Rositsa Gardjeliyska, ReDefine, talks about working in film production and motivation to be a speaker at ARC Academy

Rositsa Gardjeliyska is a Texturing & Lookdev Lead at ReDefine and a lecturer in our VFX & Animation program. We talked with her about her profession, the projects she has worked on, and her motivation to be a teacher.

If you are excited about visual effects in cinema and want to develop professionally in this direction, apply to ARC Academy now. Early admission (by February 28) gives you the opportunity to join the Preparatory Program for the academic year 2023/2024.

Tell us about yourself – what do you do, and what are your interests?

I have been doing 3D Texturing and Lookdev for film art for many years now. Getting to this point in my career started in my early childhood years when I was determined to become an artist. After completing a BA in Fine Art at Canterbury Christ Church University, I realized that my options for future development were very slim.

So I looked for what else I could study to ensure a more stable future, while it was important for me to keep my profession exciting and creative. That’s how I enrolled in an MSc in Computer Animation at Kent University and set out on the path to a very exciting and fast-growing industry.

How long have you been working at ReDefine? What is your role there?

I started working at ReDefine in October 2021. I now serve as Texturing & Lookdev Lead in the build department, which specializes in creating mainly organic assets. Solving organizational and technical problems, ensuring a calm working environment, as well as giving support to everyone on the team is part of what makes work for me dynamic, exciting, and highly motivating.

You have been in the film industry for more than 10 years. What films have you worked on? Which were the most challenging? Can you pick out your favorites?

Like most artists, for me, one of the most memorable films will remain the first one I worked on. This was London has Fallen, which had a colossal amount of work on it and countless many modeling and texturing assets. I was very happy to finally work in a big studio and a team. And the first production I worked on at ReDefine was the hit series Halo, where there were a lot of challenges, and I learned a lot of new things.

Do you like to watch movies/series in your free time? Which ones are your favorites?

Movies, series, books, and games are the media that I constantly alternate in my daily life. I try not to stick to just one style and genre, and I try to be more multicultural in my choices so that I have enough variety and I don’t get bored of anything. One of the better series I’ve seen lately, even though it doesn’t have a lot of CGI, is Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.

What motivates you to be a lecturer at ARC Academy, and what can the students in your class expect?

I remember when I first encountered digital arts, I felt very discouraged by the amount of information I was required to remember. My aspiration is to minimize students’ fear of the unknown of the future that lies ahead. Desire and motivation should be the driving force.

Once the drive is there, everything else will be easily learned.

In the two Texturing and Lookdevelopment modules they will study with me, students will have the opportunity to understand how to turn their 3D models into realistic objects interacting with the environment.

You’ll learn the differences between textures and lookdev, as well as the theory behind much of the terminology. Students will work on several objects through which they will gain fundamental knowledge to create realistic and exciting scenes.

Apply to ARC Academy by February 28th and become a student in the VFX & Animation program. Learn more about the advantages of early admission at the link.