CG Supervisor
CG Supervisor is the person in charge of all 3D content on a production and oversees all 3D departments. It is their responsibility to interpret and carry out the director’s and VFX supervisors’ artistic goals on time and on budget. CG Supervisor must be familiar with both the artistic and technical requirements of CG production with challenging 3D work. They report to the VFX supervisor and collaborate closely with all department heads to ensure a high technical level is maintained throughout the project.
They are leaders and hands-on contributors through all
stages of pre and post production. They often walk around the desks of the VFX artists in studio to check their work and provide feedback, then for the compositors who put the whole scene together, via VFX pipeline. On large productions, there might be several CG supervisors, each concentrating on a specific area.
See the interview of CG Supervisor of X-Men: Dark Phoenix as an example:
Look Development Artist
The job nature of look development artist is used to work in pre-production phase where the movie’s overall artistic & scene styles are established. They may decide if the look will be realistic, stylized, or both with elements like, the mood, tone, and color palette or any other pieces for the movie.
Once look development is confirmed during early production by director, all the artists in VFX pipeline then use these looks when they create their assets to ensures consistency and quality. To put it simple, look development artists aim to design a consistent style throughout a film.
Click to see the description of look development stage in Disney Animation Studio:
Their work function as a rough guideline to illustrate the details of modelling objects for all artists in VFX pipeline are able to use it as a reference to work on.
Please also see the work of Erica Liu as an example of look development artist:
According to the artwork of Erica, it is predicted that there will be clay texture and fur texture for the characters, displacement on sea rock for the roughness in the underwater setting, of the movie Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years (2021).
Reference:
1.Lee, T. (2019). Understanding the VFX Pipeline: What It Is And How It Works (2021). [online] Academy of Animated Art. Available at: https://academyofanimatedart.com/behind-the-scenes-understanding-the-vfx-pipeline/.
2. Animation World Network. (2004). “Shrek 2”: A Visual Development Gallery. [online] Available at: https://www.awn.com/vfxworld/shrek-2-visual-development-gallery
3. Concept Art Empire. (2019). What is Look Development? [online] Available at: https://conceptartempire.com/look-development/.
4.ericaliuser.com. (n.d.). Erica Liu Look Development Portfolio. [online] Available at: https://ericaliuser.com/
5.Walt Disney Animation Studios. (n.d.). Walt Disney Animation Studios – Look Development. [online] Available at: https://www.disneyanimation.com/team/look-development-artist/