Many thanks to Isaiah Walker for sharing his inspiring career story from BG Prep Intern to Compositor with our students at Alpha Chromatica Education, and for answering their questions. Ganz and I first met Isaiah in 2017 when he was our student at Lost Boys, where he survived many hours of our live Nuke demos, reel feedback, career advice, and trademark Dad jokes. So it was moving to hear him confidently share so much wisdom gained from working at multiple VFX studios on projects like: Game of Thrones, Spider-Man: Far from Home, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, and The Mandalorian. Isaiah had many positive things to say about the people he has worked with at Image Engine: a studio that is now of greater interest to our students.
Two things stood out to me from our conversation. First, the two years Isaiah spent in BG Prep doing roto, paint, and keying did not go to waste. He felt it was important to him for his own learning and development, and now is able to use those skills as a Compositor to finish his shots more quickly and efficiently. Second, Isaiah emphasized the importance of communication: asking for help, asking how someone solved a problem, asking for more challenging tasks, and sharing your career goals are all vital if you wish to grow. Isaiah has grown a lot, and I am proud of his career success as well as the creative, thoughtful role model he has become.
You can watch Isaiah’s Demo Reel below:
Isaiah’s Website: https://www.isaiahvfx.com