From intern to full-fledged 3D Artist
Although it’s always nice to see an intern blossom on the shop floor, sometimes you’re dealing with a gem full of talent and ambition. When Wessel in 2023 internship with us, it was actually immediately clear that he was in his place with us. Now, a diploma and over half a year later, we can finally rejoice: Wessel is a permanent part of our team and will join our 3D team. So today we’d like to tell you more about his story. What happens when an intern has ambition and suddenly all the pieces of the puzzle fall together?
Wessel’s internship adventure began quite early in 2022. Still living in Amsterdam at the time, he noticed that he really liked mainly one field within his education: 3D design. Based on this subject alone, however, finding an internship was a huge challenge. Internships have to meet certain criteria that are consistent with an education. But because Wessel actually wanted to do something within his field of interest, it proved difficult to combine everything. Still, he was able to find an internship at Innovam because their basis in Media Design met the criteria of his studies.
“Through my network at school, I came into contact with people who were connected to Innovam in their private network. Actually, it’s crazy how things like that sometimes work out, because this is how I ended up working at StudioXR. I discovered that networking is really important. Although I sometimes find it difficult to make external contacts, it certainly helped me!”
Space to develop
Wessel felt at StudioXR mainly attracted by the opportunity to learn and gain experience while having fun doing so. He has big dreams and would like to see himself working on big 3D games or movies in the future. That requires a lot of knowledge, which is why he prefers to develop his skills as broadly as possible. Yet during the interview he says something very special. Ambition is nice and dreams should always be possible, according to Wessel, but a stable job with a nice workplacerest and rhythm are actually much more important. As a team, we are very proud that our workflow and work environment are perceived in this way. What could be a nicer compliment?
“I really appreciate that StudioXR has given me the opportunity, time and space to develop myself and my skills. Especially in programs like 3D-Max, which I hadn’t worked with for a while, I feel like I was really able to make huge strides.”
Never too old to learn…
In the coming time, Wessel plans to develop mainly in Industry Standard Skills and various 3D software. Blender and 3D-Max from his education, but software like Adobe Substance Painter, a program we see becoming increasingly important within StudioXR, is also high on the list, as is ZBrush and Houdini. And that learning process gets all the space, trust and responsibility in our team.
“Getting an internship should and can sometimes feel like something that schools just require you to do. But what I learned most of all, and what I begrudge everyone in their search for an internship spot, was not only in the technical area. How you work together as a team and develop yourself as part of something bigger is also mega important, and I’m glad I was able to find that at StudioXR. First as an internship … and now actually as a job.”
