Patrick Francis Bonsu’s Recent Success!

Patrick, one of our Escapees, has just joined Creative Assembly as a Trainee VFX Artist. Check out his successes and how he secured the role!

What course did you study?

MA Game Art (Full Time)

What are you working on at the moment?

I’ve just joined Creative Assembly as a Trainee VFX Artist very recently, so for the most part I’m just familiarising myself with new tools and software that I’ll be using, as well as trawling through the many bits of amazing concept art from some really talented artists here to get a feel for art direction.

What work are you most proud of working on and was/is your most notable achievement?

I think it would be the final piece of work I created for the Master’s Course. It felt really great to be able to fully apply everything I’d learned over the 1 year into one project, while still having the scope to continue trying new things. It was also great to look at the work and see how far I’d come along in such a short amount of time.

If you had to sum up your time at Escape Studios in one word, what would it be and why?

I’d go with “Collaborative”. Even when working on individual projects, it wasn’t uncommon for me and my classmates to bounce ideas off each other and suddenly discover methods of doing things we hadn’t thought of before, and having “aha!” moments when a piece of advice clicked into place. There were even times we learned from students on other courses in other disciplines, and I think that environment is quite unique to Escape Studios.

What lessons have you learnt during your time studying and your time working in Games?

Always look for feedback on your work; never rest on the fact that YOU think you’ve done a good job. You’re only finished when you’re out of time, so everything before that you should spend refining your art based on the feedback of your peers/tutor/art director.

What is your advice for those considering entering the industry?

In my opinion, being a good artist is 50% of the work. The other 50% is being someone that others will want to work with. Be polite, considerate, reliable, and friendly. Don’t neglect to work on how you present yourself as well as your work.

What’s your favourite game and why?

I actually have a page at the front of my notepad with around 50 games that all qualify for favourite of all time! But if I had to pick one at this very moment, it’d probably be Final Fantasy IX. It really brought together the best parts of what makes the series unique, and wraps it up in a really well told narrative with heart and character development from its charming ensemble cast.