Hello reader, good day to you.
My name is Pietro Guglielmi, and before proceeding, it feels right to say I’m glad you’ll read this letter!
Here I will talk a bit about myself, and explain why I think the CG line is the right place for me.
Back in Italy, at the age of 14, an earthquake destroyed my house and forced me to move, and that really helped opening my eyes, as corny as it may sound. Before that, I couldn’t really understand what my passion is. After that, I moved 50m away from an art school.
Over the course of 4 years, I learned about watercolors, oil painting, Photoshop (proficient) and Illustrator (basic), and then moved to Florence for 1 year, for the last year of the course. A teacher, particularly dear to me (I still randomly thank him on Facebook from time to time), showed me how nice and difficult colors are to manage, and helped me discover what makes make my engines start: music and people are the two most inspiring things I would say: their daily routines, their repetitive actions…I don’t know why, in all honesty, it just fascinates me and I want to draw about it. I also find a lot of inspiration in drawing. I do what I can to be very prolific, so that a finished piece gives me that oomph for 3, 4 other designs, and it all becomes a happy never ending cycle.
Last but not least, other artists are very important, and by that I mean people around me, drawing. It’s good to peek on their workstations and see how much more I have to do, and maybe even know who I can collaborate with.
Some artists I look up to are Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet, Thomas Scholes, William Wray, Justin Gerard, Sergey Kolesov, Drew Struzan, Euan Uglow, and Annette Marnat, and many more. I’d like to give a little highlight for Philippe Druillet, Zdzislaw Beksinski and Wayne Barlowe for their dark, Lovecraftian horror paintings.
I applied to the CA course in 2014, figured out during the portfolio that I am not invested in animation as much as I thought I was, and took TDA right after that. Artem is a good teacher but he left soon after the start, and a lot of people wouldn’t really speak English, so that was a big gap with the rest of the group. I’d call it bad luck, all in all.
During TDA, I looked around the school and made friends, and that’s when I made up my mind.
My goal in life is to become a generalist, and with proper leading experience one day, an art director: ideally, with a deep knowledge in 3D and painting, and broad knowledge of other mediums. I believe in it as much as my very Italian grandma believes in the Holy Spirit!
I always loved creating paintings of environments and characters, and I strive to see those paintings and designs morph into polygons with life, polygons you care about, cry for, or be happy for; I strive to create or work on engaging stories that add something to people’s lives, from having discussions about it to brief thoughts. If I could wake up in the morning and do exactly that, I’d die a happy man. I know the CG line teaches this and more, so I’m simply doing all I humanly can to be part of it. I’ve been in OW (which isn’t school yet, and still!) long enough to witness how fast you get to learn and make talented friends in this school environment.
If I had to say anything about the entertainment industry then I’d say there’s a lot of turmoil. A tidal wave of Marvel/DC movies has started and it’s not going to end in a long time.
Videogames, on the other hand, are making a turn for the best: more artistically complex games are being made by companies like Ubisoft, which is used to publishing an Assassin’s Creed every 6 months. Some examples are the wacky style of Rayman Origins, or Child of Light and his watercoloured backgrounds, both made by that same company quoted up here.
I like twisted kinds of humor, like in The External World, my favourite short animated video from David O’Reilly, a mix of dry humor and nonsense I want to work on sooner than later. I like the low-poly style too, the characters are alive, and yet just a little more complicated than spheres. A film I particularly enjoy is Gone Girl, because David Fincher plays with the idea of the characters the audience has, which sparks inputs for conversations right outside the movie theatre. My favourite game at the moment is The Stanley Parable. My interpretation is “there is no illusion of choice in videogames”, and from then on, I started giving more value to the medium. If playing is hitting buttons when you’re told to, then it has to be for a good reason, be it good storytelling, be it good design, and so on.
I was very fond of League of Legends at first: the game started out in uncharted waters, and then rushed back to please the masses… the skin tight costumes for the female characters destroyed the lore of the game to me. Another terrible one is the whole Call of Duty franchise. I used to play it when it was about re-living historical battles, it was good. Now it’s all about sci-fi, motion capture and…Doritos ads!! As if Activision HQ needs that money to keep the lights on. Scorsese dropped down a notch too, from films like Gangs of New York or Shutter Island to The Wolf of Wall Street, a film I still fail to understand the meaning of…it would be ok only if it was a documentary.
I have been travelling around Western Europe all my life (not out of it, yet), especially Paris where part of my family is, where I like to sketch buildings and people. It’s very inspiring to listen to stories of complete strangers and maybe walk with them a bit if they have the time.
My stay will be partially, monthly financed by me, with a Patreon account up and running, by my savings through the years, and my parents (and some spiritual help from my grandma.)
I really hope this letter proves how determined I am and that you will consider my commitment. I will do everything in my power to deliver and be up to the school’s standards.
Here is the link to my portfolio: pietroguglielmiportfolio.blogspot.com
I hope the rest of your day isn’t too stressful, all in all.
Pietro
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