Ben Cooper
Ashford
Summary
I am a Lighting & Compositing artist with 20 years experience, ranging from a wide variety of projects, from VFX lighting for films, to lighting and compositing for animated features. Adept at working independently and collaboratively on projects, and committed to achieving visual innovation and beauty. I give it my all, love learning new tools and pipelines and welcome feedback. I work collaboratively in high performing teams and take time to support those more junior. I enjoy being part of a dynamic, creative team where individuals are passionate about the work. I work hard to ensure images I create are of a high standard and have been QC'd to meet creative and visual expectations. I troubleshoot issues and seek to optimize my renders. I have worked in 3 different continents, adapting well to culture change. My international experience allows me to be highly adaptable and be able to quickly adjust to new pipelines. I consider myself an energetic, proactive artist who strives to bring quality to a project.
Overview
23
23
years of professional experience
Work History
Lighting and Compositing Supervisor
Giant Animation
Dublin
09.2024 - Current
- I am currently the Lighting and Compositing Supervisor on this children's series, with 4 teams working on separate episodes simultaneously.
- I provide technical support to the team, handle team management and also do daily reviews of shots to ensure we're hitting the correct quality, on time for delivery.
- I also need to ensure the team are using best practices for optimization and proper lighting continuity.
- Project: Legends of Evergreen Hills.
- Software: Maya, Arnold, Nuke & Shotgun
Lead Lighting and Compositing Artist
Giant Animation
Dublin
05.2023 - 09.2024
- I had to create master shots for the episodes I was entrusted with and lead my team to ensure we hit our daily quotas, at the correct quality level.
- I had to do daily reviews, which once approved, will then be presented to the Supervisor for his reviews.
- Project: Legends of Evergreen Hills.
- Software: Maya, Arnold, Nuke, and Shotgun.
Lead Light Artist
SSVFX
Dublin
03.2023 - 05.2023
- I was a lead lighting artist, having to handle the lighting of key shots for certain sequences.
- Projects: Star Wars: Asohka, Gran Turismo (feature film directed by Neil Blomkamp).
- Software: Maya, Arnold, Houdini, Nuke.
Senior Lighting Artist
Wild Child Animation
Stirling
01.2022 - 03.2023
- I had to create master shots for this children's series and also needed to fulfill a 6 shot per day quota.
- I learned a great deal about working within Unreal Engine and really enjoyed working with real-time rendering.
- Project: Toad & Friends
- Software: Unreal Engine
Lighting and Compositing Artist
Giant Animation
Dublin
08.2021 - 12.2022
- I was responsible for lighting and compositing shots on these projects, delivering 5 shots per day that meet the creative and technical requirements set out by our Supervisor and Production Team.
- Projects: Zog and the Flying Doctors, Remy and Boo (Universal Kids), Mama K's Team 4.
- Software: Maya, Redshift, Nuke & Shotgun
Senior Lighting and Compositing Artist
Blue Zoo Animation Studios
London
05.2021 - 11.2021
- Lighting and compositing of shots under tight deadlines, while assuring consistency in quality and artistic requirements are being met.
- Project: Big Tree City (Netflix)
- Software: Maya, Redshift, Nuke & Deadline.
Key Lighting and Compositing Artist
Flight School (A division of Reel FX)
Dallas
01.2021 - 05.2021
- Lighting and compositing of shots under tight deadlines, while assuring consistency in quality and artistic requirements are being met.
- Project: No Activity (Season 4.)
- Software: Houdini, Nuke & Octane renderer.
Senior Lighting Artist
MPC Film
Montreal
02.2017 - 10.2017
- Working against tight deadlines on these projects, I had to ensure that the shots I had been assigned met the required standard of quality and achieved the goal of the brief.
- All shots had to match sequentially to what had been established earlier in sequences.
- Our lighting platform was Katana, utilizing Renderman as the rendering solution.
- Pre-comps were done in Nuke, whilst Tractor was used as the render management software.
- My time at MPC also gave me experience with a Linux based workflow.
- Projects: Dumbo, Justice League, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, The Mummy
- Software: Katana, Renderman, Nuke. Linux based
Head of Lighting, Look Development and Compositing
Character Matters Animation Studios
Cape Town
03.2003 - 01.2017
- In this role, I had the privilege of being the Head of Lighting, Lookdev and Compositing, managing a talented team of artists and establishing the quality standard which we had to achieve.
- This role also required me to develop the rendering pipeline for the studio and to impart knowledge and help troubleshoot with the team.
- I created all master light-rigs and compositing templates utilized by the team.
- I provided colour grading and consistency fixes in post, in a small but dynamic team.
- I also had to manage deliverables and interface with the client.
- On various VFX projects, I was responsible for supervising the creation of digital assets, right through to comping assets into VFX shots.
- This required camera matching with SynthEyes and then compositing elements for a photo-realistic result.
- Projects: The Lion of Judah (Feature), Unsung Hero (Short), Hooked (Short), Calli and Friends (Episodic Pilot), Born To Win (Feature), Mooirivier (Feature), Khumbula (Feature), Hearbreak (Feature). Plus various TVC projects.
- Software: Maya, Lightwave 3D, Digital Fusion, DaVinci Resolve, SynthEyes, Naiad, Realfow, Messiah, 3D Coat & Zbrush.
Education
Some College (No Degree) - Diploma in Digital Animation
The Animation School
Cape Town , South AfricaSkills
- Maya
- Lighting
- Redshift
- Nuke
- Compositing
- Lightwave 3D
- Arnold Render
- Fusion
References
- Sean Mullen , Giant Animation, sean@giant.ie
- Ben Harper, Giant Animation, ben@giant.ie
- Kevin Farrell, Giant Animation, kevin.farrell@giant.ie
- Marla Mina, Giant Animation, marla@giant.ie
Affiliations
- Hiking
- Cooking
- Family
- Films
- Gaming
Languages
English
First Language
Timeline
Lighting and Compositing Supervisor
Giant Animation
09.2024 - Current
Lead Lighting and Compositing Artist
Giant Animation
05.2023 - 09.2024
Lead Light Artist
SSVFX
03.2023 - 05.2023
Senior Lighting Artist
Wild Child Animation
01.2022 - 03.2023
Lighting and Compositing Artist
Giant Animation
08.2021 - 12.2022
Senior Lighting and Compositing Artist
Blue Zoo Animation Studios
05.2021 - 11.2021
Key Lighting and Compositing Artist
Flight School (A division of Reel FX)
01.2021 - 05.2021
Senior Lighting Artist
MPC Film
02.2017 - 10.2017
Head of Lighting, Look Development and Compositing
Character Matters Animation Studios
03.2003 - 01.2017
Some College (No Degree) - Diploma in Digital Animation
The Animation School