The creative skill matrix

No, it's not the story of Mr. Anderson, but something a little more corporate. I’ve devised a bit of a skills matrix for content creation. This will serve as a basis for my planning around this journey to help teach aspiring (or current) content creators the skills they need. I will likely also evolve this construct as I progress and get feedback from people like you, but I think it’s a good starting point.

First, it’s important to note that I don’t have much academic background in any of these fields, except animation. The rest I learnt from books, YouTube, Udemy and of course my 15odd years of professional experience, not to mention the years of experience since I started developing some of these skills when I was five. The reality is that the market for these skills evolves so fast that academic knowledge (especially on software and tech) can’t keep up. These skills require life-long learning and re-learning. I’ve been drawing since I was five, and I’m still getting better every day.

Why is a matrix important?

Well, we creatives often think we can’t learn much from the world of business – an opinion I’m desperate to change. To truly legitimise our efforts in our field we need to start quantifying things and measuring data. The goal is to one day have a system where I could say: ‘I’m a level 3 illustrator, a level 4 animator but a level 1 designer…’ we can identify our own gaps and work on them. More than that, we’ll have strong data for driving promotions, payscales etc – not just this sea of ambiguous grey. The first step is breaking our work down into skills, and using this as a departure point for the rest.

With a matrix, you can add structure to your learning efforts. This is invaluable. It will accelerate the process. I learnt this a little too late in life and regret it. We creatives are immensely vulnerable to unconscious incompetence because we are so absorbed in what we do, and we think that doing more of it the same way will make us better. This isn’t wrong, it will, but at a slower pace. I always tell people that the most growth I saw in my 3D work came from practicing photography, and the best improvement in my photography came from digital painting, and 3D again helped me to better my painting. When I started writing seriously, all my work improved because the way I thought changed. I deeply recommend broadening your skill set while you deepen it. An Omni-artist as I like to call it.

I know this is terrible to look at, but the knowledge is what's important.

I think it’s rather self-explanatory. To achieve the product on the horizontal access, I think you need the corresponding skill on the left. Note that I list skills, not software. People always ask me ‘What software should I use?’ and while there are some I would recommend over others, once you have the skills, it’s very easy to transition between various software applications.

I will break down, discuss and teach you what I’ve learnt and the tools I use in this blog based on this structure.

Let’s look at the skills I’ve identified:

Ideation: Ideation involves not only getting an idea but developing it into something engaging. Most people always cry for completely original ideas, and while they are valuable, don’t expect them to be good. Original does not necessarily equal good, and good doesn’t necessarily equal original. Ideation involves a lot of critical thinking and a lot of self-awareness. For all of us, good ideas come from various sources, and most often in the shower, but knowing good sources of inspiration for you are invaluable.

Think like a writer: Most people think writing is a talent, you can, or you can’t, but that’s rubbish. I don’t particularly believe in talent except in very rare cases. Writing is no exception. Writers use tools and techniques like every other job to facilitate pace, character development and plot structure. When you first learn this, it spoils some of the fun of movies, but soon you learn to appreciate the skill with which the techniques are applied, and in that lies a deeper sense of appreciation.

Write like a writer: There are rules in the world of writing that writers have to adhere to. Formats for scripts, manuscripts and even poems. Now, one could argue that rules are meant to be broken but when you do this the wrong way you just look like an amateur. There are even rules to breaking the rules, and in most cases those rules are very good and guide you.

Camera Knowledge: With this I mean (mostly) practical knowledge of how cameras work, and how different variables combine to produce a certain mood or quality in an image. Specifically, things like the aperture of a lens, focal length, shutter speed etc. Even if you’re not operating a real camera but rather a software camera, it’s vital to ground your work in reality; and for that you need this knowledge. There are few things that make me cringe like a wide angle shot with very heavy depth of field blur on a midground element on student films.

Visual Storytelling: Wide shots, Close ups, low angles etc, etc. These are the topics of this skill. Beyond that we’ll look at framing, screen direction and all the subtle tricks good photographers and directors use to captivate us so.

Lighting: Essential knowledge for almost every skill. We do not see things, we see light. Lighting is, next to music, possibly the strongest driver of mood and if you want any emotion from your audience it is absolutely key (yes…that’s a silly pun for anyone who already knows lighting 😊 )

Colourism: The internet will tell you ‘colourism’ is discrimination blah blah blah. It’s a limited understanding for a limited perspective in an angry world. Morphology tells us that the prefix, ‘ism’ refers to a distinctive practice or philosophy. Think ‘Impressionism’, etc. So I’m calling it colourism. This is not only the understanding of colour and colour theory, but also the application thereof, both technically and artistically.

Directing People: It’s harder than it looks, whether you’re dealing with friendly volunteers or ego-charged professionals.

Understanding how people think: I would point mostly to a study of philosophy and psychology here. They are invaluable resources. If you think you can write ‘as another human being’ without assistance you are an idiot. Don’t worry, I used to think so too, but I was wrong. It’s also great knowledge for animation and any related field, since motion doesn’t just occur, there is thought first. Understanding this thought leads to a better concept for the motion. A general rule of thumb is to consider the pattern of absorb>react>think>move>say. It seems awfully simple but is often neglected, but it can add so much depth to tenses scenes.

Video Editing: Possibly the easiest skill to pick up on this list. That doesn’t mean it’s easy to do well.

Conceptual drawing: Possibly my favourite thing in this world: visualising an idea. It’s an easy skill to pick up but requires a deep understanding of almost everything else in this list to master.

Image rendering: This section will deal with producing a final result of an image, whether it be a watercolour painting or a 3D render. The reality is that if your final image isn’t beautiful in a way or style that suits your narrative, it’s going to fall flat. Imagine shooting a promotional video for the Maldives in black and white, or illustrating a horror comic in the style of Asterix and Obelix. This will also cover some technical aspects, but I will emphasize the former.

Vector: What was once niche is now very mainstream. Vector images are mathematical in nature and require a different way of thinking to produce. Vector is typically used for icons, menus and promotional material – it’s very commercial for good reason.

3D asset creation: A wide and deep skill set on its own, I’ll likely have many posts on this topic. This is the modelling, sculpting, UVing, Baking, texturing, rigging etc, of everything you need in a 3D animated piece, real-time graphics product like a game, VR or Archviz piece.

Animation: I think we all know what this is, but there is quite a lot to learn around it, and animation in itself transcends the various final products. What you learn here will be applicable to game animation, cartoons, even logo animations.

UX/Visual Design: Does it work well; does it look nice? If what you produce is ugly, nobody is going to care for it, and if it’s unpleasant to use, nobody will even see it.

Technical knowledge: This covers different things for different deliverables, but there is some overlap. This will cover compression codecs, file formats, etc.

Game Engine Knowledge: Realtime graphics is the fastest growing segment in its market. No longer confined to games, they are used for product visualisation, Virtual reality etc. They are quite daunting to learn and you need quite a lot of knowledge to even start learning them.

Programming logic: I say logic, because there’s a way of thinking one applies when programming, but when you create visuals you need to understand this, but not necessarily know how to actually code in terms of typing semicolons and such. The best 3D apps use coding logic workflows, and so do game engines. Understanding functions, loops and object-oriented workflows are essential.

Music composition: A new field to me, but one I’m really enjoying. Just like a good image, a good piece of music tells a story, and there are techniques one can learn to develop this skill.

Audio Production: Sound effects, voice overs and general mixing. Here too, I’m still a noob but I’ve learnt enough to help you get started.

I look forward to this journey, and I sincerely hope it will add value to the community. As always, my blog is a living thing. I’ll update this post if I need to, and I welcome criticism and dialogue.

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