on the first version, and then shots that have stretched out months and gone through story and lighting changes, camera changes, and indecisive directors and supervisors. In truth, I like to save a version of each one of my iterations so that I can remind myself when I’m tired of a shot that each version does indeed improve on the previous version.  

CGS: It’s our understanding that you are teaching a masterclass with CGWorkshops, how does the content you teach in your class compare to the work a professional would be doing in a studio like Disney Feature? 

The content from my class comes directly from my experience over the last 10 years. All the techniques and tips I teach directly relate to shots I’ve worked on, and techniques I’ve come up with to make working on shots easier. All the techniques I teach in this class are the same ones I taught to other artists at both Rhythm & Hues and Disney. There’s a subtle art to finding a 2d/3d matte painting hybrid solution. My class focuses on building a foundation for these hybrid techniques. 

CGS: Do you have any advice for students or peers that want to get into matte painting? 

Follow your passion.  Be versatile and humble.  Do your research and know what you are getting into.  

Contributing to 3D World's "Bink" Article

Here's a preview of the nice writeup on Bink in the latest issue of 3D World magazine!  There's a few quotes and tips from your truly in there.  There's some nice insight from the creator/director Eric Miller on bringing Bink to life.  I enjoyed the chance to contribute and share some of my experiences on the short.  I also got to throw a handful of helpful maya/animation tips in there - looks like 4 of them were picked for the final article.  It's great to see Bink get some nice coverage before it debuts in the next few weeks...

You can preview and buy a copy of the magazine at 3D World 

Nashville Animation & Graphic Design Show

With the help of Professor Paul Collins, the three new faculty at Austin Peay have assembled a gallery show featuring our respective areas.  It's going up during the monthly "Art Crawl" in downtown Nashville and should get a lot of traffic!  My students worked on a collaborative piece about the 12 Principles of Animation, to which I contributed several scenes to as well.

Check out the press release below or at:  http://www.apsu.edu/news/new-exhibit-nashville-showcases-apsu-graphic-design-and-animation-students-and-faculty

The Austin Peay State University Department of Art and Design will showcase the work of its students and faculty during April’s First Saturday Art Crawl in Nashville. The Department of Art and Design will present the exhibition, “Where the Wild Things Are,” on April 2 in Nashville’s L Gallery, in the heart of Nashville’s art district.

The exhibition will highlight the contributions of first year faculty Patrick Gosnell (graphic design), Rachel Bush (graphic design) and Scott Raymond (animation). The presentation will feature a variety of graphic design installations, including new work by APSU graphic design students. The exhibit will also present multi-projection animations featuring creature explorations and a celebration of the guiding principles of animation by current APSU animation students.

The reception and viewing hours for the exhibition will be from 6-9 p.m. on Saturday, April 2, in Suite 73 of Nashville’s Arcade, located between 4th and 5th avenues, off Church Street in Downtown Nashville.

This show is made possible through generous support of APSU’s Faculty Senate Student Academic Success Initiative Award program.

For more information on this exhibition, which is free and open to the public, contact Paul Collins, APSU associate professor of art, at collinsp@apsu.edu.

University Press Release for Nick Project

The University interviewed me about my work with Buster on the Nick Kids Choice Awards.  The article got picked up by many of the local news sources as well, as well as a few national ones.  I had a great time talking to the writer Colin Harris and think the article turned out really well.

Check out the full text below or at:  http://www.apsu.edu/news/professor-scott-raymond-brings-dinosaur-life-nickelodeons-kids-choice-awards

Despite how the old saying goes, at Austin Peay State University, those who can really do teach.

Assistant professor of animation Scott Raymond recently came to APSU following a successful career in computer animation, working for DreamWorks Animation on recent films, including “Kung Fu Panda 3,” “Home,” “Penguins of Madagascar” and “Mr. Peabody and Sherman.” However, his work in the industry did not stop when he entered the classroom.

In early March, Raymond contributed to a piece that aired promoting Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Awards show that featured country music star – and show host -- Blake Shelton as he stumbled into, and often ran his way out of, a number of the year’s most popular movies.

Working alongside Los Angeles-based production studio Buster, Raymond got to fulfill a childhood dream, creating an animated T-Rex that the country megastar reacted to, and then comically fled from, during a segment seen by an international audience.

“Everyone has their movie that made them want to get into the industry,” Raymond said. “For my wife, who also works in the industry, it was ‘Toy Story,’ but for a lot of people, it was ‘Star Wars’ that captured their imagination.

“For me, though, it was definitely ‘Jurassic Park,’ so when I was told that (Buster) wanted someone to work on a dinosaur, I was like ‘yes!’”

A native of Nebraska, Raymond left the west coast in 2015 so his wife, a native Tennessean, and their young children could be closer to family. But both he and his wife remained involved in animation and visual effects on a freelance basis, which sometimes means long nights spent hunting for creative opportunities.

“I go through job boards and I check sites like LinkedIn, and I keep this big spreadsheet of companies and job posting sites just so I can keep up on what opportunities are out there,” Raymond said. “I was already familiar with (Buster) because I knew of their work on a poster for ‘Game of Thrones,’ so when I saw they were looking for some animation help, I just sort of reached out to them cold with my demo reel.”

Raymond impressed the LA-based company with both his work and his experience in the industry. Following an interview, Raymond said he was offered the job – as well as a humorous clip of Shelton that would serve as the model with which he would base his dinosaur’s animation.

“It’s kind of funny because I was sent all the documents and I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement which said I wouldn’t talk to anyone about what I was doing,” Raymond said. “But here I was, looking at this funny video of Blake Shelton, running around in front of a green screen like there’s a dinosaur behind him.

“I had to laugh because I had just moved to Nashville, and I’m already working on a video of Blake Shelton and a dinosaur,” Raymond said. “The company I was working with joked ‘hey, if you see Blake on the streets of Nashville, give him a shout for us.’”

Working out of his home office, Raymond animated the dinosaur using Maya, a 3D modeling and animation program. From there, he worked remotely with other artists and animators who added textures and other graphic effects to bring the dinosaur to life.

Raymond said the project took roughly two weeks from start to finish. The final product aired mid-April and was in heavy rotation on Nickelodeon in the month-long buildup to the live Kid’s Choice Awards.

“I had a great time working with Buster, and really excited how it all came together,” Raymond said. “It's a really fun spot, and I had a blast animating it.

“At 2 a.m., when you're getting a little punchy, it's great to look up and remember that you're animating a T-Rex chasing after a country star.”

For more information on APSU’s Department of Art and Design, visit online at http://www.apsu.edu/art. For more information on Raymond, including a blog and examples of previous and current work, visit animationalchemy.blogspot.com.