Murthy Upadhyayula has designed his own Dobby the House Elf for his wife
Former student from India who studied the Art and Animation course with Train2Game is working on his portfolio and creating his favourite characters to show off his work.
Murthy enjoyed the course and said it gave him a base of knowledge to build upon. He studied alongside both of his brothers and they have created games together. His brother Srinath is now studying at a prestigious university in the US. Murthy is currently working in customer services but gaming is still his dream.
Murthy is working on the VFX Model of Dobby the House Elf from the Harry Potter films, he’s also creating other pieces for a demo reel. Murthy’s dream is to work in the games industry and he says a strong portfolio is essential in getting recognised.
He told Train2Game that he created the character as it is a favourite of his and his wife told him to! When we asked if he wanted his own house elf, he said ‘A that is really handy but unethical. I’d rather have a house-elf as a friend.’ Which we agree with and we promised EA and JK Rowling about his project.
Murthy Upadhyayula , Train2Game student: ‘My Name is Murthy Upadhyayula (Rambo 85 on the forums). I am from India, currently living in Luton. I am studying the art and animation course.’
‘The course is quite good for beginners trying to understand how the game pipleline works. It gives students a solid foundation which they can use to build upon. I have discontinued the course half-way through. But it must be noted that I had to do it because of reasons beyond my control. After a long gap, I am now back into the scheme of things, and somewhere down the line I may try and finish the course if the opportunity presents itself.’
‘The knowledge I gained from the first two sections of the course proved to be very useful in some of my personal projects as well as making an android games with my brothers titled “Chimping”.’
‘Both my Bros (Bhanu and Srinath) had signed up for the developer course. Srinath was forced to leave the country mid-way through his course as his Visa expired, and he didn’t have enough investment to apply for a Business Visa which was the only option given to him at the time. Thankfully, he got accepted in a prestigious university in United States (Texas), and his experience with Train2Game had played a big part in it. Bhanu continues to study at his own pace.’
‘For the past couple of months I have been working on a VFX model, Dobby from the Harry Potter films. I am also doing some motion graphics, and character animations, all to be compiled into a demo reel.’
‘I simply wanted to create a VFX character that would fit well into modern games as well as film and TV. I thought it is best to show as many skills as I can in one project rather than creating separate portfolios for Games and Film/TV. This way, I can diversify my portfolio.’
‘When I said I was going to create an elf-like character, my wife suggested Dobby as its one of her favourite characters. I jumped on the idea, as I too love the character in the books and in the movies. Besides, anyone who’s married knows that you never say no to your missus.’
‘I have learnt a great deal with this one project. I have been able touch several aspects of the pipeline: sculpting, re-topologising, texturing, shading, compositing, rigging, posing, storytelling, and animation. I have also researched and came across some useful shortcuts that speed up the creation workflow.’
‘A strong portfolio is the single most important thing according to many of the experts in the industry. I have never heard anyone saying they got a job because a great reading CV. As an artist you are judged based on your portfolio and if you have one that stands out, nothing else really matters.’
‘I would love a full-time position at a games studio. I have tried and failed a lot in the past couple of years, but I am looking forward to another push this year, and hopefully someone notices my latest demo reel and offers me a position. Fingers crossed. I will be updating the website with Dobby images and latest demo reel once it’s ready.’
You will find some of Murthy’s work at http://murthy85.wix.com/artbymurthy
