The Allan McKay Podcast

This Episode is on the subject of building exposure: Leveraging what you’ve already done in your career to build a content machine and to use that to build a bigger name, to get attention, to get work and to build your brand. To be able to harness our passion to build our name and our brand -- is important to what we do. A lot of us are insecure about it, however. There is a difference between being a sell out and knowing that you’re running a business. This Episode presents you with a painless process how to do that. You can sell anything these days! When it comes to your work, there will always be people interested in seeing your work! The inner critic that beats us done needs to be avoided. You need to keep doing your work and showing it. So how can you leverage your previous job and your current one for the next one? How can you get more attention? How can you keep building your brand? For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/206/.

This Podcast tackles the subject of working from home and how to get started. The first step is to seek additional work (Allan McKay’s Two Trains Theory) until that side hustle becomes your second career. In addition to investing in that side business, you have to start building relationships with studios and potential clients. By using the tools and technology out there, you could get the attention of some amazing companies and become a successful freelancer. The key thing here -- is the transition. You have your full-time job but on the side, you start bringing in additional work. After a while, that side career will start to take off. Once it gets to the point where you main job holds you back -- that’s when you jump! In this Podcast, Allan McKay talks about how to build a successful side hustle until it launches your second career; how to take advantage of today’s tools to build your brand and become so successful, you could work from ANYWHERE! For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/205/.

Lucas Ridley is an Animator, a Director, a VFX Supervisor and the Creator and Teacher at Digital Creator School. For the last decade, he’s worked on films like Avengers: Infinity War, Ready Player One, Transformers: The Last Knight, Suicide Squad and many others. He’s also directed short films, including for LEGO. In this Podcast, Lucas and Allan talk about the importance of having a healthy mindset about your work, how to get into flow states to achieve higher productivity -- and the importance of taking responsibility for your success! For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/204/.

This Episodes covers a topic that has come up a lot recently: Will Artificial Intelligence take away our jobs? Not so long ago, it would’ve been a paranoid question to ask. Nowadays, we’re constantly getting innovation and new technology, especially in our industry. A lot of us question if there will be a major disruption. It’s been really fascinating to see what’s been happening, but more importantly -- where it’s all going. Disruptive Innovation presents an opportunity for those of us who are willing to embrace change. If we stick to what we know, we will eventually become extinct. For a lot of animators who weren’t willing to adapt, for example, that’s exactly what happened. We should always be evolving and improving and adapting to new technology and techniques. The more you have your finger on the pulse of what’s effective, the more you can become the futurist for our industry and begin to anticipate where trends will go. In this Podcast, Allan talks about Disruptive Innovations, like A.I., and how to look at them as a positive opportunity to learn, to evolve into becoming a futurist -- a leader of the industry! -- instead of falling behind. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/203/.

This is a Live Stream session on How to Take Your 3D Artist Career to the Next Level. In the creative industry, the main thing is to focus on how to get that first job. We tend to be more strategic when looking for our big break. But once we get in, most of us stop trying and our careers become stagnant. The key thing for a lot of us is to look at that as the second phase. Once we’ve gotten in, that’s not the end. It’s just the beginning! In this Podcast, Allan McKay talks about learning to look at your career in phases: how not to get stagnant, how to leverage each job and how to make choices that propel your career forward. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/202/.

In this Podcast, Allan answers the questions that get asked all the time: “Should I go to school to study VFX or should I study online?” “What school should I go to?” “What are my options?” You will hear the pros and cons of the following three choices: Studying in college; Studying online for free; Paying for online courses. In this Episode, Allan breaks down the pros and cons of going to college to study VFX versus studying online on your own -- for free or in a purchased course -- and how to take full advantage of either route you choose. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/201/.

In this Podcast, Allan is being interviewed by D2 Conference’s Fabio Palvelli. D2 Conference brings you content to keep learning and keep growing as an artist, so you can unlock your true potential. This is part of the Inspiration Series, a small collection of talks that help connect the creativity dots in and out of our professional fields. In this interview by Fabio, Allan talks about his first creative breakthrough, the secret to his productivity and why he began teaching, as well the importance of becoming a business -- as an artist! For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/200/.

When we work in visual effects, we can aim for realism. But the realization that most clients and directors have when they see “real” effects -- is that nobody wants to see real. Nobody wants to see realistic visual effects. Everyone has that intent until they realize how boring those effects are. So when you’re working on a project, you need to base the idea in reality -- and then go into the “cool factor” direction (instead of going back and forth between real and cool). And you need to have this discussion with other creatives to get on the same page. You have to realize that reality is boring. When you dial it up, it’s really different. That’s the balancing act. Think about how that applies to you in the work that you do. That doesn’t mean that making hyper real is your path. It’s more about figuring out the few elements that take something from real to interesting. It’s also a critical aspect to take responsibility for our shots! We’re still artists, so what can we do to make things look amazing? In this Podcast, Allan talks about finding a balance between what’s real and what’s cool in visual effects, as well as how to find the happy medium and to take responsibility for your shots as an artist. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/199/.  

Whether you like it or not, as artists, we are in sales. We ourselves are the product / the service. Most of us don’t know how to sell that product. However, whenever you revise your reel or cover letter, you’re tweaking your sales pitch. Everything we’re doing -- is sales. This Episode asks you to take look at yourself as a successful salesperson. For that, you’d need to: Have a product to sell; Have people to sell that product to; Know HOW to sell that product. As long as you know those three levers -- you’re good. If one is lacking, you wouldn’t be able to close the sale. Your hard skills include building a reel. Your soft skills -- having the relationships and applying for jobs through those relationships. In this Podcast, Allan talks about using the skills of the most successful salespeople and how to apply those to sell yourself as an artist and a business -- to get your dream job. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/198/.  

In this Podcast, Allan talks about the topic of branding. As he’s said before, “You could be the greatest artist in the world! But if no one knows who you are, then how are you going to get work?” This Live Stream because with the question: Should we, as artists, use social media? It’s not just about social media, however. When it comes to personal branding, the key thing is building awareness. In other words, you want to do this with an intent, or what Allan calls “Effective Branding”. In addition, you have to think of yourself as a one-person studio on a micro level and do the work that a successful studio (at a macro level) would do! In this Podcast, Allan talks about overcoming your resistance toward becoming a successful business, which includes building an effective brand, creating opportunities for yourself and investing in your social capital. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/197/.