Let us introduce Alicia Sabot, Lead character & facial modeler and today’s employee highlight. She has been working at Stim Studio for two years. As well as being great at her craft, she quickly proved to be an excellent team leader thanks to her interpersonal skills and confidence.
Let us introduce Alicia Sabot, Lead character & facial modeler and today’s employee highlight. She has been working at Stim Studio for two years. As well as being great at her craft, she quickly proved to be an excellent team leader thanks to her interpersonal skills and confidence.
Drawing has always been a passion of hers. Since she was a child, Alicia has developed her creativity by designing imaginary characters and worlds with her sister and her older brother. Her ultimate goal was to become better cartoonist than him and she did! By practicing her craft over and over again, she found her passion and knew that drawing would be an essential part of her life.
She entered a 3D animation school, at first planning on becoming a concept artist. But on her second year of studies, she met Félix Ferrand (CEO and teacher at that time) and discovered her passion for 3D modeling. And that’s how she joined Stim Studio, straight after graduating.
During her first year at Stim Studio, Alicia worked on the main characters of the animated film The Amazing Maurice, set to be released in theater this year. It was a great experience for her as she got to practice her craft and develop her artist’s eye.
“I am specialized in face rig and sculpt. I create the character’s face from drawings and sculpt every facial expression for animation. My role as lead of the team is to give feedback to the artists, make the link between them and Félix (who’s our supervisor) and anticipate any issues that might come up.”
Since September 2021, Alicia is working on the main characters of another exciting project: the feature animated film Garfield.
“I’m lucky to have worked on various projects at Stim Studio (from video game trailers, series, to films). At the moment, the project I’m most excited about is the film “Garfield.” It has been very interesting and formative to work on a project of such a scale and to get feedback from experienced artists in the industry. It’s great to get to work with people from all around the world and to meet artists who have been working on our favorite animated films.”
Alicia is very happy at Stim Studio, she enjoys the friendly atmosphere and the trusting environment. The team is young, with many juniors, and they all feel like they actively contribute to the studio’s development and success.
“We all help each other and like to work together. As Félix was my teacher, it was great to be able to have a continuity between school and my professional life. For me, it’s important to have a good and close relationship with our supervisors and bosses and to feel like they trust us.”
Stim Studio’s management enables the artists to have responsibilities and a form of freedom in their daily work.
“I was quite shy before and I don’t think I would have progressed as much and be as confident as I am today if I had worked in another studio.”
As a young adult, Alicia was particularly moved by the Pixar film “Coco” which became one of her favorite animated movies and an artistic reference. She finds the characters to be a great source of inspiration in terms of technique and designs. While this industry can be very competitive, Alicia stands by an inspiring motto that helps her move forward.
“Direction is more important than speed. This quote has really inspired me during my studies and remains relevant for me today. We don’t have the same background, we don’t learn and work at the same pace. Some people might be faster, but you should never belittle yourself or give up. What matters is to achieve your goals, regardless of the time it takes. Don’t compare yourself to others unless it’s to inspire you to do better.”
And on that inspiring note, she also shares what she thinks are the qualities to be a good 3D character modeler.