Kevin Korankye

Wolverhampton School of Art / Student Case Studies / Kevin Korankye

Born in North London, Kevin graduated from animation in 2019. For a while, creatively, Kevin felt stuck but explored all aspects of 3D art and found his groove. He used his time at University to refine his skills in 3D and made a specialist modelling portfolio in his 3rd year.

His career began working as a 3D visualizer for Wicksteed playgrounds, where he brought 2D CAD drawings to life in a 3D space using 3Ds Max, allowing customers to view the potential appearance of the playground they were purchasing.

Kevin plans to continue to refine his skills to enter the gaming or animation industry.

We caught up with Kevin to discuss what he is up to now, his favourite aspect of the course and his advice to current students.

My name is Kevin Korankye and I am a Character Animator/Artist. I have grown up around all kinds of animation, from Lion King to Shark Tale, I always enjoyed the emersion animation could provide and I knew immediately it was something I wanted to get involved in. This was further enforced with gaming as over time I started to marvel over how the games were made and how the characters looked and acted so convincingly, rather than simply enjoying the product, I was analysing everything. I decided to act on this urge to attempt to recreate these convincing scenes and have never looked back since. A lot of my future work will be featured on my ArtStation which can be found here: www.artstation.com/kevink-art

Some of my best memories from studying Animation at University of Wolverhampton start with the lecturers I had. Emily Mantell, Samantha Moore ang Gareth Powel were some of the most supportive and inspirational people I've ever come across. I had of lot of difficulty deciding the avenue of animation that I wanted to specialise in and they never forced me into any one direction, rather they helped me improve my skills in practically all of them to allow me to see the quality of work I am capable of producing for each facet of animation. I also particularly enjoyed having enough facilities to extensively specialise in an animation media, whether that was 2D, 3D, Stop Motion or Motion Graphics; the multitude of equipment allowed me to really explore my options. 

Currently I am following up on my love for character animation and actively working to improve my ability to put together high-quality character animations. I continue to incorporate the skills I picked up from the course into my present and future work. My hope is that in the near future I am able to create convincing and exciting animation that can draw the attention of the big players from animation and game companies. It is still a dream of mine to work for Rockstar Games as their products have actively been a part of my life from a young age.

During the course I met many different people with polar opposite personalities, I have made a few friends from the course and some I am sure will remain in my life forever. One of my favourite things about the people that I met is that I still have contact with my biggest motivator who happened to also be my lecturer, Emily Mantell. Still to this day she remains someone I can come to for advice on how to improve my work or even just for a quick pep talk to get me back on track.

The best advice I could give to someone considering to study at the University is to explore all that you can and not be afraid to fail. Not everything is going to be for you and there may be things you really struggle with but stepping out of your comfort zone opens your mind up to different perspectives and could in turn make your work elevate to another level. You can never move forward unless you take that first step, staying where you are doesn't bring the top of the stairs to you, so be confident in your abilities and own your future.

Wolverhampton is a place that really supported me throughout my growth as a 3D Artist and constantly pushed me to be better while challenging me to step out of my comfort zone. From learning the basic principles of animation to the complex pipelines, it is the perfect place for any aspiring animators to grow both personally and professionally.

An amazing, challenging and insightful experience that was very unexpected but one that changed my life forever, in which I am eternally grateful for.

Website: www.artstation.com/kevink-art