Andrew Harrington attended the game design program at Collins College. After just a few months Andrew began to discover his talents and planned on how to use his new-found skills to get where he wanted to be. Andrew spent many late nights and weekends doing tutorials and experimenting to develop his talents and set him-self apart from the rest.

Andrew realized that he could go to work with his skills, so he contacted Career Services at Collins College and got started. After revising his resume numerous times and working closely with his advisors Andrew landed an internship with liquid Entertainment, a game development company in Pasadena, Calif. This internship allowed Andrew to further develop his skills and to make key industry contacts, which led him to where he is working now.

Andrew currently works as an Associate Artist for Big Bang Entertainment. Andrew absolutely loves his job and where he is in life and it is all because he took the time to develop the necessary skills that would prepare him to pursue his passion. Now go PURSUE THE PASSION!!!

Russ Haan is the owner and founder of After Hours Creative. For over twenty years Russ and his team of creative professionals have been providing innovative advertising campaigns for such impressive clients as Target, Pepsi and Intel. Staying in business for 20 years in this business requires a lot of hard work and creativity. After Hours Creative has elevated themselves to the top tier in their industry by never settling for less than the best. By continuously researching their clientele and getting to know them like they know themselves, After Hours Creative is able to give it’s clients every competitive advantage possible.

The team, at After Hours Creative, has raised the bar by never presenting anything short of amazing and always thinking outside the collective box in terms of their creative concepts. For more information about Russ and his team or to contact After Hours Creative check out Russ’ profile on linked in @ http://www.linkedin.com/pub/2/ab8/7ab.

Thanks for viewing my video and we look forward to continuing to provide users with content for a long time to come.

Trevor Hill is the Senior Graphic Designer at After Hours Creative. Trevor began his career in Graphic Design doing freelance work after attending college for Graphic Design. From an early age Trevor wanted to design shoes for Nike. This passion for design led Trevor to pursue his passion and landed him a really cool job doing what he loves.

As the lead designer at After Hours Creative, Trevor enjoys a significant measure of creative freedom and input (not to mention he shows up to work in jeans and a t-shirt.) In Trevors words “I can draw a picture better than I can explain it.” So, if you can draw a picture better than you can explain it, you just might want to check into a career in Graphic Design.

Thanks for checking out our video, tell us what you think by emailing me at b.hugaboom@gmail.com.

Steven Wolff is a recent graduate of Collins College in Tempe, AZ. He studied Film and Visual FX in the bachelor’s degree program and graduated in February 2008. Steven went to Collins College and got to try everything, from shooting, editing, visual fx, and post production. “I really hung on to the visual fx and post production. Really good teachers and I pursued that path because I really liked it. I liked the way the work flow worked, what you had to do.”

He started working for the Visual FX company out of Santa Monica, CA called Hydraulx just weeks before graduation. Steven has worked on various projects at Hydraulx including The Incredible Hulk, X-Men Origins:Wolverine, AVP:Requiem, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (not yet released), and many more.

He soon found out “It’s not all ice cream and candy out there.” His job as a rotoscope/paint artist is really demanding at the end of the production phase of a movie, with serious deadlines and extremely meticulous work, his job hours go from standard eight-hour days to twelve to fifteen-hour days. Great advice Steven learned early on in college is, “You’re not gonna be visual fx superviser when you walk through the door, you’re gonna be the grunt, you’re not gonna make any money and you gotta apply yourself.” Steven goes on to say, “You have to be motivated but you have to be really laid back but also have to be a good artist.” “You’ve gotta be able to take crap. If somebody yells at you, you can’t get upset and leave. You know they aren’t mad at you, they’re just under a lot of pressure. You have to be able to handle pressure.”

Steven wasn’t an overly experienced rotoscope artist when he got the job, he had a lot of tracking and a lot of matte painting on his demo reel, Hyrdraulx realized he wouldn’t be the best at it but gave him the opportunity of a two week trial. Steven proved to be a dedicated candidate and improved one-hundred percent. “I was asking other artist, there was a lot of communication going on, if you’re just sitting there failing and you’re not getting the work done or not talking to anyone they’re going to let you go. On the other side of it, if you’re asking questions constantly, you’re going to be an annoyance. So you just have to find a happy medium and then show you’re motivated.”

In the visual fx industry, like most industries, the position you want to start out in is often far more ambitious than where you will actually start out. Even with a four-year degree from an accredited college you’re still fighting for just entry-level positions. “You’ll probably get an entry-level job as something else, like you want to be a character rigger you get an entry level as a modeler and then move over.” Pipelines, hierarchy ladders, differ from company to company as well. You might need to start out in an entry-level position at one company where they train you to work on a particular software crossover to another company where they pay you as that type of artist. “You gotta build your way up so maybe that requires jumping different companies to get more pay.”

As with most entertainment based industries, “It’s not what you know its who you know, that is most definitely the case especially in LA, I got the job at Hydraulx from knowing the right people and people knowing the right people. It’s not like I walked in, did an interview, and they hired me. No, I was referred, that’s how ninety percent of the industry is out there. Yes, you gotta have good work but most of it is who you know and if you can make those contacts, network, get people to look at your stuff, have them send out your stuff, make friends, you’re all set.” Networking is key in the entertainment industry, Steven started Collins College as a shy guy and eventually with assistance from peers and teachers built the confidence to land an awesome job in the pursuit of passion for the career he loves.