Meet Jean-François Carrier, our Head of Art at Kokku, an industry veteran with over 23 years of experience. In this discussion, he provides insights into our Art Department’s structure, achievements, and the key attributes that set Kokku’s Art Department.
Introduction
My name is Jean-François Carrier, but I prefer JF and I’m French Canadian. My career started as an artist 24 years ago after finishing a college degree in Fine Arts, Computer Graphics and Animation. I spent the last 6 years as an Outsourcing and Codev Specialist for the Canadian Ubisoft Studios, and last year, I joined Kokku to be the Head of Art, managing the Art Department in Recife, Brazil.
Art Department Organization at Kokku
The Art department is divided into three distinct teams, two of them regrouping the 2D and 3D expert and the third one, the “central team”, focuses on onboarding, development, and training. The department works by production, our goal is to understand the partner needs and allocate the expert team for this work, we take care to set up the pipeline and we provide maintenance support. It’s all about collaboration between our production team and our partners in order to get the best out of everyone, solving everyday problems together, and always giving the best solution to overcome any challenge.
Working with New Partners
We need to understand their needs! But not just their immediate needs, it’s knowing the product and understanding the context of the assets in order to build an optimal and high-quality product. That step sometimes looks easier than it seems, but if you establish a good relationship and great collaborative communication it helps us be better partners.
Click here and let’s start a partnership: https://conteudo.kokku.com.br/book-a-meeting
Educational Approach
That is a challenge! The industry has grown considerably since I got out of school. Schools are now providing quality training, but there’s still a lot to learn for someone coming into the industry. There’s no way out getting closer to the standard is getting practical work done. One of the Kokku´s Art Department’s approaches to always be a pair of the best practicals, is to get artists shadowing others, exchange experience, knowledge, work with peer reviews, and use coaching to stimulate the learning experience. The team also works on our own portfolio to develop skills and show innovative assets for the market. Try to keep that loop of development. We are always looking for what is the best in class of Art Production in the market, such as: master classes, workshops and conferences.
Tips for Artists
Keep an open mind, there’s always a lesson to learn. “Fail Often” has become kind of a buzz concept. I would say that it’s how you get back up that is difficult but necessary in order to grow. Our industry is getting more and more mature, information is accessible and vast! I can’t believe the new generation privilege they have to navigate through so much experience, it’s extraordinary how a small little research can open your mind and nourish your skills.
Kokku’s Offers
Kokku’s art expertise over the years has grown towards Concept Art, 2D and 3D game asset creation. We have some notable experience with AA and AAA titles, such as Horizon Burning Shores, Zero Dawn and Forbidden West. We developed hard surface expertise capable of ramping up to expectations. We can provide quick solutions and long term solutions.
Wanna know more about these solutions? Let’s talk about Art Production, Co-Dev and Porting, click here and talk with our team: https://kokku.com.br/contact/
Check our Artstation with our work: https://www.artstation.com/kokku/
