Letter of Intention
Hello dear reader.
My name is Magnus Evertsen I 22 years old and for a little over two years now I have devoted my time to become an environment artist.
This is why I apply to the Computer Graphic Arts line for the second time - I got to the admission test and interviews last time I applied for CGA, but did not make it any further.
Looking back, I appreciate that I got another year to focus on improving, since it helped me prepare much better for the though but fun environments and projects, I see many of my friends from the current CGA 1st year class, face.
I have the utmost respect for everyone who made it last year, and this is why I hope I can join the amazing people who works and study at the Animation Workshop this time.
I have loved to create worlds and environments since I was a kid. It all started out with lego but I soon started to create landscapes for my warhammer figurines, placing the individual trees and bushes, painting the rocks, spreading the sand and planting the grass, all of this brought me so much joy. I later realized that all of this lead to my burning desire to become an environment artist.
This joy of creating stuck with me and has grown ever since. As a kid, I created the digital levels me and my friends would spend many hours playing in, I used map editors to make the environments and worlds in games such as 'Age of Empires, and 'Starcraft'.
It was always about building and creating a place, I was even planning how me and my friends whould build stuff outside in the real world. Things was very much about construction, it didn't matter when and where as long as I could be a part of the creation of the environment.
During my time at HTX Svendborg I started to work with real game engines since I wanted a bit more freedom over what I could create. Unity Engine, Unreal Engine, Blender and other programs helped me create games that was just for me to run around in.
I had to learn programming to do this, so for my main classes in HTX I choose math and programming.
During my second year of HTX I went to a game development camp in Odense and for the first time in my life I had the opportunity to put together a group of people and create a fully working game.
It was a ton of fun creating the game. I, together with two teammates, worked on the coding and level design. (at the camps the programmers was the level designers).
This furthered my belief that I had to program to do level design.
So after HTX I decided to study Computer Science at the University of Southern Denmark.
It was tough but fun, however, after a few months I realized that this was not exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
Meditating on what I wanted to do, I wrote to the Managers of the Game Development Camp and they confirmed my hunch that I should in fact draw and not program.
They told me to read a bit more about environment artist in general and The Animation Workshop. A few hours later my mind was blown away - This was exactly what I wanted to do.
At this time my drawing skills were less than beginner to be honest, I didn't know exactly the level the students were at when applying. I had a talk with a friend of the family, who have previously attended TAW and now works in Canada. He told me that I should focus on improving my drawing. I therefore put aside unity and blender and started to focus all my energy on learning the arts of 2D.
Here I am, two and a half year later, I've moved from Fyn to Viborg, my drawing skills have improved a ton and I have developed and matured as a person.
I've met so many new friends thanks to TAW, and I've really fallen in love with everything revolving this place.
I've finished two semesters of TDA - both times with Maja Mesiner Vendelbo as my teacher. She is phenomenal, and I have learned more than I could have imagined.
I fell in love with her "Russian" approach of classical drawing compared to the other teachers at TDA, which was one of the reasons why I choose her as my teacher for both semesters.
Many of my friends are from TDA and both semesters helped me improve on both a personal level and artistic level.
I also participated in a semester at Mercantec (collaboration with TDA) after the first semester of TDA and I am currently attending another semester at the Media school (also a collaboration with TDA).
Both schools provide us with knowledge in photo manipulation as well as video, website and sound editing. But the core thing about these schools have definitely been the amazing "guest teachers" that have been provided from TAW and TDA. They have all helped me a ton and showed me the bigger picture when I usually was working on solving individual problems.
I did not have a lot of practical experience with art before my journey to Viborg, I have however worked with jobs that have given me insight to people.
Working as a handicap helper, telemarketer and swimming instructor - one elite junior team and three regular junior teams - have provided me with a strong ability to lead and be heard.
I like to participate in group projects and I have always had a strive to lead, which reflects on my previous and current school work.
I think it is important to listen to everyone's input, but I do enjoy being the one calling the shots if possible. I think it is vital for a project to work, that someone have the ability to say what goes and what does not.
I respect if other people are leading, I work just as well giving input.
After getting my feedback from the interview I have been focusing on drawing and improving in those areas mentioned back then. I use Photoshop CS6 when I draw digitally, I've done quite a bit of photobashing and photo manipulation in Photoshop and I feel that my knowledge of the program is extremely solid. I have dabbled a bit in 3D programs, working with Maya at the Media School (see optional), Blender, Sculptris, Sketchup and the Unity Engine.
Coming from a background of programming I usually learn new software extremely quickly.
I draw a lot of inspiration from many amazing artists, which makes it hard to choose just a few in this letter.
To mention a few of my greatest influences;
Sam Nielson, Maciej Kuciara, Feng Zhu and Wei Wang.
Lighting from Sam Nielson's Schoolism course, photobashing and general industry habits from Maciej Kuciara, as well as Feng Zhu and Wei Wang have always been a great motivation and inspiration for me. As one of Blizzards fantastic artist, Wei Wang has always shown the greatest love for his drawings and that shines through.
I own many of Blizzard's art books, since I am a huge fan of their work and their take on fantasy, and seeing Wei Wang going from an intern back in the beginning of Warcraft to his current level, always motivates me.
Late this February I've had the pleasure of having Carl Benny Robert as my teacher at the Media School. It has been a knowledge bomb for me and he has helped me to solve so many of my stubborn problems.
Many of them simply because I was focusing on the individual problems rather than how the entire process was working. Now my process is much stronger and so is the final result.
If there's one thing I got from Carl Benny's lectures, it would be the power of design. Looking at my portfolio with my new knowledge, I it more of an "Illustration" portfolio, rather than a "Concept art" portfolio - and I would love to design a set of new characters and environments if I had the time, but that isn't the case.
I plan on spending all summer working on stronger designs and improving my fundamentals with my newfound desire for designing objects and scenery.
Environment artist is the ultimate goal for me, but just being able to work with 3D and/or 2D to create work for various projects would be wonderful.
So in the future, I would absolutely love to work with modeling for film or games, both characters and environments.
I am aiming for a position at a big company, hopefully an AAA game production studio like Blizzard, Bethesda, Dice, Ubisoft or Riot.
I know that it is only the very best that reaches these positions and in the future, I expect to see more and more artist reaching a higher level due to the internet being such a vast source of knowledge.
Because of this the quality of artists for studios are going to skyrocket. That being said, I also think that it is going to get easier to be seen as an individual. Building a good network through schools such as TAW as well as online can really help you enter the industry, and from there you just have to work your best to reach the end goal.
I've always liked fantasy and colorful worlds and that's probably why I absolutely love games like World of Warcraft, Witcher, Starcraft, Diablo, Bastion, Minecraft and the Elder Scroll series.
I like reading more than watching movies and it's hard to find one favorite book, but if had to choose, then it would be; the "Muddle Earth" trilogy by Paul Stewart. It is a children's book series about a child who falls into a wizard world full of fantastic animals and wonders.
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet is also a wonderful piece of art (and a bit more serious). Taking us through the generations of a single family, he builds up the wonder, hard work and struggles of creating cathedrals throughout Europe and England.
Again, being a huge fan of Blizzard's work, means that I own many of the Novels from the Warcraft Universe and most of them are on my favorites list of books.
Though I can see why it works I don't like it when movies have a dark, toned or desaturated look such as; "300", Sin City and the last few Harry Potter films.
I still like the movies, but I think they would have been better with a different color palette.
During HTX I studied abroad in United States' Minnesota for 4 months, I later traveled with my family back to USA for 2 months and we have been around most of Europe as well as Egypt and China (Where we have some family living).
All these experiences have greatly affected me and many of the drawings I do, gets inspiration from my travels.
Financing the school, I will rely on my savings and SU financing will not be a problem. My parents are also willing to help if needed.
My name is Magnus Evertsen I 22 years old and for a little over two years now I have devoted my time to become an environment artist.
This is why I apply to the Computer Graphic Arts line for the second time - I got to the admission test and interviews last time I applied for CGA, but did not make it any further.
Looking back, I appreciate that I got another year to focus on improving, since it helped me prepare much better for the though but fun environments and projects, I see many of my friends from the current CGA 1st year class, face.
I have the utmost respect for everyone who made it last year, and this is why I hope I can join the amazing people who works and study at the Animation Workshop this time.
I have loved to create worlds and environments since I was a kid. It all started out with lego but I soon started to create landscapes for my warhammer figurines, placing the individual trees and bushes, painting the rocks, spreading the sand and planting the grass, all of this brought me so much joy. I later realized that all of this lead to my burning desire to become an environment artist.
This joy of creating stuck with me and has grown ever since. As a kid, I created the digital levels me and my friends would spend many hours playing in, I used map editors to make the environments and worlds in games such as 'Age of Empires, and 'Starcraft'.
It was always about building and creating a place, I was even planning how me and my friends whould build stuff outside in the real world. Things was very much about construction, it didn't matter when and where as long as I could be a part of the creation of the environment.
During my time at HTX Svendborg I started to work with real game engines since I wanted a bit more freedom over what I could create. Unity Engine, Unreal Engine, Blender and other programs helped me create games that was just for me to run around in.
I had to learn programming to do this, so for my main classes in HTX I choose math and programming.
During my second year of HTX I went to a game development camp in Odense and for the first time in my life I had the opportunity to put together a group of people and create a fully working game.
It was a ton of fun creating the game. I, together with two teammates, worked on the coding and level design. (at the camps the programmers was the level designers).
This furthered my belief that I had to program to do level design.
So after HTX I decided to study Computer Science at the University of Southern Denmark.
It was tough but fun, however, after a few months I realized that this was not exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
Meditating on what I wanted to do, I wrote to the Managers of the Game Development Camp and they confirmed my hunch that I should in fact draw and not program.
They told me to read a bit more about environment artist in general and The Animation Workshop. A few hours later my mind was blown away - This was exactly what I wanted to do.
At this time my drawing skills were less than beginner to be honest, I didn't know exactly the level the students were at when applying. I had a talk with a friend of the family, who have previously attended TAW and now works in Canada. He told me that I should focus on improving my drawing. I therefore put aside unity and blender and started to focus all my energy on learning the arts of 2D.
Here I am, two and a half year later, I've moved from Fyn to Viborg, my drawing skills have improved a ton and I have developed and matured as a person.
I've met so many new friends thanks to TAW, and I've really fallen in love with everything revolving this place.
I've finished two semesters of TDA - both times with Maja Mesiner Vendelbo as my teacher. She is phenomenal, and I have learned more than I could have imagined.
I fell in love with her "Russian" approach of classical drawing compared to the other teachers at TDA, which was one of the reasons why I choose her as my teacher for both semesters.
Many of my friends are from TDA and both semesters helped me improve on both a personal level and artistic level.
I also participated in a semester at Mercantec (collaboration with TDA) after the first semester of TDA and I am currently attending another semester at the Media school (also a collaboration with TDA).
Both schools provide us with knowledge in photo manipulation as well as video, website and sound editing. But the core thing about these schools have definitely been the amazing "guest teachers" that have been provided from TAW and TDA. They have all helped me a ton and showed me the bigger picture when I usually was working on solving individual problems.
I did not have a lot of practical experience with art before my journey to Viborg, I have however worked with jobs that have given me insight to people.
Working as a handicap helper, telemarketer and swimming instructor - one elite junior team and three regular junior teams - have provided me with a strong ability to lead and be heard.
I like to participate in group projects and I have always had a strive to lead, which reflects on my previous and current school work.
I think it is important to listen to everyone's input, but I do enjoy being the one calling the shots if possible. I think it is vital for a project to work, that someone have the ability to say what goes and what does not.
I respect if other people are leading, I work just as well giving input.
After getting my feedback from the interview I have been focusing on drawing and improving in those areas mentioned back then. I use Photoshop CS6 when I draw digitally, I've done quite a bit of photobashing and photo manipulation in Photoshop and I feel that my knowledge of the program is extremely solid. I have dabbled a bit in 3D programs, working with Maya at the Media School (see optional), Blender, Sculptris, Sketchup and the Unity Engine.
Coming from a background of programming I usually learn new software extremely quickly.
I draw a lot of inspiration from many amazing artists, which makes it hard to choose just a few in this letter.
To mention a few of my greatest influences;
Sam Nielson, Maciej Kuciara, Feng Zhu and Wei Wang.
Lighting from Sam Nielson's Schoolism course, photobashing and general industry habits from Maciej Kuciara, as well as Feng Zhu and Wei Wang have always been a great motivation and inspiration for me. As one of Blizzards fantastic artist, Wei Wang has always shown the greatest love for his drawings and that shines through.
I own many of Blizzard's art books, since I am a huge fan of their work and their take on fantasy, and seeing Wei Wang going from an intern back in the beginning of Warcraft to his current level, always motivates me.
Late this February I've had the pleasure of having Carl Benny Robert as my teacher at the Media School. It has been a knowledge bomb for me and he has helped me to solve so many of my stubborn problems.
Many of them simply because I was focusing on the individual problems rather than how the entire process was working. Now my process is much stronger and so is the final result.
If there's one thing I got from Carl Benny's lectures, it would be the power of design. Looking at my portfolio with my new knowledge, I it more of an "Illustration" portfolio, rather than a "Concept art" portfolio - and I would love to design a set of new characters and environments if I had the time, but that isn't the case.
I plan on spending all summer working on stronger designs and improving my fundamentals with my newfound desire for designing objects and scenery.
Environment artist is the ultimate goal for me, but just being able to work with 3D and/or 2D to create work for various projects would be wonderful.
So in the future, I would absolutely love to work with modeling for film or games, both characters and environments.
I am aiming for a position at a big company, hopefully an AAA game production studio like Blizzard, Bethesda, Dice, Ubisoft or Riot.
I know that it is only the very best that reaches these positions and in the future, I expect to see more and more artist reaching a higher level due to the internet being such a vast source of knowledge.
Because of this the quality of artists for studios are going to skyrocket. That being said, I also think that it is going to get easier to be seen as an individual. Building a good network through schools such as TAW as well as online can really help you enter the industry, and from there you just have to work your best to reach the end goal.
I've always liked fantasy and colorful worlds and that's probably why I absolutely love games like World of Warcraft, Witcher, Starcraft, Diablo, Bastion, Minecraft and the Elder Scroll series.
I like reading more than watching movies and it's hard to find one favorite book, but if had to choose, then it would be; the "Muddle Earth" trilogy by Paul Stewart. It is a children's book series about a child who falls into a wizard world full of fantastic animals and wonders.
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet is also a wonderful piece of art (and a bit more serious). Taking us through the generations of a single family, he builds up the wonder, hard work and struggles of creating cathedrals throughout Europe and England.
Again, being a huge fan of Blizzard's work, means that I own many of the Novels from the Warcraft Universe and most of them are on my favorites list of books.
Though I can see why it works I don't like it when movies have a dark, toned or desaturated look such as; "300", Sin City and the last few Harry Potter films.
I still like the movies, but I think they would have been better with a different color palette.
During HTX I studied abroad in United States' Minnesota for 4 months, I later traveled with my family back to USA for 2 months and we have been around most of Europe as well as Egypt and China (Where we have some family living).
All these experiences have greatly affected me and many of the drawings I do, gets inspiration from my travels.
Financing the school, I will rely on my savings and SU financing will not be a problem. My parents are also willing to help if needed.
Link to blog: http://magnusevertsen.blogspot.dk/
Mail: Magnus.Evertsen0733@gmail.com
Mobile: 22798755
Mail: Magnus.Evertsen0733@gmail.com
Mobile: 22798755
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