Ryan Ehrenberg
Senior Visual Effects Artist
Respawn Entertainment
Milestones
My road in life took a while to figure out.
Moved across the country to attend school in California.
Created a short animation that was featured on IFC.
Graduated college with a degree in animation.
Took a job in Quality Assurance (Game tester).
After several months, was hired as a VFX Artist at Shiny Entertainment.
Became Lead VFX Artist on several projects, including a Green Lantern game.
Took a Senior VFX Artist position at Respawn Entertainment.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Bachelor
Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics and Special Effects
The Art Institute of California-Orange County
Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics and Special Effects
The Art Institute of California-Orange County
Career
Senior Visual Effects Artist
I design real time visual effects for video games.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Art
Technology
Being Creative
Day to Day
My day consists of finding out from the rest of the team what they need and delivering those assets. The tasks can vary wildly from adding impacts for a new weapon to adding falling leaves to a level. I work with the artists / designers to add visual communication (danger, safety, etc).
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for high school students
Be as well-rounded as you can be. Take every art class you can to start developing an understanding of techniques in multiple mediums. Get very familiar with digital art packages like Photoshop and After Effects. Get familiar with Max and Maya. There are plenty of free tutorials online to get up to speed.
Recommended Education
My career is not related to what I studied. I'd recommend this path instead:
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Teachers:
"You should not be an artist. You will not be successful."
Challenges I Overcame
Financial
