My name is Eduardo

My full name is Eduardo Alberto Gutiérrez Pérez. I was born in Mexico City in 1982 within a family of artists and designers, so I grew up surrounded by arts and crafts. I quickly discovered my passion for films and stories, so in 2000 I attended an University in Guadalajara, Mexico to study a BA in Graphic Design, Multimedia and Digital Animation, then a Diploma in Character Animation with AnimationMentor.com.

Shortly after I graduated, I landed my first job in the Video Game industry in Guadalajara, animating the actions in a wrestling game for Xbox360. During that time I also became an animation professor and shared the passion for animation, storytelling and film.

Animation quickly became my life's one passion and goal, so in order to continue on the road to perfection, I wanted to get in a bigger industry and actually animate for TV and feature films. Unfortunately, Mexico was still young at these type of projects during that time, so after gathering a sufficiently good demo reel, I applied to several studios around the world, and the one that answered back and offered me a job was in Auckland, New Zealand.

In New Zealand I became an animator for a couple of TV shows that the studio was producing for Nickelodeon. I became friends with some of the most amazing and talented artists ever and also got to see some of the most beautiful landscapes and scenery in my whole life. New Zealand received me with open arms and I fell in love with it.

The journey didn't end there. After a 3-year contract with Oktobor, I moved to Wellington (the little capital of New Zealand) in 2014 and began working as a Previs/Postvis artist for the TV series Thunderbirds are Go!, mostly animating vehicles like rockets and airplanes and learning how to use a camera to tell stories, develop the layout of a scene and create a good visual composition. These skills were new to me and a very interesting twist of events, since I was aiming to get into film now (by this point I'd pretty much animated everything from Games to Commercials to TV, but no feature films yet), but in the process I discovered I also enjoyed being a Layout Artist, working with the origins of the sequence, instead of just polishing and making it look convincing for the end result.

Because my newer reel now included elements of Layout and camera work, I was able to finally get my chance in a film, working as a Layout Artist and Character Animator for Maya the Bee 2: The Honey Games in Sydney, Australia, in 2017.

Upon my return I worked a little bit more on the Thunderbirds show, but I now had even more things I was becoming more interested in, such as 3d printing, 3d modelling and sculpting, drawing, learning German, Python, Unreal4, Blender and music. It seemed like the wing of interests was spreading from the single-pointed arrow of Animation from 10 years ago.

Then came a new opportunity to branch out from Animation as an artist and try my hand at Animation as a Director. During 2018-2019 I helped the animation supervision for a kids show named Kiddets in Pukeko Pictures, and later became the animation director for a new preschool show called Book Hungry Bears. This was a completely brand new experience in learning how to manage, maintain quality and ease the workload of animators, while also animating material for the artists to use in the show and seeing the whole picture, instead of a shot at a time like when I was just animating.

In an effort to give all these new interests their place in my world, I decided to open this space to share them.

Hobbies and Interests

As I was saying, the list is big, and it's growing. I've always liked drawing, being born between brushes and paints made it inevitable. I'm currently interested in learning how to draw human bodies, to learn the anatomy underneath, the bones, muscles and their insertion points.

A couple of years ago I decided to give it a chance to this open-source free 3d software called Blender. I loved it. Learning it took me to become interested in hard surface modelling, then organic modelling and sculpting. I also discovered I enjoyed rigging and scripting. I have a few short films in mind that I want to create on my own with this software.

I got myself a 3d printer and opened my own company, Materia Ltd., to offer services in 3d printing. Feel free to contact me!

Music was a passion of mine when I was a teenager, so I began learning how to play the guitar. I want to get back to it, this time into a more in-depth mode, since I want to learn how to read and write music, how to compose, how to mix and how to play other instruments, like the piano. I’m currently following a series of courses on music composition and songwriting.

I enjoy flight simulators, I really really like the sensation of flying. I'm nuts about cockpits, flight dynamics, air surfaces and fighter planes. I also have a big interest in space and orbital mechanics. My favorite films all include flying things (Back to the Future II, The Fifth Element, Top Gun). I dream about being in the cockpit of many fictional and real vehicles.

This interest took me to a very new one, one that I didn't know much about: Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. I became interested in the virtual interaction in Simulators, the immersion part. So I'm currently studying a group of courses in Unreal4 to learn how to develop games for VR and AR. Just so I can get to do that.

Fitness is another new addition, thanks in big part to my wife's efforts to see me healthy and happy. I enjoy running and tramping, swimming and walking long distances. I got hooked into cardio and weight routines. I used to practice martial arts too.

Languages. I speak Spanish and learned English from a very young age. I quickly learned that my mind becomes better at everyday things with two languages, since I can think in two completely different ways at the same time. I studied French for some years because I wanted to find a job in Canada, and now I became interested in learning German, just for the fun of it. I would consider Python another language I'm interested in mastering as well.

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So, if anyone out there doesn't need their life time, could you donate it to me? Much appreciated.

Life's Philosophy

I am a calm and easy-going person, so you won't find me in bars or discotheques. I prefer a quiet chat in a cafe with a friend over a loud concert with thousands of people. I've learned over the years to enjoy silence and the simple presence of nature.

For me, the three most important things in life are Art, Happiness and Improvement. Art is the blood that runs through my veins. The drive to create, to express, to share and to tell stories that can inspire, move and nurture other people's lives. I've realized that every single thing that I value has come from an artistic drive, from a creation force.

Happiness is my desired state of mind. My personal interpretation is that I am already happy, there's nothing I need to do to achieve happiness or success. The only thing standing between this and what I consider my reality is my beliefs. So I work with my beliefs every day. The way I see myself, the way I see others. It's all a group of beliefs, most of them firmly installed in my mind "operating system", so not easily changed; but with time, patience and observation, they can be transformed. Happiness is the end result.

Improvement is the motor that gives movement in my life. On every thing I get to do, I aim to improve it, to become more efficient, to climb the learning curve as fast as possible by finding ways to better it. I aim to achieve both efficiency and quality in what I do, finding ways to get the best results with the least time and stress, and helping other people find their own. If I find something that makes a process easier and faster to do, I want to share it.