Industry - Sumo Digital

Sumo Digital is a Games Design Company who are based in Sheffield and are currently opening a new studio in Nottingham. Even though Sumo Digital produce games, there is still animation and pre production jobs within the Game industry, not just the Animation industry. I've always admired their studio and I wanted to arrange a studio visit before which I wanted to research more about the work that they had produced and what they get involved in, with festivals and helping the community. They are involved with alot of charties which means that they give back to the community. This is fantastic as I will be able to talk about my own volunteer work that I do in Selby, with trying to bring film to selby and restore a medieval building, bringing more tourists and events to my local town. A few of their successful works include, Disney Infinity: Toy Box, Little Big Planet 3 and Sonic All Stars Racing.

In addition I researched into the careers that were available for ideas on the requirements that they look for with each job:

Artists/Animators Sumo Nottingham and Sheffield

For both of the studios, they were looking for applicants to suit the following job roles. For the Nottingham studio there were quite a few roles available and all of them caught my eye. I wasn't entirely sure if I would be able to apply for a Senior role, so I researched into the Senior role so that I could understand this term in more depth. Initially I assumed that the role of a Senior was just a rank in the career which is part of the answer however the rank of a Junior normally has less than 2-3 years of experience whereas the rank of a Senior is an expert in their role, they have been in the industry for years and know everything about their field. I would love to be cheeky and still apply for this role however I believe that I would have a better chance of success if I apply for the roles, Concept Artist, and Animators. I'm not incredibly confident with the role of Animator, I just absolutely loved working on my pilot episode and I would love to continue working on my skills which I want to show as I continue working on my animation for the Exhibit. I will be applying for Concept Artist as I am very passionate about this field and I would love to this.

"We are looking for experienced artists and animators to build our team - contract and permanent opportunities with an immediate start available for the right people.

Our current needs

Senior Artist (3D)

Senior Environment Artists (x2)

Concept Artist

3 month animator (contract)

Animators (x2)

Technical artists

We are also interested in hearing from anyone who would like to relocate to Nottingham with 2/3 AAA console development titles under their belt with experience of art or animation so for speculative applications please apply online or send to me directly noel@sumo-digital.com" Sumo Digital 

When looking at the role and purpose section of the Job, there were no actual specifications about the experiences needed however this post is for speculative applications - a term which basically means that their aren't any jobs at the moment but will be considered for when roles open up. Even though this is a speculative submission, I still want to go for it. My first course of action is to ensure that my CV is up to date and up to a professional standard to send forward for these job roles. 

Concept Artist

I love the sound of being a concept artist as I believe that this would be an amazing experience with working with all the artists and storyboard artists to visualise a collectives vision, as well as refining my skills further. 

"We have an exciting new opportunity for a highly creative Concept Artist at our Sheffield studio.

We are looking for someone who is fizzing with original ideas and can develop them in multiple styles. 

Your background doesn’t matter - it could be illustration, film, comics, animation, TV or games. If you are a bit ‘different’, with many influences, and really want to bring your ideas to life then come and talk to us.

You must have excellent illustration skills and be used to rapid iteration of  ideas. You must be an excellent communicator and be able to visualise and interpret others' ideas.

This is an incredible opportunity to work on ground-breaking videogames for one of the biggest independent videogame developers in the UK." Sumo Digital

For the job role of a Concept Artist, I had to be able to draw idea after idea, to be able to communicate and visually depict others ideas. I know that I have all of these qualities. With working in groups for second year modules, Responsive and Food Module, I know that I am able to excel at these skills and further. With varying styles of illustration, I believe I have shown this throughout my time on the course, designing in Responsive and third year character designs for Becky's Final Major project. I would like to draw in a few more different styles to add to my portfolio, such as designing for a horror and then a romantic theme of  characters in different mediums, which would show the difference in style. The communication part of the specification would mean listening to team members and alot of compromise in order to create a fantastic piece of work. I have worked with quite a few people on the course and I know that I have these skills to be able to achieve this to the best possible outcome. 

I really want to apply for all of these jobs, so I need to create a covering letter and portfolio/showreel that will cater to the specifications of the job. I also want to visit the studio as I would love to meet everyone at the studio and get some feedback on my work. 

This would be a fantastic opportunity for me to go for. I think just even getting feedback on my work and going through the application process would be amazing experience in itself.

I will be applying for all of the jobs, sending my portfolio, CV and showreel and website so that they can see my work. I believe applying for a job at the Nottingham studio would possibly have more results with them recruiting as many people as possible.

Sources: 

http://www.sumo-digital.com/jobs-at-sumo/

https://careers-sumo-digital.icims.com/jobs/1085/concept-artist---sumo-sheffield/job

https://careers-sumo-digital.icims.com/jobs/1076/artists-animators---sumo-nottingham/job

https://careers-sumo-digital.icims.com/jobs/1062/artists-animators-%28speculative-applications%29---sumo-sheffield/job

https://careers-sumo-digital.icims.com/jobs/search?ss=1&searchCategory=8713