Solène Chan-Lam

S h o w r e e l

_{Solène has been my texturing mentor for 6 weeks in March 2017. At Institut Artline and with my classmates, we covered hard surface and organic texturing/sculpt. She gave me a good and logical method and techniques to simplify the texturing process and she shared valuable information about the workflow used in production. Thanks to her advice and feedback, I have been able to develop a good eye for details. She always encouraged me to polish my work and to push it to the next level.}

_{Thanks to her help and support, I have been able to join Framestore London as a junior texture artist shortly after the end of the mentorship. It was a real pleasure to learn with Solène. Besides being a lovely person, she is a great teacher and a talented artist. She was always willing and eager to help out with any questions or problems I had and she helped me to gain confidence in my work. It has been 6 intense and rewarding weeks, and I am very happy and proud of the artistic result and professional outcome that I could get from it !} 

<sub>Solène was my texturing teacher for two months - custom 1 to 1 Mentorship 
Texturing is a complex subject and the way she teaches it is really good. She's always there to explain things to us and ask us how to move forward with our project. You don't feel lost.

You feel that she really wants you to succeed.

She also taught me how to structure my projects and prioritize what's important.
Thanks to her, I was able to deepen my knowledge of organic texturing and push myself further.

I really appreciated this mentoring and would recommend it to anyone who wants to progress in the field of texturing..</sub>

_{Doing the custom 1 to 1 Mentorship  with Solène was great, We worked several months on a few projects (2 Hard Surface and 1 Organic), during this time I could actually see my progress improving as we worked together and I got feedback which was spot on. The sessions were excellent and professional, Solène always knew to explain why and how the models could look better.}

_{It can really help anyone wanting to improve their texture work to learn from someone with that level of experience and knowledge.}

_{After the Mentorship, Eran joined the Mr.X company in Montreal. And he grew his career at MPC and Digital Domain.}

_{Solène was my texturing teacher at Institut Artline on September 2020. The way she teaches may seem rigorous at first, but this is precisely what pushes me to go further in the learning process and to adopt good work habits from the very beginning, to think about production needs. Her answers to the questions are always relevant and push to improve our work thanks to her feedback. That makes me want to spend time on that discipline and to expand my curiosity. Thanks to her, I was able to learn the technical aspect of texturing on Mari, but also to practice and grow the artistic aspect of this discipline.}

_{Before attending her classes, I knew texturing only through tileable textures on Photoshop, without fully understanding the precise influence of maps values in rendering. Thanks to her teaching, I could understand why to put this value at such a place to have the desired rendering. I could also understand different notions such as projection’s frequency according to asset’s place in the shot, how to get a good contrast on spec and bump maps, ... Her teaching allowed me not only to get an understanding of texturing but also a much better approach on maps, on their specificities, on their creation and their use in general. This was a really great experience to learn texturing with her.} 

_{I was a student at the 2020 VFX course at The Animation Workshop and Solène was my texturing teacher for 2 weeks. My texturing knowledge was very basic at the time. Solène came in with a very structured and professional approach. She gave the class an easy-to-understand breakdown of the whole process, with in-depth knowledge of each step. Every day I felt I was improving and understanding better and better how the whole process worked. Solène also pays a lot of attention to detail and so she instilled that way of thinking into the class, pushing our skills further and further. She has a lot of patience, always in good spirits and also gave us invaluable insights of how the industry works.}

_{I still have a lot to learn but after these two weeks with Solène, I have gained a very solid understanding of texturing.}

^{For me, the logic of texturing used to be a kind of a puzzle with the warning : « Attention. Unachievable puzzle. », I could'nt get out of it, everything was very abstract.}

^{We had lessons with Solène for 5 weeks at Institut Artline on September 2020. I have lost my hair and a few pounds but I have a much more accurate vision. I have now a better understanding of the utility of maps. I also understand the interface of Mari (which was a long shot) and above all, I understand how important the artistic aspect is. Solène told us a lot about the artistic look and all the nuances that go with it, along with all the work necessary to achieve it. Impossible to twiddle my thumbs, I tried but she did not let me. My weak spot used to be all the tech issues I encountered which she helped me to address. I do not regret it because it allowed me to really project myself in the professional environment and no to work in an academic way. It can be a bit scary and frustrating at times but it helps us for the future. She is a very demanding mentor but also very attentive, very patient and always ready to help us, to lead us. She is passionate about her job and it shows in her teaching.}

^{Solène was my texturing teacher for two weeks at the VFX Professional Course 2020 at The Animation Workshop. My experience was very positive. Although I was still at the first steps in the texturing world, thanks to her the guidance and expertise I managed to learned the basics quite quickly and also improve and understand the more technical parts and the importance of looking for a constant improvement in an artistic level. Her approach of teaching is also a big positive, we had a great communication, following an organized schedule step by step, clear and very open to help and motive her students, pushing them to strive for their best.}

^{Solène was my texturing teacher at Institut Artline on October 2020. I was very glad to work with her. Solène's lessons are very smooth and clear. She was available and reactive when sending messages for support and during our live sessions. She pushes us to go further. That's very motivating. Solène uses a precise vocabulary used in production being key in our learning curve and later, in a professional environment. I've learnt more about anything related to texturing thanks to her tips and answers to my curiosity. Solène's feedback made me figure what I did not push far enough from the start in my textures. I learned the steps to follow in order to better texture without wasting too much time.}

^{I have now a good understanding of materials and their particularities. I am now able to create a more accomplished job thanks to Solène's advice. I can go further in the next texture projects.}

^{Solène was structured and precise in her teaching, which allowed us to learn very efficiently. Because of that, we had a lot of time with to get feedback on our individual projects. Her teaching was both technical and artistic, and I fully recommend it to anyone interested in texturing.}

^{I had the privilege of learning from Solène in March 2017, at the “Institut Artline”. I feel that Solene’s approach to texturing is extremely intuitive and straightforward. She has a way of explaining the different processes so that everything fits into place perfectly : Naturally, this is a huge influence on the learning curve for her domain of expertise. I find that she was able to create a very relaxed atmosphere and yet a very productive learning environment. It has been without a doubt a very enriching experience to be able to exchange over different techniques and workflows with Solène and therefore pushing the boundaries of my capabilities to the next level.}

^{She always has excellent advice on top of being a kind and patient person. It has been a real pleasure learning from Solène.}