InFocus Film School Blog

A graphic design portfolio is crucial in landing you a job and getting new clients? Check out these tips! 

By Felicity Flesher 

 

Every aspiring and working graphic designer needs a stellar graphic design portfolio to showcase what he or she can bring to the table. Often, it is the first introduction to a potential client or employer and can reveal the designer’s personality, skillset, and creative eye. No matter how much of a Photoshop pro you may be, you need good pieces and you need to sell them as best you can to stand out against all of the high–calibre talent.  

With his twenty-year career in graphic design, Rod Kovacs, lead instructor at InFocus Film School’s Graphic & Digital Design Program, knows a few things about how to make your graphic design portfolio stand out.   

“The focus is always to put your best foot forward and put forward what you want to do,” Rod says about building the perfect graphic design portfolio. “It is really at the heart of marketing and graphic design: get the message across clearly, effectively, and quickly.”

Recognizing how valuable people’s time is, and how short their attention spans might be, this makes perfect sense. Bearing that in mind, here are a few further tips to help build a great graphic design portfolio: 

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SEE WHY HOUDINI, A STATE OF THE ART ANIMATION AND VFX PIPELINE TOOL IS CHANGING THE GAME. 

Written by Rachel Kim

 

Explosions, earth-shattering destruction, glittering swirls of magic—these are the unavoidable spices of film and television. Today, much of these effects are created by a single tool—Houdini. But Houdini’s influence stretches even further. Though traditionally favoured by the effects departments, Houdini is a 3D and visual effects package that handles everything from modeling, animation, effects, character effects, lighting, and compositing. It has been embraced for its versatility and powerful capabilities.  

“Houdini is very much designed and conceived as an end-to-end pipeline tool,” says Luca Pataracchia, Senior Production Specialist at SideFX and an industry-experienced Houdini artist. SideFX is Houdini’s software developer.

Houdini had an ethos of embracing procedural generation since its inception in 1996. The software has firmly established itself as a powerhouse in the industry.

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THE 3D ANIMATION INDUSTRY IS AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH. MORE CONTENT, MORE JOBS, MORE OPPORTUNITIES. ANIMATE YOUR FUTURE BY READING THIS LIST.

Written by Rachel Kim

From bio-diverse animals to alien robots to resurrections of people long past, 3D animators have brought to life our wildest imaginations of this world and beyond. 

Since Pixar’s breakthrough with Toy Story in 1995, 3D animation has quickly dominated our media. Just a cursory glance at the latest Hollywood blockbusters shows how much we depend on 3D animators to breathe life into these imagined worlds. As the industry’s growth skyrockets, the demand for 3D animators has never been greater.  

InFocus animation mentor Selman Kantarci has worked on several large-scale productions including Detective Pikachu, Sonic the Hedgehog, Maleficent 2, Cats and more. He draws from his well of industry experience working at companies like MPC, Bardel Entertainment, and (currently) Method Studios to offer practical advice and encouragement to anyone hoping to build a career in 3D animation. 

 

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THE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO BECOMING A GREAT VIDEO EDITOR FOR FILM, TELEVISION, AND ONLINE CONTENT.

Written by Rachel Kim

 

What makes good video editing?

This question is more pertinent than ever for everyone. Video-based social media platforms like Tik Tok and Byte, along with a host of mobile video editing apps, are encouraging an entire generation to become editors. As video content continues to reign supreme, the need for professional video and film editors is rising as well, with companies big and small trying to stand out from the crowd of user-generated content. 

So what is a video editor, exactly? A video or film editor is like a souped-up collage artist whose raw material (instead of magazines, photographs, and newspaper clippings) is footage.

The primary role of a video editor is to take all the footage that’s been recorded on set and assemble it in a way that best tells the story. An editor uses the properties of time, sound, and a variety of manipulation techniques to convey the narrative as seamlessly and accurately as possible.

 

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Want to become a graphic and digital designer? Here are some tips to help you get started! 

By Rachel Kim 

Graphic and digital design built the world we live in today. From the movie posters and advertising you see on the streets, to the cartons of milk you pick up at the grocery store, to the very structure of the social media platforms you scroll through in bed. Every day, you interact with something shaped by the mind and hands of a graphic designer.  

It’s no wonder that the demand for graphic and digital designers is so high. InFocus’ lead Graphic Design instructor Jaime Sandoval can’t keep up with the amount of work and offers that come in.

“I’m always saying ‘no, no, no,’ because there’s so much work. So, so, so much work.” 

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