National award for Northumbria design student

A talented animation student has won industry recognition through a prestigious national award win.

Adam Cselotei, a third-year design student from Northumbria University, has won a D&AD (Design and Art Direction) New Blood Pencil for his work IMAX is the Future – a beautifully rendered conceptual science fiction themed piece exploring cinematic experience through 3D animation techniques.

The New Blood Awards are open to advertising, design, digital and marketing students, recent graduates and emerging creatives worldwide. They provide an opportunity for students to land a job in the creative industry by getting a head start while they’re still at university, or gain the exposure they need to kickstart a career in the industry.

Adam, who is originally from Hungary, said: “I chose sci-fi imagery because it's cinematic and many people go to the cinema to watch this type of movie. Many movies couldn’t exist without 3D animation.

“For this project I designed the imagery on paper and created a storyboard. I then modelled, textured and animated the assets in a software programme called Autodesk Maya. I experimented with artificial intelligence to make a few of the textures used for the 3D models, adapting them to create unique visuals. A process called asset flipping is often used in the games industry, where premade assets are downloaded, combined and resold but it is quite an uncreative way of working so I chose to make as much as I could as bespoke elements for the animation. I also composited and created motion graphics in Adobe After Effects.”

Adam currently works for the Access Group as a junior artworker, creating animations for schoolchildren. He came to the country to study at Northumbria because “the university has good credentials and it’s located in a fantastic city”.

He added: “I’m enjoying my current job but one of these days I’d love to work on an animation movie – maybe a Hollywood blockbuster! I’ve genuinely loved my time at Northumbria. Our tutors always motivate us to come up with new ideas and discover techniques that make the product better or production faster. I’ve also gained experience of teamwork and working under tight deadlines, and I’ve developed routines to be able to work in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe After Effects effectively and quickly.”

Chloe Rodham, Associate Lecturer within the animation department at Northumbria University, said: “IMAX is the Future is a beautifully rendered science fiction themed piece exploring cinema experience through 3D animation techniques. Adam approached this project in a professional manner from the outset, paying careful attention to the brief, thinking creatively, and delivering an outstandingly cinematic piece of work. We are so pleased that he has received industry-level recognition for his entry and we’re looking forward to seeing where his career takes him next.”

Adam will attend an online awards ceremony held on Thursday 6 July where he will find out which of the famous D&AD Pencils he has been presented with.

For more information, visit https://www.dandad.org/en/d-ad-what-winning-a-new-blood-awards-pencil-means-new-blood-advice/

Visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/design to discover more about studying at Northumbria School of Design.