Join us for Episode 29 of CGCast as we dive deep into the world of digital art with the remarkable Ailsa McPherson, a 17-year-old digital artist from England now based in the Netherlands. Ailsa shares her journey from casual artist to landing her first
concept art internship at a game studio, offering insights into the challenges and triumphs of breaking into the industry at such a young age. We explore her creative process, her inspirations, and the unique experiences of being one of the few women
in a predominantly male field. With candid discussions on work culture, language barriers, and navigating online communities, this episode promises to be both enlightening and inspiring for aspiring artists and industry insiders alike. Don't miss
out on Ailsa's candid reflections and advice on balancing passion with professional demands.
This episode is a treasure trove of insights for anyone interested in digital art, game development, or navigating the challenges of breaking into creative industries.
Welcome everybody to the 25th episode of CGCast.
Today I have a big crew with me.
Today we're going to interview Ilse McPherson.
And today joining us I have Simon Roth and Megan van der M
olen.
Hello.
Ailsa, can you tell us, Ailsa, can you tell us a little bit
about yourself?
Well, I'm a digital artist from England.
And I'm currently living in the Netherlands where I got my
first job as a concept art intern at a game studio.
And I'm 17 years old.
What got you into CG?
It was a very gradual thing, I guess.
I've always been one of the arty kids.
And I guess I just started playing with it a few years ago.
And one day I realized I was doing most of my art on it.
And there was never a moment where I thought, I'm going to
get into digital art.
What provoked you to keep working until you got the job?
I didn't actually.
I'm very manic with my art.
I'll be there one day like, yeah, I'm going to work every
day for the next 50 years.
It would be totally awesome to just kill me and I can't paintanymore.
So I actually stopped for about a year.
I just got sick of it all and I picked it up again.
I think last March, March last year.
I didn't really expect to get the job, actually.
I think I just applied to see if I could.
But the job now is in the Netherlands, right?
Yeah, it is.
And I was at university in Glasgow doing computer game
development.
And I left to come to Amsterdam with my boyfriend.
So I had to apply for a job anyway.
I thought I might as well try for some concept art jobs and
see if I get anything.
And I did.
And how is that working out for you?
It's good.
It's hard because everybody in there has been doing it for
years
and they're all really good.
And then just this little girl going, la, la, la, la, la.
So, yeah, it's stressful, but it's a good learning curve.
So they're all trying to help me
and hopefully I'll improve a bit faster than I would
otherwise.
Where do you see it?
Do you plan on doing this or do you have bigger plans?
I don't think concept art itself I would like to do for my
whole career,
just because a lot of it depends on being very quick and
doing small things,
or at least what I'm doing at the moment.
So I'd rather do illustration where I can spend a long time
on one piece
and try and make it more detailed, have more fun doing it.
And what inspires you?
What inspires me?
Well, I'm pretty competitive, so usually just looking at
really nice pieces
and thinking, God, I want to be able to do that.
more than any sort of
watching films
it doesn't really inspire me, it just impresses me
well if you could be anywhere
and do anything right now, what would you do?
are we talking art related or just in general?
both
or just in general, I'd be sitting in Hawaii on a beach right now
that are related
I would like to be at the point
where I can live off freelance work at home
rather than have to work in an office
because an office is fun
I'd like to be able to get up
at 4pm and
do whatever then do my commissions so yeah i'm sure anyone
would love to do that that's great
i love it so um you post on cg talk a lot right uh not as
much as i used to but yeah quite a lot
you've learned a lot with rebecca right because i saw that
yeah i did one of her open figure
drawing workshops and well rebecca's great you know she
really wants to help people so
like there's a lot for the site what are the workshops like
they're fun i mean i've only
done the one because the one that I picked to do was when
they started doing the master copies
so it took quite a lot of work I think I worked about 80
hours on the piece and when I did that
I'm not doing another one for a while so I think I'll do
another one soon but it was really nice
to see how everyone even the results are obviously going to
be similar because it's the master copy
it's still nice to see how everyone interprets it in their
own way and the subtle differences
in everyone's workflow can you explain what you mean by
master copy and one of the paintings
Kingston by a master.
I won't say who did the master copy that I did
because I can't pronounce his name,
but it's open for majority workshop 12 or 13.
Guys, do you have any questions for Elise?
Yeah.
Ailsa.
Ailsa, I'm sorry.
It's okay, everyone says it wrong.
Yeah, and how did you go about getting your job?
Did you do it via a web application
or did you go in with your portfolio?
Yeah, I'll just email them one day.
I think I don't have very much work at the moment
because my computer was stolen last August,
so it was about hard to see its pictures.
Yeah, it was annoying.
And I just said, well, first they didn't reply to me,
and then I asked them about it, and they said,
oh, we didn't get your email, send it again.
So it took about twice as long as it should.
And they just asked me to come in for an interview,
and they agreed to give me an internship.
So it was that easy.
And what was the interview like?
I don't know.
It was hard because they asked a lot of questions that were
very vague
and put you on the spot.
Like, you know, what's your favorite?
Well, it's not that vague, but what's your favorite
computer game, for instance?
And I have a list of about 50, but I couldn't think of any
of them.
And I sat there for about 10 minutes just like, um, uh.
So I'm not the best person within a few years, so you can
probably tell.
I stutter a lot and I go quiet.
So sorry.
It's all right.
How does it feel to be like there are not many females in
the CG community?
Yeah.
Well, when I was doing my course in computer game
development,
I was the only girl on the entire course.
So it was weird at first, but, you know,
all the guys just forgot about it after a while.
We were all really good friends.
And at work, there's some women in HR and finance or
whatever,
but in the production side, it's only me and the associate
producer that are women.
So again, you know, you feel a little bit estranged when
there's certain talk about male things in the office.
I won't go into that in too much graphic detail.
Apart from that, it's not so bad, really.
I think a lot of a big deal is made about it that really
doesn't need to be made, you know.
But do you have any idea why there would be fewer women?
I guess a lot of women would jump up and say,
no, no, it's not true,
but there are a lot less women interested in games than
there are men.
And not just games, but...
CG and general.
I don't know.
Art in general, there seems to be more men than women.
So I don't know if it's just a CG thing.
But in art, no, because in class there's a lot of females,
but I think girls are afraid of the computers.
Yeah, I think so.
I mean, in galleries in general, there's a much higher
display of work by men.
So maybe in entry level, there are more women,
but the ones that seem to really go to the legendary state
disorder
for it seems to be mainly men, at least what I've seen.
But I think, yeah, that's right what you said.
You have to be interested in art and computers, I think, to
really get into,
well, painting, I think 3D, you might just get into that
through exploring different programs on the computer.
I actually got into working digitally more so,
by looking for a tutorial for 3DS Max,
actually, because I wanted to do an animation course in eB
oot.
I thought it would help me,
but then I realised that I really hate 3D.
Not the art that's come out, that's great,
but I just can't do it personally.
So are you really doing it?
I don't know how you do it at the moment.
No.
You know the Nets Digital World Contest thing
that was on post-adversary?
I remember we were looking at some of the models,
me and my boyfriend,
and I was like,
Yeah, I couldn't even do better than that.
And he didn't believe me, so I attempted it and I made a
sort of blob.
That's pretty much as far as it went.
I changed the colors of it and made it jiggle.
That was the extent of my 3D skills.
Yeah, but these closer.
Yeah, okay.
But even so, I can make a blob in 3D Max.
You mainly do like 2D art concept.
Yeah, well, I pretty much exclusively do 2D art.
I'm going to go into the texture at work.
I don't know if I like that or not
because I've never done it before.
I'd rather be good at one thing
than mediocre at a lot of things.
So I'm concentrating on 2D at the moment.
Yeah, your 2D art is pretty good.
The master copy was very good
and the painting of Brittle is very good too.
Thank you.
I like that one the most.
I'm not happy with where I am at the moment.
I'd like to be...
I'm really terrible for comparing myself
to people who've been in the industry
for like 50 years until they kick ass
and I'm just like, oh god,
I can't paint like that.
So what are your tasks mainly at the
moment? Little things.
I'm not sure which I'm meant to
blab on about because of the NDA.
Yeah, just like general
concept art, texturing or...
Yes, it's all concept art. That's all I do
at the moment. All concepts.
Yeah, none of it's on the computer though.
It's usually just pen and pencil sketches
which is also new for me because
environments or characters and no characters yet mainly
because i don't want to do characters yet
it's it's a lot of work to jump straight into at the moment
i'm just doing the other things for
the environment and you know working well yeah it's coming
more comfortable with what do you
like best about environments like trees and nature or
buildings uh definitely organic things
i mean even if i have to do things for architecture i'm
trying to make it more organic and
as much as I can.
You're pretty lucky to be working at 17.
Yeah, pretty what?
Some people would say too lucky.
Why too lucky?
There was just maybe one or two people
who think I shouldn't have gotten the job.
That's weird.
Did I say why?
Because I suck?
That's cruel.
I think they were just jealous.
Yeah.
That's just for now.
There are lots of mean people in the world,
So don't worry.
Yeah, well, you've got to take criticism, really, if you're
going to be in the industry.
So I'm just terrible.
As soon as anyone says something nasty to me, I just start
crying and hide in the corner.
So, yeah, I'm way oversensitive about everything.
It's not such a bad trade.
It makes you push more.
Yeah, definitely.
Like I said, it's really manic.
I'll go from crying to being totally determined and, well,
I don't know what.
So what's working there?
Is it long hours or is it hours?
Yeah, it's long hours.
I actually got told off.
Well, not told off, but kind of hinted at for going home on
time
that this wasn't really acceptable.
Because we start at 10 and technically finish at 7.
But this hurts me.
We can't have some people going home at 7 on the dot
and other people staying till midnight.
It has to be a team.
So pretty much start going home on time.
So I'm trying to stay an hour or so afterwards
even if I'm just on inside and messing about.
At least it looks better.
That's not very fun, though.
Not really, but I understand if it's like a deadline,
I don't mind staying late at all.
But most of the time, I don't really have much to do
that I couldn't do just in the day.
So it feels a little bit pointless,
but at the same time, I don't want to look like
the second it hits 7, I'm zooming up draw.
, you're the first one in the line.
Yeah, I think that's what we like there.
I guess that's what we like at any game studio.
it it's from how long have i been working for um just over
a month i think it's slowly getting
it's a big change from because before i lived off some
freelance commissions not enough to
live on but just you know book illustrations and small
things so it's the first time i've ever had
had to work in an office environment and i really really
have a thing about people watching me when
i paint so like i get all creeped out if someone comes
behind me i'm like cowering over my screen
or my paper.
Yeah, I know the feeling.
I'm sure that'll be
part of that feeling too.
Yeah.
So what were your
first impressions
like the first few days
working there?
Did it take you time
to get used to it?
The first thing I noticed
was that I couldn't find
a woman's bathroom
because it was all men.
So I wandered around
for a little bit
and there was one
that split further away
than the others.
Then I just found
that a funny first impression
because of the whole
you know,
women in the games
industry thing.
But apart from that
it was mainly just nerves.
I was practically crying when I looked at all the work that
was there.
Like, oh my God, I'm going to be fired.
I came really close to just quitting because it's just
really nerve-wracking
knowing that there's no way I could be up to the standards
of the other guys who work there
because they're all really good artists.
And I discussed it with the lead artist and they said that
they weren't expecting miracles from me,
especially at my age.
So it's just nice to know that they believe that I'll be
able to reach the industry standard
with a bit of practice.
and you said you're 17 right now yeah i'm 17 impressive
still got plenty of time to uh get
a little where you want to be i hope so i'll be the person
that works for 30 years and doesn't
improve for the only one in the world that's me um was
there any issues with the language
when you were there since in the netherlands yeah the
office because the office is run by americans
So the English is the natural language there.
But in the Netherlands, no.
I think Dutch is a really difficult language.
I've not been able to pick it up at all.
And usually I pick up languages like that.
So I mean, I've been here for, since March.
And the only things I can say are thank you with cheese.
But are the people there like cold or warm or what?
Compared to some of the other countries, I'd say cold.
but you know it's a lot of perception as well i think just
the fact that i was very nervous
being in a new country i don't know whose phone that was
but anyways it's simon do you have
anything to say any questions sorry i was your phone it was
simon yeah um do you find that
there's like understanding in your does your office um have
like a mix of all the different
artists like the 3D people or is that? Oh yeah definitely I
mean. I find with my company that
the concept artists don't understand the 3D artists and the
programs don't understand like
yeah did you get that a lot? No not really because a lot of
the guys there are very multi-purpose
like a lot of the guys who do the concept art are also well
most of them are texture artists but a
lot of them do modeling as well so I think I'm the only
person that just does concept art so
So if anyone's limited in understanding, it's probably me.
What's the atmosphere like in the office?
It's very relaxed.
And I got sat in the corner all by myself.
So I don't really get to chat a lot without having to go
over somewhere,
which I think was a bit strange.
But it's good because I can mess the bell and, like,
CG talk and nobody knows what I'm doing.
Yeah, you can just walk off and go and watch TV or whatever
as long as you come back and do the work.
I think they're not too bothered as long as the work gets
done,
how you get about doing it.
Because an artist is a very good creative person.
Sometimes you really just can't paint.
You know, you sit down and it's like, ah.
So I think they understand that.
You said that you left school to get the job,
but do you plan on finishing school?
Yeah, I want to.
I didn't actually want to leave,
but I was living in Glasgow at the time
and I'd had really bad insomnia through the year.
And I just got really behind on the work,
even though I was really enjoying the course
and it was really easy.
So I thought, well, I want to go to Amsterdam with my
boyfriend,
and I'm really behind on the work, and I'm just going to
leave.
And if I can get a job, then great.
What were you studying?
If not, then computer game development.
So that was another thing.
It was almost all programming and no art.
So that was, nah, I was looking for more of a 50-50 split.
I think with most of these courses,
it's not until about the third year it goes into more of
the art.
I really didn't want to be in Glasgow for five years.
but you're not originally from Glasgow
no I'm from England
the midlands
and I went up to Glasgow
it's a really long story
I don't know if you want to know it
but I ended up in Glasgow anyway
and I decided that it'd be better opportunities for me
there
to do whatever I wanted to do
and it would be in the village where I was from
are you sure you could tell the story of how you ended up
if it's interesting
well I ran away from home when I was 15
I lived in a YMCA
all kinds of bad stuff happened
and it ended up with a psychotic junkie ex-boyfriend who
wanted to kill me.
So I moved up to Glasgow to get away from him.
That's pretty exciting.
Yeah, kind of.
I don't know, I seem to be able to do a chart.
Trouble.
Your fifth?
It's not me, I just sit there and do nothing and it finds
me.
That's an interesting trait to have.
I know.
It's like nothing can be calm for too long.
I'm nervous now because everything in my life is like, I've
got a nice flat and nice job and nice boyfriend.
Everything's going great.
And I'm just waiting for something to go when it all fall
apart.
Well, don't hope this.
After the storm is the sunshine.
That's what I heard.
Yeah, I hope so.
I mean, this happened the last few years.
Every time I think I've got something set, something
happens.
So I'm determined that I'm going to be good this time.
I don't know.
I heard that you met your boyfriend through CG Talk.
Can you tell us a bit about that?
Yeah, I did.
He's from Sweden.
And we started to talk on this really, really long, crazy
thread
in the Rambo's only section, which is now locked.
And I had nothing to do at Christmas,
and no family, so I ran away.
So I was feeling a bit lonely, and he came to see me at
Christmas.
And things happened from there.
Interesting.
I love on CG talk.
They should ever.
I know.
It's so cheeky.
Yeah, but I think it's...
But it's good to know it's good for more things besides CG.
Oh, you shouldn't say that.
You'll get 50 emails tomorrow.
I remember when I had myself...
I had myself as my avatar for, I think, a few weeks.
I got so many, like, per-VPNs.
It sucked up.
And emails, so I just took myself off.
But do you think that's, like, about...
What's your opinion on that in the community,
the online community towards girls that i don't know it's
it's not most of the people it's usually
people who have like one post or something so um it's more
the the lurkers or i think the people
well you know what i mean the atmosphere on the forum if
you're posting you know the people who
reply aren't gonna really be separating you as a girl well
at least not what i found so it's not
it's not so much of an issue i have found um just in the
forum in general it's just personal things
like emails and you know i saw your picture on CG Talk wow
you're hot or whatever it's a little bit
weird um but i'm sure that happens a bit at the other
females yeah it doesn't even matter what
you look like like you're getting able to say whatever you
're hot i mean if i can then i mean
um but has that ever been a real problem because i heard
that one time when there was the banner
for the Linda Bergkvist, Linda Enyala book.
Yeah, I can't say her name.
I'm horrible at words.
When she had her book, her poster book,
and there were a bunch of threads popping up
saying that Linda's hot,
and that was kind of disrespectful.
I never saw that.
Yeah, that's just...
The manager, the moderators stopped that really quick.
They just made a prank thread about it, didn't they?
Saying how Kurt was so sexy.
Ah, yes.
That's sad though, because I mean, I think a lot of people,
because it was Linda up there as well,
you know, she has a rather, well, seems her rather obsess
ive fan cult, Sizzle.
I think, for instance, if it was, well, I'm not going to
make an example, because that would just be,
but anyone else up there, I think there wouldn't have been
a thread about it, maybe just some emails or whatever.
So, it's not quite the same as having a thread, like, wow,
you're hot.
I don't know, if you have a thread saying you're hot, that
means you're special.
Well, you could take that as a compliment, I guess.
It depends on the tone of it.
I need some Archer's up for it.
Well, you guys hate mail.
Yeah.
Well, actually, it's the first time I've gotten hate mail.
I got hate mail once.
Really?
Yeah, it wasn't proper hate mail.
Just that all I did was master copies and I should do
something more original.
It wasn't like, die, bitch, die.
But do you think there's some people out there who are
malicious
that just want to bring you down for the sake of it?
Yeah, definitely. I mean, for whatever reason.
I mean, this one was just like, oh, you can't paint,
you just cover it up by doing master copies or whatever.
I can't really tell what the motive is there,
but I mean, there's a lot of reasons to try and bring
someone down.
There seems to be a lot of issues,
a lot of threads made about the star ratings, for instance.
Like someone sees a good picture, like, oh, I'll rate you
one star,
and now I'm the great one.
So, you know, jealousy or just plain spite, I think a lot
of people are.
Online, I think maybe they take things out that they wish
they could do in real life and don't have the balls to.
The anonymity of the internet.
Yeah, exactly.
Have you guys ever gotten hate mail, Megan and Simon?
Oh, me? No, no.
I don't post on CG Talk, so I don't get hate mail.
It's concept art, so.
No, I don't hate mail there.
More.
I've been meaning to post over at Concept Art more.
I have like three posts or something.
I don't know, I was really nervous when I first joined a
forum.
I think as soon as I post, I think someone's going to send
me a PM and say,
how dare you post us?
But I found it nice, the Concept Art.
I think Concept Arts are just more of a learning community.
Yeah, it seems to be.
But I mean, I started reading it more just because of one
particular member
who I found very amusing.
You know Odaiga?
No.
Like the 17-year-old who was like, never mind.
No, tell the story.
I'm going to be really, like, victimizing somebody on this.
So it's just this clueless valley girl who posts all the
time,
like, little doodles saying,
I'm so awesome and I'm going to go to CalArts
and I'm going to earn 30 grand a year
and I have an exhibition at Starbucks.
Oh, my God.
And all this kind of thing.
It's just very funny.
Very artsy-fartsy.
Yeah, well, my favorite quote from her is just,
I was born with an extreme amount of talent.
So that should sum her up pretty well.
I didn't go on concept art.
It makes me feel bad.
Have you seen the Thunderdome entries?
No, I haven't actually.
That's one thing I meant to look at,
and I just haven't had much time lately.
What is Thunderdome?
It's like, I don't know because I've never entered it.
I think it's like a versus battle.
They put all the artists in categories,
and the best one out of each category wins,
and it's like some sort of tournament.
I'm not sure.
Oh, that sounds pretty good.
Yeah, they put them in.
There's now, it's been round one,
and each artist is competing against two others,
and I think the best of each match wins.
It's like a World Cup.
Yeah, I suppose.
Are you guys going to enter?
Well, not me.
Let me answer the challenge.
It's because there's no direct competition, you know,
just enter for the fun and the atmosphere.
You never expect to get into any sort of final.
I think with the Thunderdome, you get officially put,
like, you cannot go past this level type thing, you know,
and it's a bit harsher than the way the challenges are done
, I think.
I guess it would be a bit intimidating.
Yeah, pretty much. I'm usually intimidated.
They don't enter anything, they put a banner there which
says,
Do you think women naturally go towards the path of 2D
because there are even fewer women in the 3D section?
I guess so. I guess it's more closely related to painting
and there are more women doing just regular painting than
there are...
I think it takes, you know, an interesting computer to get
into painting the first place.
I mean, I'm interested in computers for programming,
and that's how I first started getting into them, but I don
't like 3D.
So I don't know if there is really a direct relation
between that,
because 3D is just creating it bores me.
I love looking at it, but making it, I just can't do.
But I wonder why. Is it because of the technical aspect?
No, but that's what I mean. I like technical things.
Well, I don't really program anymore because I just did too
much at one time for university.
But I did enjoy programming before.
So technical things don't bother me.
But I think it's being technical while I want to be making
art bothers me.
Have you never tried programs like ZBrush?
I want to.
Because these are more free.
They're more focused on reading.
Yeah, I have the opportunity to learn it at work.
I probably will when I get some free time.
and I get a bit more into the routine of things.
Because at the moment, I'm just panicking every time.
So I was like, okay, can you draw this?
I'm like, yeah.
But do you think eventually that there will be more women
in 3D,
like if it gets mainstream or something?
Yeah, definitely.
I mean, it's a growing industry, like anything.
I think it will probably always be more men than women.
But yeah, I'm sure it's a growing community.
Simon, any comments?
I don't know.
Simon is unusually quiet.
I'm tired. It's been a long day.
Although I haven't actually managed to get any work done
yet, but sure.
It's a very lazy Sunday. It's a very low energy day.
So, Ailsa, you said, like, it's not really CG related,
but you said, like, you don't speak Dutch, but you do speak
some other languages?
Such English?
Well, I sort of speak some languages. I speak some Japanese
and some French.
But I'm not totally fluent in either.
I'd like it to be.
Wow, tu parles français.
C'est bon, ça?
Um, non.
Non.
Non.
I learned it in school.
School French, basically.
To me, it's crap French.
Yes, the French is pretty bad.
I don't know.
Je suis trop têt à la poubelle.
Je suis trop chômage poulet.
Chicken.
Chicken cheese.
Il marche plus.
Oh, yeah.
Simon just said French is pretty horrible.
All the Frenchies can direct.
British school French.
Yeah, I have a French teacher who can barely speak French.
So that should tell you something about British school.
It says something about British education, really.
My art teacher has never worked in IT.
My art teacher has never worked as an artist.
It's like, how can you teach art?
It's like something people might do as a career if you're
not a real artist.
I'll tell you something else.
My 3D animation teacher had never even seen a 3D program.
Yeah.
It's true.
It's UK universities.
Yeah, the exercise module, which I left beforehand,
apparently was just a load of videos on the internet.
Like, yeah, watch these and do whatever comes after that.
It's actually like, I remember when I was showing my Flash
teacher
how to use Flash.
But it's like a group and they give the teachers a manual
and they follow the manual to the T.
Yeah.
Well, that's the thing. I mean, I'm sure there are a lot of
fantastic teachers out there, but a lot of the ones are
probably people who didn't feel they wanted to cut it in
the industry.
Because, you know, if you're applying to a university
course, you're a BI expert in that field.
So I think there's a bit more issue of trust there that you
know what you're doing.
And it's probably a bit less competitive than the industry
itself.
Also, it's not only that.
It's like if a teacher goes into one field, like say she
wants to be in IT,
but the only thing open was to teach kids how to use Flash
and PowerPoint and stuff like that.
I don't know why PowerPoint.
So they just take the offer because they don't expect the
kids to be better than them.
And they can just get the kids interested and teach them
the basics.
That's probably true as well.
I think the better teachers, the good ones are more like
coaches.
They coach you rather than teach you.
Like my school right now, I'm going to the art school,
and they don't really teach technical.
They want you to explore your idea, be more artistic.
If you have problems with the technique,
you can always find someone and they'll help you.
But it's really cool that way because you're very free to
do what you want
and to explore what you want.
You're not restricted by the technique.
So in drawing class, you can draw as bad as you want.
What if there's some style?
I would be really terrible there.
I mean, the reason I think I never flourish in class
environments
is because everything I do, I have to feel like it's
perfect.
If it isn't, then I get all annoyed and I never want to
draw again
and throw my computer out the window, I think.
But it doesn't bother you at work, does it?
Yeah, it does.
Sometimes I'll group the same drawing like 50 times
and they'll come up to me and be like,
what have you got?
I'm like, this?
It's like one drawing.
So that has to work a bit harder.
I remember I was like that at one point.
The first day of school was the first day was drawing class
,
and I'm really horrible at drawing,
and we had to draw a radio or a chair or a vacuum cleaner.
And I started my drawing, and it looks horrible.
And I look around, and everybody has these amazing vacuum
cleaners and chairs.
And I'm like, oh, God.
I always get stuck to that person.
You know, they draw one line, and you know it's going to be
totally amazing
whatever comes after that.
My friend beside me was like, oh my god, I'm going to fail
this class.
But the teacher was really cool. He helps you.
It depends on the teacher.
It depends if they're there for the money or they're there
to actually teach.
Yeah, definitely. I've had my share of teachers like that.
Not in the art field, but our D&T teacher at high school
that's designing technology.
He once made a speech to the entire class like,
look, I'm not here to be your friend and I'm not here to
help you along.
I'm just here to tell you what I know and get my money and
go home.
So it was a very honest teacher.
Yeah.
Oh, he was horrible.
Mr. Williams.
Oh.
I was just wondering, where is this going, this interview?
I mean, is it going to be posted somewhere?
Yeah, it's...
Well, Megan just came out of nowhere.
I mean, I'm confused.
Okay, I run a podcast called CGCast, and it's on CGCast.com
.
And I've interviewed a few other people, and I interview
artists.
and I've actually never gotten a 2D person on.
Well, I had Lunatic, but he also does 3D.
But I don't have a lot of 2D people,
so I was trying to get a few more 2D people on the show.
And if you're a girl, it helps because out of all the
interviews,
you're the second girl, and this will be episode 25.
And I'm the first person you found.
Actually, you're the second girl.
Really?
Yeah.
Oh, you had Leigh, didn't you?
Yeah.
On the show.
How many terabits of bandwidth is that interview taking up
now?
You were saying that a lot more people are interested in it
just because it was a female person.
Actually, it was late.
Actually, yes.
Well, it was funny because somebody thought she was a guy.
A lot of people confuse her as a guy.
I can check right now, but it has been downloaded.
I think it's the most downloaded episode,
but I think it's been a couple hundred gigabytes.
Wow.
When I first joined the forum,
A lot of people refer to me as a guy as well, even though
my nickname on there is Elsie.
So, you know, babe.
Most people refer to me as a woman, so sure.
Well, I did have a very yoddy haircut.
Well, on the forums, I'm more of an outsider, but I don't
really make many friends on the forums.
I don't know why. It's my personality.
Well, I've met Simon, but I don't know. It's pretty neutral
for me.
Yeah, well, I mean, I'm pretty shy as well.
I just gradually met a lot of nice people from there,
so I'm a bit more confident there now.
I'm sorry, have you guys made a lot of friends on the forum
?
IRC? Yes. Forum? No.
IRC?
Yeah, the IRC is good.
Most of the friends I made were just from this crazy thread
that used to be in the members section.
And the CG's aside, it's the first.
Yeah.
It doesn't exist anymore.
I wouldn't have seen it anyways.
There.
Leigh's interview has been downloaded 2,900 times.
Which interview is that?
With Leigh.
Actually, that's the same one on Outsourcer.com.
Leigh's interview has been probably twice as much as Kanga's
and Gavin's one.
Oh my, fuck.
Lots of people in there, including Pete Draper.
Yeah, he was pretty cool.
We had a long discussion about layers.
That's a very 3D episode, so if you're not into 3D, you
might not like it.
It's very 3D Max central episode.
That episode was like two hours long, wasn't it?
No, actually it was one hour and a few minutes.
I should like it.
3D Max used to be my main application.
Really?
Then what happened?
Well, I'm switching.
Why?
Because I got a job.
Switch to Lightwave.
It's great.
Oh.
I got a job with the package I'm switching to.
What are you switching to?
Cinema 4D.
Oh, those guys are nice.
Yeah, for sure.
What's that for? What application?
Well, not what application, but what's it going to be used
for?
Mumbling.
Games, advertising.
You mean what I'm going to do?
Yeah.
Oh, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to mention this,
because it's going to be posted on the...
You can cut it out, right?
I could, yes.
I can, it's no problem.
All right, I'm going to be working for Maxon,
so that's no big secret.
Right.
I understand why she can't really switch programs.
Well, I'm going to be working for Maxon.
They make Cinema 4D.
Yeah, I know.
That's what I was saying.
You can't really switch once you're working with them.
Yeah, I've seen them in lots of applications.
No one's fixed in one application now.
I know about Ulrich.
Yeah, that's true.
I'm probably going to be still using a lot of other
applications,
but I'm going to make Cinema 4D my main application.
Well, that's the great thing about 2D.
No one really cares what you're doing here.
I'm good wherever I go.
The thing is, I shouldn't care about 3D either
because it's relatively easy to switch.
It takes some time, though, but yeah.
Actually, no, I was trying to learn Blender and couldn't
even...
Blender's a lot of interface, though, seriously.
You can tell that Blender's made by programmers and not
artists
because if you look at an interface that's made by artists,
it's somehow logical in a way that you think of, like,
you put pens on your desk, say.
But when it's made by programmers and mathematicians,
they group things by their, like, functionality or
something.
That doesn't make sense.
I think there are mods for blender and stuff
that you can change the interface with
yeah
like a more like conventional
I've never tried it
but I really should
I'm pretty biased
but I've heard
I've heard stories
uh
with friends
that say they don't like the
Maya interface
and stuff like that
and I tried Maya once
I tried XSI
XSI looks nice
I might check that out
I think XSI's probably got the best interface
because I moved from Lightwave to XSI
um
testing the foundation
and I managed to move over in about two days
and have all my basic modeling and stuff,
and I could just do it in it.
So I have one or two now.
I've seen a tutorial of it once.
It looks really, yeah, the interface looks really, yeah,
logical,
the way it's laid out and stuff.
It's pretty simple because there's nothing,
there's no menus within menus.
There's only, like, maybe one submenu once you right-click
on something.
Stuff.
Guys, we're kind of like leaving Elise out.
We're talking about 3D also, which she doesn't like.
I like it, but I just can't do it.
Yeah.
Well, you can.
Just need to get a little practice in.
Yeah, you could try the ZBrush, as Megan said.
Yeah, I'm going to try that.
Yeah, they're also lovely.
There's also some better programs, even the ZBrush.
They have Moodbox as well.
Is that similar?
I think so.
Yeah, Mudbox is going to be good.
There was another one, which I can't remember the name of.
Modo?
No, not Modo.
See if I can find it.
I think I know what you're talking about.
Sharp Instruct, I think.
The one that's being given out free by CG Society.
Shade?
Oh, no.
Oh, no.
No, it's not Shade.
Well, I think we can wrap up the show now.
Alrighty.
It's been like 44 minutes.
I hope I didn't skip anything.
Okay.
Otherwise, we'll just have to record it again.
We've done that before, I think, haven't we?
Yes, with Kanga.
Oh, my God, the computer.
The power went off.
Really?
When the interview was ending,
Chris, I need to get him back on the show.
It was pretty cool.
Okay, so let me do the final...
You guys have any final words?
Well, thank you for having me.
It's tough I didn't make too much of an idea from the sauce
.
It's like the calmest show I've had.
Very calm.
That's strange for me.
I'm sure it would cause like a tornado or something.
You can if you want the next time.
I can if I do it on purpose.
Just I tend to cause accidents here and there.
Somebody's computer will blow up as soon as we finish or
something.
Probably mine.
As long as it's not mine, I'm fine with it.
Okay, well, nothing bad has happened so far in this episode
,
so it's all good.
The movie project is going.
I posted the thread on CG Talk.
It turned out to be a very interesting thread.
I'm sure I should.
Somebody blogged about me and they made a video about me
and I find that very sweet.
I'm in love with you.
Yeah, but in the wrong type of...
They're fast-ticketed strange wigs.
Yeah, I don't know.
Anyways, I don't want to give him any publicity, so I will
not say his name.
and the movie project is still going on.
I've posted the story.
Due to the comments, I will refine this.
I'll write the script.
Well, this episode is going to be out a week late.
So by then, I should have the management system up.
So everything will be good.
If you're interested, just drop me a line.
Also, there's a CGCast forum, which only visits.
But if you want, you can visit CGCast.com slash CGForum.
And I still haven't put back the chat.
Because it's...
Yeah, I tried to access that the other day,
and I wasn't able to get it back.
Because it's very hard to do.
Join me in selling it.
It's not hard.
Okay.
I could code you on if you want.
But not HTML-based, nor PHP-based.
We need AJAX, asynchronous, JavaScript, and XML.
That's complicated.
It's doable, though.
It is doable.
All right.
Anyway, so that's the end of the show.
I hope you guys enjoyed it.
It was very relaxed.
Very cool.
Say goodbye, everybody.
Goodbye.
Bye, everybody.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
Bye.
- Okay.
