Florian Petiteau

A look back at the ESMA years

WHAT DID YOU STUDY BEFORE COMING TO ESMA?

Before coming to ESMA, I was in high school in the STD2A stream (Sciences and technologies of design and applied arts). I graduated with my baccalaureate in 2015 before entering the first year of the professional 3D animation and special effects program at ESMA Nantes.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO STUDY CG ANIMATION & FX AT ESMA?

I’ve been a fan of animation since I was a kid. I really developed a passion for it at the very beginning of secondary school, when I discovered the making-of DVDs of Disney and Pixar films. I’d always wanted to work in animation, but dreams of going to a top school in Paris or abroad seemed complicated, especially financially. Animation schools are often quite expensive. Fortunately, ESMA opened a branch in Nantes near where I live. In 2013, I was able to visit the premises during the open house and it seemed like a no-brainer. I already knew about the school through its reputation and short films on Youtube, and the fact that it was opening in Nantes was a real opportunity for me and my dream.

HOW DID YOU FEEL DURING YOUR STUDIES?

Very positive! I found the first two years quite intense. Having just come out of high school and having hardly touched a computer before joining ESMA, I had to find my feet and gain confidence in myself. But I loved those 4 years! The creative environment, the teaching team, the class, everything was just perfect.

WHAT WERE THE DIFFICULTIES? THE PLUSES?

My favorite part was the end-of-year projects. Having to mobilize everything we’d learned during the year for these projects allowed us to link up all the disciplines and sometimes better understand things that weren’t necessarily clear to us during class.

I wouldn’t say that ESMA is a long quiet river; it requires a lot of hard work and commitment. But when you arrive on the job market, you realize that all the time you invested was really worth it, and that you’ve come armed and competent to start out in the world of work.

HOW THE TEACHING WENT? THE PROFS? THE ACHIEVEMENTS?

The teaching was great! We were lucky enough to be a small class with teachers we kept from first to fourth year, which I think makes all the difference. The teachers were very accessible, very attentive and very patient. It helped to create a bond and to be able to keep in touch with them even 4 years after graduation.

HOW DID YOUR PROFESSIONAL IMMERSION GO AFTER GRADUATING FROM ESMA? WHAT DID YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE AFTER GRADUATING?

I entered the job market 2 months after the job fair in Montpellier. I got back in touch with the London studio Untold Studios, with whom I’d had a very good exchange during an interview. We had another meeting and a few weeks later I left for London as a VFX Artist for my first contract. It was very stressful because, at the time of the interviews, Untold had just launched and had neither a website nor a demo tape to show us. But the enthusiasm of their team was enough to motivate me, and I accepted their offer of employment without a second thought. And I couldn’t have hoped for a better first experience. The people, the projects, the atmosphere, everything was great.

Your career path

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE DIFFERENT STUDIOS YOU’VE WORKED IN?

Since I graduated in 2019, I’ve been lucky enough to work at some great studios!

Untold Studios first of all. It was a great experience, I got to work on major advertising projects like the launch of the Playstation 5, working with former sups and leads from renowned studios like ILM and Weta for example. I stayed at Untold for around ten months, where I was able to continue working through the beginning of the pandemic. But by August the pace of production (at Untold and in England generally) was slowing down and I had a few opportunities in France, so I returned.

Two days after my return I started work for Brunch Studio as Modeling/Surfacing Artist for an advert for Lidl UK.

At the end of my assignment, I was hired by Kombbo as a generalist/CG sup on a video game trailer project. Then I was able to work for Dwarf Animation remotely from Paris on their My Dad the Bounty Hunter series. At the end of my contract, I returned to Supamonks, where I had done my internship in 2018. I started with them in lighting/compositing and then quickly progressed to CG Sup on trailers for Clash of Clans, Clash Royale and a spot for Unicef with the Raving Rabbids. After 1 year with them, I did a small contract at Unit Image as a lookdev artist, then I was hired by Hari on the Grizzy and the Lemmings series as a Lighting/Rendering/Compositing Sup.

All these experiences have given me a lot, because they’re all varied and different from one another. I’ve been lucky enough to learn a lot each time, and to come across some extremely competent people to support me.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE DIFFERENT PROJECTS YOU’VE WORKED ON IN THE DIFFERENT STUDIOS?

My first big project was the Playstation 5 launch trailer, which I worked on in London. I’ve never learned as much on a production as I did on that one. I had the chance to work on new software and new tools, to talk to a lot of people from all departments, and that shaped me enormously.

On my return to France, I worked at Brunch and Kombbo on a spot for Lidl in the UK and a trailer for the mobile game Crash Bandicoot.

At Dwarf, I was able to work on the textures and shadings of the characters in the series My Dad the Bounty hunter. I got to grips with the pace of series production, which was a first for me, and discovered the visual demands of the showrunners. It was a great learning experience, and I was able to improve on tasks that I hadn’t really done before.

At Supamonks, I mainly worked on the trailers for Clash of Clans and Clash Royale. The studio had worked on a Mayan/blender pipe for a special episode of Rabbids, and wanted to dust it off to test releasing Clash of Clans on this pipe. So I took on the supervision of a spot for Unicef with the Raving Rabbids, which allowed us to test this pipe, while reusing existing assets. Once we’d finished that project, we decided to use the pipe to create Clash. So I learned a lot, both as a graphic designer and as a supervisor, because it was my first management experience.

I was able to work at Unit Image after Supamonks on an as yet undisclosed project, so I can’t say anything. At Hari, I worked on the Grizzy series and Lemmings season 4, but I’m not going to spoil anything here.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR JOB? WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE?

I have two main jobs. First, I’m a generalist, which means that I can work on projects and get involved in a lot of different tasks, such as modeling, texturing, shading, lighting, compositing, but also sometimes rigging, animation, fx, etc. As a generalist, you’re a jack-of-all-trades. As a generalist, you’re a jack-of-all-trades, and what I like about that is that you never get bored, you’re always learning.

The advantage of being a generalist is also that you can take on assignments that are sometimes specific. I was lucky enough to work on character surfacing for the Netflix series My Dad the Bounty Hunter, or to do environment or lighting/compositing on Clash of Clan/Clash Royale projects at Supamonks, for example. It’s a job that opens a lot of doors to specialties.

My second job is that of CG Supervisor. In a nutshell, I supervise the project on both a technical and artistic level, making sure that the project team respects and sticks as closely as possible to the direction and look desired by the director and the client. It also involves coaching, reviews, research and development, and lots of meetings. What I love about this job is seeing the project evolve from brief to final render, watching the teams form and get their bearings, and supporting everyone so that they feel good enough to give their best. Having the chance to witness the creation of a project from A to Z is a bit magical.

WHAT SKILLS DO YOU NEED FOR YOUR JOB? WHAT DO YOU DO NOW?

I’d say the main skills are listening, curiosity and autonomy.

Listening is very important at all levels, but it’s true that in supervision you have to be attentive and vigilant to all the feedback you get, whether from customers or, above all, from your team.

Curiosity is also a real motivator, but it’s also very cool to use it to explore new ways of making things or new looks. It’s a bit like autonomy. In big studios, you sometimes realize that you can’t have your sup or your lead helping you all the time. Knowing how to show autonomy in order to get yourself unstuck and not sit back and do nothing is very much appreciated in the studios. So is taking the initiative, but be careful not to rush things.

Since September of this year, I’ve been working as a freelancer, offering my services for short animated projects, supervision and 3D graphics in France and abroad (remote).

HOW HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED THE EVOLUTION OF CG ANIMATION & FX SINCE YOU GRADUATED? AND HOW DO YOU SEE IT EVOLVING IN THE YEARS TO COME?

3D is evolving very fast, as we can see today with the place that real time is starting to take, and AI is also coming on the scene. Today, I wouldn’t be able to predict how our professions will evolve. When I was at school, there was little or no talk of real time, and we had no idea that Unreal could become a driving force in VFX creation, or that series would be based entirely on it.

I think we’re going to gain in productivity, with tasks becoming even more automated, and processes and workflows becoming leaner, so that we can work on projects that are increasingly demanding in terms of visual quality. One of the big changes in recent years has also been the trend back towards more stylized and illustrative looks in animation, with projects like Arcane, Spiderverse and the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. I think it’s really cool that we’ve opened up this more illustrative 3D to a wider audience, breaking with the global trend towards ever more realistic 3D rendering.

Now we have to remain curious and interested in these changes if we don’t want to be left behind one day. What’s more, our industry is also being challenged by ecological issues, and practices need to move increasingly towards a less polluting, energy-intensive model.

To conclude

IN THE COURSE OF YOUR VARIOUS JOBS, DID YOU COME INTO CONTACT WITH ANY ESMA ALUMNI?

Yes, I’ve met a lot of alumni, from all the graduating classes I think. Animation is still a small business, and after all, a lot of us graduate from ESMA every year, so it doesn’t take long to bump into familiar faces.

AND IN 5 YEARS, WHERE WILL YOU BE?

I’ve no idea. I couldn’t possibly have predicted what’s happened to me over the past 4 years, so to say where I’ll be in 5 years seems impossible! Ideally, I’d like to be directing short films or music videos, or doing more stylistic research and 3D art direction. We’ll have to see how things evolve, and maybe technological developments will open the way to new jobs and new ways of working.

AN ULTIMATE AMBITION?

My ultimate ambition would be to have a small team of people as passionate as I am, to be able to offer a maximum number of short films, music videos and other visual media with a wide variety of graphic styles.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO FUTURE STUDENTS?

My advice would be to take advantage of these years to have fun, experiment and dig deep into this passion. The years at ESMA can be intense at times, given the work required and the level of ambition, but you’ll see that when you get out it’s worth it!

To follow Florian :

• Website
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• Linkedin

Credits: Florian Petiteau’s personal projects / Playstation / Lidl UK / Terry Games / Netflix