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Episode 400 – ANNIVERSARY EPISODE – Ash Thorp Interviews Allan McKay
Ash Thorp is a graphic designer, illustrator, artist, and creative director for a multitude of media, including feature films, commercial enterprises, and print. Most recently, Ash worked on the concept for the Batmobile and the Batcycle, for the 2022 film The Batman directed by Matt Reeves.
Previously, Ash has worked on graphics for Ender’s Game and Total Recall, as well as contributed to the design concepts for Spectre, Prometheus, X-Men First Class, Call of Duty and others. His first directorial debut started with the assembly of an international team for his Ghost in the Shell tribute, as well as the main title for OFFF Barcelona 2014. In 2015, he was requested to assemble an international team of designers and create the title sequence for FITC Tokyo. Later that year, Ash co-directed “Ares — Our Greatest Adventure”, a promotional trailer for the feature film The Martian.
Allan McKay is an Emmy Award winning VFX Supervisor and Technical Director. He is responsible for many visual effects sequences including on hit titles like God of War: Ragnarok, Avengers: Endgame, Game of Thrones, Marvel’s Runaways, Bloodshot, Transformers, Blade, The Last Airbender, Star Trek, Superman, Flight, The Equalizer, and dozens of others; as well as many of the top video games worldwide: Halo, Destiny, Call of Duty, Bioshock, Prototype, Half-Life, and Team Fortress 2.
Allan has over two decades of experience working in the visual effects industry for many leading studios such as ILM, Pixomondo, Blur Studio, Sony, Paramount Picture, Atomic Fiction, Prime Focus, Ubisoft, Activision and dozens of others.
In addition to his VFX work, Allan runs many online courses, as well as a mentorship. Throughout the past two decades, he has appeared as a speaker at events in over 15 different cities including Paris, Sydney, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Singapore, Helsinki. He has taught master classes at SIGGRAPH and IAMAG, and has spoken at events with Nvidia Google.
His hit Podcast is rated in the top 200 podcasts on iTunes where he interviews many award winning VFX Artists, Supervisors and Film Directors, focusing on both creativity and drive, as well as on how to boost your career and achieve success as a creative.
In this Podcast Ash Thorp interviews Allan McKay about his outlook on failure and how to move past it, AI and other technological disruptions, following one’s calling, as well as the importance of gratitude and always moving forward.
Allan McKay’s Website: www.allanmckay.com
Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjgqdaigk7VSDqqqkHkcNTg
Allan McKay’s Instagram: www.instagram.com/allanmckayofficial/
Allan McKay’s Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/public/Allan-Mckay
Allan McKay’s IMDb Page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1905741/
Ash Thorp’s Website: http://ashthorp.com/info
Ash Thorp on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4500808/
Ash Thorp on IG: https://www.instagram.com/ashthorp/?hl=en
Ash Thorp’s Batmobile Concept for The Batman: https://ashthorp.artstation.com/projects/klebLx
EPISODE 400 – ASH THORP INTERVIEWS ALLAN McKAY
Hi, everyone!
This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 400!
Every hundredth Episode, we do something different: We turn the microphone around and have a guest interview me:
- Founder of Refuge FX Fred Ruff Interviews Allan McKay: www.allanmckay.com/100
- Fabio Palvelli from D2 Conference Interviews Allan McKay: www.allanmckay.com/200
- Michael Janda Interviews Allan McKay: www.allanmckay.com/300
This time, it’s Ash Thorp who interviews me. Ash has just come off from designing the Batmobile for The Batman. I thought we we did an Episode, we’d connect and catch up.
I started this Episode back at the end of 2014. At the time, I was working at Blur where my friend suggested I should start a Podcast. I finally decided it’d be kind of fun! The main reason I started this was because of all the interesting people I was meeting at ILM and Blur, or when I’d be invited to come speak on panels.
I want to thank everyone who’s listened to this Podcast. I was following Tim Ferriss’ philosophy of recording just 6 Episodes and seeing how I felt. In general, I’ve learned so much and built so many amazing relationships with people! I always believe that if I’m interested in learning something, there is a good chance someone else is as well.
Here is to a 100 more Episodes!
Let’s dive in!
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FROM ALLAN McKAY:
[01:30] Have you ever sent in your reel and wondered why you didn’t get the callback or what the reason was you didn’t get the job? Over the past 20 years of working for studios like ILM, Blur Studio, Ubisoft, I’ve built hundreds of teams and hired hundreds of artists — and reviewed thousands of reels! That’s why I decided to write The Ultimate Demo Reel Guide from the perspective of someone who actually does the hiring. You can get this book for free right now at www.allanmckay.com/myreel!
[52:03] One of the biggest problems we face as artists is figuring out how much we’re worth. I’ve put together a website. Check it out: www.VFXRates.com! This is a chance for you to put in your level of experience, your discipline, your location — and it will give you an accurate idea what you and everyone else in your discipline should be charging. Check it out: www.VFXRates.com!
Okay, what did you think? I want to thank Ash for being an awesome host. I want to thank you all for your incredible support!
HERE IS TO THE NEXT 100!
Next week, I’m sitting down with VFX Supervisor, Director and Producer Colin Strause about his start in VFX – from launching his own company Hydraulx to directing feature films – his learning on the job and working on the challenging fire sequences on FIRE COUNTRY on CBS.
Also coming up: Interviews with Move.ai, ARwall, and Crafty Apes.
Until then –
Rock on!
Click here to listen on iTunes!
Upload The Productive Artist e-book.
Allan McKay’s Facebook Fanpage.
Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel.