PK 095: How to Get Hired in The Video Game Industry – With Overwatch Artist Corey Pelton

In this podcast, Overwatch artist Corey Pelton reveals what studios like Blizzard Entertainment are looking for when they hire people

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“It doesn’t matter if someone’s got 10 years’ experience or is fresh out of school. If your showreel looks good, we’re going to give you a call and bring you in.

~ Corey Pelton

 

Want to know how to get hired in the video game industry?

Corey Pelton is a senior cinematic animator at Blizzard Entertainment who’s worked on many big titles, including the hugely successful game Overwatch.

In this week’s podcast, he talks about how he got into the video game industry, and reveals the key things studios look for when hiring someone.

Animation Reel Summer 2016 from Corey Pelton on Vimeo.

How to Get Hired in The Video Game Industry

In his role as a cinematic animator at Blizzard Entertainment, Corey Pelton usually works as a ‘show lead’, where he’s responsible for keeping the animation end of production flowing and ensuring his team members have everything they need to create the best work possible.

He says: “I love helping facilitate projects. You get to see some really awesome things pop out of people!”

In his career, he’s worked at a whole bunch of studios, where he perfected his modelling skills and got involved with as many different projects as he could.

As he says: “If you want to get good at something, you have to constantly keep doing it.”

He’s also collaborated with many different artists over the years, and believes working with other artists as a team is the key to a successful project.

Here are some of the questions we asked Derek in this week’s podcast:

  1. How did he get started in the video game industry?
  2. What sort of work should you put in your portfolio?
  3. How does an animator’s role change over the years?
  4. What sort of tests do you have to do to get into the video game industry?
  5. What advice would he give to anyone who wants to get into the industry?
  6. What are the fundamental ideas and principles of animation?
  7. What does it feel like to work on a successful project?
  8. What do studios look for when hiring people? (The answer might surprise you).
  9. What advice would Corey Pelton give to his younger self?

You’ll find the answers to these and many more questions in this week’s podcast.

So, if you’ve ever wondered how to get hired in the video game industry, we hope this podcast will inspire you to take action.

And, if you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like:

PK087: David Luong on Becoming a Cinematic VFX Artist at Blizzard Entertainment

PK067: Marco Plouffe on Loving Life as a Video Game Artist

PK051: VFX Supervisor Matt McCosker on Collaboration & Creativity

People on this Episode:

Links From This Episode:

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Thanks for listening to our show! We’ll be back next Wednesday morning 8AM EST.

Cheers,

Mitch

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1 thought on “PK 095: How to Get Hired in The Video Game Industry – With Overwatch Artist Corey Pelton”

  1. Thanks for these podcasts Mitch! I have a back log of them I need to listen through, haha. It’s wonderful to get all these perspectives from different industries.

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