Daniel Davie

What have you been up to since you left Escape Studios?

Pretty soon after leaving Escape I was lucky enough to start working as a generalist at Time Based Arts. There I had the opportunity to work on all kinds of different adverts, all with their own unique elements. We made a full CG creature for WWF, environments such as cities and jungles for Honda Dream Makers as well as some origami birds for a Mercedes advert and a transforming claymation character for the Nike Nothing Beats A Londoner ad.

More recently I decided to shake things up a bit and try out the industry here in Vancouver. It has been awesome so far, Method is an exciting place to work and living in a new country has been great. The 10 minute walk to work with a view of the mountains definitely beats commuting on the Northern Line!

How did studying at Escape Studios help you into the world of Modelling?

The best two things that Escape Studios gave me was a solid core understanding of 3D and my reel. Your reel is so important as it is what will get you a job in the industry so it takes time to get it right. What was great about Escape Studios was that our course was structured so that by the end we had 3 shots, some finished some not, that we could use to make up our reel. This made the turn around between finishing and applying for jobs that little bit easier.Once you get that first job it is important to make a good impression quickly. Obviously I still had a huge amount to learn when I started working, and still do, but the core skills that I learned at Escape Studios gave me the confidence and knowledge to throw myself at lots of different projects without feeling out of my depth.

Where do you currently work?

I am currently working as a Modeller at Method Studios in Vancouver. Unfortunately what I am working cannot be shared.

What work are you most proud of working on and what is your most notable achievement?

That would have to be the WWF Like Us Campaign. I love animals and from the start of my time at Escape I had wanted to work on a creature. This advert was my first chance as alongside a team of very talented people we produced a fully CG elephant. I was given a relatively long time to work on the model, working up the details so that the camera could get really close to its eye. To top it all off this was all for a charity who are by far the nicest clients I have worked for. I am really proud of the work we did for this project and the fact that it was done to promote such a good cause made it a pretty unique experience.

If you had to sum up your time at Escape Studios in one word, what would it be and why?

I’m not really sure how to put this in one word but the best thing for me about Escape was the class that I was part of. We had great tutors who helped us learn a great deal but having a class full of really dedicated people made all the difference. We supported each other but also pushed each other and as a result learned so much more. I have actually worked with a couple of them again since and I’m still trying to keep up with them, let me tell you!

What is your advice for those considering entering the industry?

Try and do as much research as you can into the companies that are out there and find one that will suit you. When I left Escape they gave me a long list of places and out of all of them it was the recruiting page at Time Based Arts that stood out as the most welcoming. As I have mentioned they were an amazing company to start my career at and so taking the time to really look into what is out there made all the difference for me.

What’s your favourite movie and why?

How to Train Your Dragon. It is hard to sum up here just how much I love this film. The scene where Hiccup first tries to befriend Toothless just gets me every time, it is the 5 minutes that made me want to pursue a career in 3D.