Fortiche: What is your role on the project or at Fortiche?

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I started working on the first season of Arcane as a crowd animator. I had to make 3D crowd shots. I made keyframe animations on crowd characters, I managed the choreography of their movements and the composition for the shots.

Today I'm Crowd Supervisor, so in charge of the Crowd department and I have to ensure a consistent communication between the different departments we depend on (Modeling, Rig, Texture, BG, Layout, Devs, Lighting, Compo), while supervising the creation of crowd assets and the production of shots. I also make some Extra animations for the shots where we add some crowd. 

F: What is your best memory at Fortiche or do you have an anecdote to share with us?

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My best memory is my first animation review with the animation director Bart M. He took my character poses and showed me how to grow and improve each pose, how to sculpt in the body to get something graphic and natural, a personal masterclass. Magical.

F: Can you tell us about your career ?

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I started working in 3D as a computer developer after a 5-year university course in programming. I wanted to switch to animation as soon as possible, but my profile was very technically oriented, so I had to work for some time as a developer first. Over the years I was able to learn how to use the Maya software by coding parts of the crowd simulation plugin. This was my gateway to production. I have been able to be part of the making of crowd shots by working as a crowd designer on commercials, VFX features or animated films.  Since Crowd was a department/step that is rare on project in France at that time, there were less Crowd experts than some other profiles so, I am used to take  on the role of Technical Director and/or Crowd Artist as needed.

The call of the animation grew with the years so, 2 years ago,I chose to do a professional transition and spent a year of training in Gobelins to become a 3D animator. In the end, my double skill, animator and crowd expert  did raise the interest of Fortiche and got me in.

F: Why did you choose this career path? 

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As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to do 3D. I was rather chilly after my high school diploma to go directly to graphic design. I chose a technical path, hoping one day to switch to the artistic side. It worked out pretty well I think :)

F: How long have you been working with Fortiche?

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I have been working at Fortiche for a year and a half.