The Allan Mckay Podcast

LinkedIn is the number one job finding and networking resource on the web! YET it's not optimized for artist use - it's optimized typically for more corporate, and start up jobs and long form productions. The typical approach to finding work with LinkedIn typically will not apply to Designers, Game Developers, TV and Feature Film Visual effects. I strongly believe LinkedIn is a AWESOME and POWERFUL weapon but you need to know how to use it. This episode we cover how to hack your ranking and get it up there, shift your positioning within LinkedIn searches and typically build a solid profile that is going to allow you to anchor the types of contacts you want for future work. This episode just touches the surface as there is far more we WILL be diving into at a later date but the most important steps to take first before the advanced tactics come, start with the foundation... Let me know what you think I would love to hear your feedback!  For more information and show notes go to http://www.allanmckay.com/32/  

By far the most different episode I have made to date. Rather than focusing on interviewing artists or on core ways to build up your career. I wanted to share some of the tools _I_ use in production or day to day that are pivotal to getting things done.     There are some very useful email tools that really go above and beyond that I highly recommend, and many other tools and insights.    Going with the trend of doing something not done on this podcast so far - you can also go through this episode as a VIDEO by going to the link http://www.allanmckay.com/31download/ to view the video and watch as I go through everything in the podcast on screen and demonstrate how I use these tools.    Furthermore I want to know what tools YOU use. Visit http://www.allanmckay.com/31/ to share in the comments what tools you find to be useful or critical to your day to day work! I would love to hear from you on this - maybe there's some tools I don't know about that might help me be more productive!    Visit ht

Dan's background working in video games on projects ranging from Star Wars 1313 to Tomb Raider to Gears of War to many other iconic projects as well as high profile studios such as Lucas Arts. What makes Dan stand out is his phenomenally realistic character work, many of his pieces have received much acclaim, awards and can be seen in magazines worldwide. If you've followed Episode 28, interviewing Christopher Nichols of the Digital Human League, Dan is also a member of this and both have collaborated on the high profile 'The Newyorker' digital human piece. This episode we dive into Dan's process - discussing what it takes to make characters photoreal, as well as his habits, his process and giving much insight into his background as an artist. We also discuss in great depth work visas and working in other countries, as well as many other exciting subjects! For more information and shownotes visit http://www.allanmckay.com/30/  

As the host of over 160 tutorials and creator of title sequences for tv's Fringe and the film Star Trek, Andrew Kramer has participated in many forms of production: from visual effects artist, to directing commercials and promos. His website Video Copilot has been a progressive force in the visual effects industry, with his upbeat training style and innovative plug-ins. As a freelance artist and web designer at age 20, Andrew began to work on the Video Copilot website from his apartment in Southern California. The website started with a single product and a handful of short After Effects tutorials that were featured on the Creative Cow community. His unusual training style and off-beat humor intrigued viewers by showing them powerful techniques for visual effects that were detailed and also entertaining. The site’s online presence has also led to collaborations for Andrew to work with major companies and even the unique opportunity to work with Director J.J. Abrams on film & tv Projects. Video Copilot has

Christopher Nichols has an impressive resume of working for many of the leading studios, from The Day After Tomorrow, I, Robot, Stealth, Tron: Legacy, Oblivion, Maleficent and The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo to photo real cars and photo real humans. Chris works with Chaos Group - the developers of V-Ray as one of the main people behind Chaos Group Labs, an experimental outpost based in Los Angeles. Where Chris has been involved with many high profile projects and pushing tech in new directions, being involved in projects ranging from the upcoming 'Construct' short film to photoreal human projects - there's such a wide range of subjects covered in this episode from getting a job in the industry to what it takes to make things photoreal, to more the backstory of so many really 'really' cool projects - check it out! http://www.allanmckay.com/28/   CG Garage Podcast: https://labs.chaosgroup.com/index.php/category/cg-garage-podcast/ Chaos Group Labs: https://labs.chaosgroup.com Pixel Perfect Article: http://www.new

Zerply is an amazing new platform for artists to promote themselves and network with other industry followers. This is an amazing and exclusive platform to get connected with other studiso and artists and find work easily and frequently. I'm blown away by this platform and what it can do, it's exactly, and I mean 'exactly' what this industry needs. I sit down with James Bennett one of the founders of Zerply to chat about this amazing platform, as well as James' career, and his really solid advice for others to both utilize Zerply, and utilize their career for high success! LOADED with really great advice! Show notes @ http://www.allanmckay.com/27/    

This episode is a unique solo episode packed to the brim with a lot of workflow hacks and core advice to manage yourself better and get a lot more done inside of your standard work day. This is vital methods I apply to my work every day of every week and have developed many of these techniques over the span of the past 20 years of my career.   Show links Time Doctor Rescue Time Focus @ Will Polder Buzz'n'Beep Digital Timer Parkinson's Law Power of automationg with Scripting Google Docs - for Spreadsheets More information about FLOW Overtime Vs Productivity    

Part 2 of the really great and insightful interview with Sol Rogers! Covering a lot of really great industry advice and career advise based on his lengthy experience in the industry as well as lecturing at London universities. Lots of great stuff - this was our chat prior to diving into our discussions on Virtual Reality. Check it out! Rewind FX Oculus Rift Microsoft Hololens Career Opportunities @ Rewind FX! Red Bull Air Race Canon London Fashion Week Experience Lexus NX Experience   Allan McKay speaking at It's ART Master Class in Paris March 14   For more information, as well as to check out the job opportunities at RewindFX check out the show notes at http://www.allanmckay.com/25/

Sol Rogers, all round nice guy and super knowledgeable on all things VR! This episode we dive into what Rewind FX - Sol's company has been able to pull off in the realm of Virtual Reality for massive clients from Red Bull, Lexus, and just many many massive events worldwide. This is such a great and insightful episode into an area we all feel we know a 'little' but don't really quite understand what is currently going on in VR or where it's headed. The tech, the big players, the process and the business end. From Unreal Tech to Oculus Rift and Microsoft Hololens, we discuss how studios such as Rewind FX are currently developing many of their productions and taking advantage of a lot of the amazing technology available. I had such a great time doing this episode, as I've secretly been obsessed with the idea of VR for some yet have absolutely no experience with it. So this is a chance to dive in and get schooled on such an amazing and up and coming industry that is surely going to change how we live our lives, f

This episode is an amazing one with the lead product manager for 3DS Max at Autodesk! Eddie has a MASSIVE amount of background and knowledge to do with 3D and gives major insights into the industry as it is and where it's heading, as well as a lot of where it came from! The greatest thing of all is getting more of an insight into 3DS Max and behind the scenes at Autodesk, a really great episode through and through! Show notes at http://www.allanmckay.com/23    

Episode 22 is epic! Check it out! Everything from discussing careers, hiring artists, scheduling and budgets through to more heavier into the production side of film and design projects. We cover everything from Coldplay music videos to The girl with the dragon tatoo and beyond! 

Rob Nederhorst is a compositor and visual effects supervisor who has a large list of amazing projects to his name, some of the feature films include X-Men, The day after tomorrow, 2012, Thor, Priest, After Earth and many more films. He's a speaker for Gnomon as well as well as an authority on The Foundary's Academy Award winning compositing software 'Nuke'.   This is a really great and insightful interview with Nederhorst's origins in the industry, starting at Newtek and moving early in his career to Digital Domain and moving on up the ladder from there but also a lot of insight into a lot of his methods and advice related to his career with many great takeaways!   For show notes visit http://www.allanmckay.com/21/  

I recently had the chance to talk in-depth with Pierre Grage about his new (and amazing!) book 'Inside VFX'. I have to say the minute this book was released I had it express-delivered because I was so anxious to consume this book. I think there has been so much negative information put out there about the 'instability' of the VFX industry, yet there really hasn't been many resources out there to really help us understand how or why exactly this industry is facing tough times. What I love so much about this book is it provides so much insightful information about the economics of the VFX world, and Hollywood in general, as well as the history of VFX with many, many insightful case studies on all of the most popular films dating back to the dawn of visual effects. It leaves it up to us to make our minds up about whether VFX is 'doomed' but more importantly it gives us the knowledge and understanding to better adapt to this ever-growing and still very 'young' industry. For complete show notes and links to all ma

Chad Wanstreet is an amazing artist with a very vast background, we dive into a lot of really great subjects as we discuss his background coming from architecture to working on many high profile car commercials in Detroit to relocating to Los Angeles to work for Blur Studio. This is a subject for me really interested me, as relocating anywhere, especially with a family of your own is a very big deal and it was really exciting to delve into this as well as a lot of what he's accomplished in the past. Chad's currently running a CG Society workshop as well as various other things and working with Blur on many exciting projects, very cool! This is a long one, but riddled with a lot of really great and valuable insight from someone with a heck of a lot of experience. Really valuable and I urge you to see it through! show notes at http://www.allanmckay.com/19/  

Chad Wanstreet is an amazing artist with a very vast background, we dive into a lot of really great subjects as we discuss his background coming from architecture to working on many high profile car commercials in Detroit to relocating to Los Angeles to work for Blur Studio. This is a subject for me really interested me, as relocating anywhere, especially with a family of your own is a very big deal and it was really exciting to delve into this as well as a lot of what he's accomplished in the past. Chad's currently running a CG Society workshop as well as various other things and working with Blur on many exciting projects, very cool! This is a long one, but riddled with a lot of really great and valuable insight from someone with a heck of a lot of experience. Really valuable and I urge you to see it through! show notes at http://www.allanmckay.com/18/  

This is one of the most critical episodes so far in our journey to grow our career and multiply our successes. Something so critical yet overlooked, is defining our name and our niche and building our brand. Associating ourselves in a way that will resonate with others and key ways to introduce ourselves that will stay with your audience and grow your job prospects. This episode we learn to make ourselves more than just an artist or an employee but to strategically build our name and reputation up, and consolidate our efforts and focus onto one outcome, building a our brand.

This episode is a look back at my year and what I accomplished, as well as a lot of very valuable lessons I've learned along the way, including areas I failed and what I have taken from that. A lot of valuable information I've taken from this experience and how I can apply this to 2015. The most valuable piece is a overview of the 3-6-3 mindset which is how I personally have owed a lot of my success as well as how I have defined a lot of my goals and lifestyle around. Really great and valuable information that will ensure you hit your goals in 2015 but also your BIGGER goals further down the road to position yourself in the career and lifestyle that you've always dreamed of! HAPPY 2015!!!

So this episode definitely is 'off the cuff' but there's a lot of really vital information for those of you who do want to travel the world and want to understand where to start! I will say this is definitely just scratching the surface, and unfortunately being the week of x-mas and with a product launch underway I've only really had time to hit record and go for gold! But I do want to hear your thoughts on this and if it is something you do want to know more about, I have plenty in store for you let me know before I put weeks into bringing the right people on to give you a step by step guide to working overseas and all over the world as also how to approach studios and find sponsorship!  

Midway through the month! Lots of episodes flooding out on a lot of very important subjects! This episode is all about learning the power of negotiation and becoming comfortable discussing money with employers, how to get a raise and how to position yourself so they pitch to you. This episode I'm sure to some is taboo as people typically don't talk about money or negotiating skills very often. However that also means a lot of us are left in the dark how it all works and how to get what we ask for. This episode will go over many of those subjects shedding a lot of light as well as showing what to say in any situation and how no is just the start of the conversation. This episode I think, is vital for everyone working in any industry to learn the art of negotiation. Leave any comments or questions I'd love to hear from you about this subject!

This episode is very focused on more our core habits, how to build a 'ritual' to start out your day so you wake up productive and know exactly what you need to get done and go about doing it by batching your tasks intelligently and adding time constraints to all of your tasks so that you're able to track your succes, eliminate bad habits and be more aware where your time is actually going. We all want more time in our day to get more done, typically a task takes 30 days of doing daily to form a habit. The more habits we have the more auto-pilot we are to waking up, doing those things and getting them done with minimal effort, and using our goals from Episode 10 (http://www.allanmckay.com/10/) you'll be able to create 2-3 additional days a week to focus on those bigger long-form tasks! Leave a comment I'd love to know your thoughts, and I triple dare you to try an ice bath, 20 minutes submerged, can you do it?! Show notes at http://www.allanmckay.com/13/