The story of our workshop day

A workshop day at Brick

Exchanging expertise to help each other grow is one of the cornerstones of our company culture. We live by this principle day by day and organize special workshops on a yearly basis. Some of these had been open to any interested archviz professional, like the Viz Biz conference. But we have also made it our priority to hold internal workshops for our team specifically. 

Project Managers improving their leadership skills

 

The goal of these workshops is to give our team a chance to experiment with more specific workflows. Equipping them with new skills that are needed to improve their craft and efficiency is crucial too. Everyone has the opportunity to get to know how other departments work and what challenges they face in their job. Through this, everyone gets an idea of how different functional areas of the studio come together to support Brick’s vision and mission. This results in smoother collaboration and respect for each other. 

 

Brickers solving a capacity planning task as a team

 

This year, each workshop was led by employees of Brick who are experts in their respective fields. In choosing the activities, workshop leaders highlighted a topical aspect of their work and structured a 1,5-hour educational but entertaining session around it. After delivering a short presentation, they handed out the practical instructions needed to complete the task. Workshops ended with a review of all participants’ work and a relaxed Q&A session. 

We held all sessions in a hybrid format which allowed the Cluj-Napoca-based team and artists working remotely to take part too. This way, every Bricker was provided with the opportunity to embrace new ways of thinking and refine their skills. 

 

Battle cry

Draft Battle

It is no secret that our workflow is heavily based on creating high-quality drafts. Therefore it was evident to have a session dedicated to this craft. To give it a twist and make it more challenging, we put our team’s artistic skills to test within a competition titled Draft Battle workshop. The 40 artists were given 2 hours to create a realistic draft that responded best to the given location. What was the scene to be drafted, you ask? By rolling the dice, we had left it to chance which site and composition type got assigned to artists.  

 

Artists testing how advanced VFX particle system animations work in Tyflow 

Animation-related workshops

The demand for animations is constantly on the rise. No wonder, as by adding motion to your design, you can express more thoroughly its mood or the story compared to a still. Since we receive more commissions for animations, it is focal for us to improve our skills in this specialty too. Artists who (want to) work with animations enhanced their technical competencies within the Chaos Vantage, Unreal and Tyflow workshops — gaining hands-on experience with the most trendy software in the market.

 

Workshops where participants acted out various on-the-job scenarios

Career level-up

At Brick, your promotion does not depend on how many years you have spent in a given position. Instead, we look at what you have achieved professionally during your time here and the set of skills you have. With experience, Senior 3D artists can take on responsibilities that involve more managerial duties, advancing to positions such as Project Manager and Creative Director. Artists who are within reach of being promoted to either position could try their hand at tasks typical of these roles. In these workshops, artists practiced holding one-on-one sessions, planning processes and negotiating with clients to mention a few.  

 

The recipe for effective communication

Getting down to writing a strong social media copy

Exploring other departments

Providing a glimpse into the responsibilities of other departments not only allows our colleagues to shift their focus onto something new. It also helps establish mutual respect for each other’s work. The Show Me the Money! workshop prompted participants to plan budgets and cashflows of a fictional company to aid their understanding of basic financial planning. In the How Are You? workshop, our colleagues learned how to communicate, manage conflicts, and listen to and reflect on each other’s input. The Create a Likeable Post! session taught attendees how to come up with textual content for social media posts and touched upon aspects of branding.

 

András Káldos opening up about different questions

 

Workshops were not only informative but fun

 

Within the Make András Sweat workshop, Brickers could ask the CEO any question, professional and personal alike. Attendees got some intel about Brick’s long-term strategic plans, methods for forecasting revenue – even András’ view on God. 

 

Well-deserved party 

After such a busy but inspiring day, the team went to enjoy fun-filled moments over dinner and music. The location was one of Budapest’s most exceptional green areas – the Three Border Mountains. It wasn’t just Brick employees who took part in this get-together — the students of Brick Academy’s Image Generalist in Archviz course also joined us for the evening out.  

 

Chilling 

 

A scenic spot

The lookout tower

Dinner & party 

Young talents who completed the Brick Academy course and their mentors

To be continued

Considering its scale, varied content and all the positive feedback we received from our team, this has been our most successful workshop day. It will be challenging to outdo ourselves regarding next year’s edition – but we are eager to up our game! And who knows, maybe it will even be open to the public…

Want to experience our workshop day as our colleague? We are hiring 3D artists, read more and apply!