Spotlight: Eva Lynch, Associate Artist

9th Oct 2020

Following the success of our first spotlight feature, we’ve continued asking our team to share a little bit about how they got into the industry and what they do day-to-day at the studio, to give you more of a taste of life in the games industry, and life at the d3t studio. Our next spotlight feature is one of our associate artists, Eva Lynch. Eva joined us in August 2019 and was more than happy to share a little bit about her time at d3t so far.

How did you get your job at d3t?

I started applying for a couple jobs at the start of my final term on my MA 3D Computer Animation course at Bournemouth Uni, less expecting to get an offer and more “shooting for the stars” so to speak; I really wanted a position at a smaller studio where my voice could be heard and I’d get the opportunity to grow in lots of different ways, and not be confined to one area of expertise straight out of University. d3t has really huge clients, so you really get the best of both worlds. I thought I was going to end up buckling down and making what I thought would be more realistic applications at the end of term.

As it happened, I was contacted by the then office manager about my application, (we have a lovely talent manager to handle that now!) who put me in touch with the senior artist Woody and principal artist Matt over Skype. We talked about the role, the company, what I was doing at Uni, and my website portfolio (I recommend putting together an online portfolio for ease of sharing, especially now when everything is remote!). I was a little worried I wasn’t qualified enough for the role, having originally trained as an illustrator and only picking up 3D in my Masters, but Woody and Matt picked up on this and emphasised that they were more interested in my strong art fundamentals, as programmes and technical knowledge can be taught. Plus, in retrospect, the programmes we use are very much dictated by the project, so there’s no way any applicant could be up on all the different game engines and 3D programmes we work with!

After my Skype interview I was actually offered the job, but I wanted to come visit the studio in Runcorn to check the position was definitely right for me. d3t were so accommodating – they showed me round and introduced me to all the lovely people. The office manager gave me a lot of practical advice too, about where was good to live in Runcorn, what public transport was like, etc. Everyone was so lovely and I easily made my mind up – worth the gruelling 6 hour journey from Bournemouth too, and that’s definitely saying something!

“The team at d3t are friendly and helped me work to my strengths without restricting myself to a specialism so early in my career. d3t was a great choice as a first step out of Uni as I get to explore every corner of the games industry within one company, and strengthen my skills in a friendly and crunch-free environment.”

Eva Lynch, Associate Artist

A typical day for me

Like Finn, I also cycle to work, which I think is a great start to the day – it really clears my head, and Runcorn and Warrington have a good network of canals that make for a great ride to work. d3t has flexi-time too, so I don’t start until just before 10am – I’m not a morning person!

After I make coffee and say hello to the folks in the studio, we do stand-ups (sometimes called “dailies” elsewhere in the industry). This is an opportunity to catch up with the team and run-through the work for the day, flagging up any issues or help we might need.

After that, I’ll start work on whatever project I’m on. I tend to be assigned to a few projects at once – at the moment it’s only one, but I still keep up with some projects I’ve previously worked on; partly in case they need me, and partly because I miss seeing everyone around the office since the start of the pandemic!

What I’ll be doing depends on the project and the stage of production. We recently released Assetto Corsa Competizione, and I was previously working on that in-engine in late-stage production; whereas now I’m on a project still in pre-production, so a lot of concepting and meetings. Our art manager Louise has a really good sense of the art team’s strengths and weaknesses as well as what we want to develop in, and assigns us to projects accordingly. Thanks to her guidance, I’ve been developing in UI/UX using Adobe XD recently; lockdown found me struggling a bit creatively and exploring this new avenue has been really refreshing and enjoyable!

It’s an understatement to say a lot has been different this year. It’s certainly not how I imagined my first year in industry, and my heart definitely goes out to grads looking for a foothole in the industry at the moment. In this way though, I’m really grateful for d3t and the work they’ve done considering the wellbeing of their staff, as well as the joy I get from working with great people who are truly passionate about making awesome games.

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