Gunjan Kathale
Surfacing Supervisor
London United Kingdom
Professional Status
Employed
Open to opportunities
About Me
Surfacing Supervisor and Look Development Technical Supervisor with 18+ years of experience across feature animation and VFX. Equally artistic and technical, with a strong ability to translate complex art direction into production-ready 3D assets. Proven track record designing scalable surfacing and asset workflows, leading multi-disciplinary build teams, and supporting studios through pipeline evolution. Proficiency in Supervising Surfacing teams and capable of spearheading Build departments across characters and environments.
Look Development Technical Supervisor
DNEG Animation
February 2023
to March 2025
- Operated effectively at Head of Surfacing capacity, partnering closely with:
- Head of Characters
- Head of Environments
- Head of Groom/ Groom Supervisor
- Head of Characters
- Designed, planned, and tested studio-wide surfacing and asset workflows to support current and future productions
- Drove cross-department initiatives around:
- Asset workflows
- QC standards
- Material libraries
- Tooling improvements
- Documentation and training
- Asset workflows
- Oversaw maintenance and evolution of:
- Katana surfacing toolkits
- Generics / crowds surfacing system
- Eye shader and related shading frameworks
- Surfacing QC workflows
- Katana surfacing toolkits
- Supported all running shows from both a technical and artistic standpoint, helping teams interpret stylized and PBR looks within pipeline constraints
- Led bi-weekly Surf Tech Check sessions across all productions, creating a consistent feedback loop between artists, supervisors, and pipeline
- Worked extensively with Modeling, Grooming, Rigging, Lighting, Pipeline, and Production to align expectations and requirements
- Co-developed a cross-training curriculum allowing:
- Surfacers to learn Grooming fundamentals
- Groom artists to understand Surfacing workflows
- Increased team flexibility, resilience, and growth opportunities
- Surfacers to learn Grooming fundamentals
- Actively supported and co-managed the Groom department during a period of limited leadership coverage
- Involved in show planning, bidding, recruitment, crewing, documentation, and training
- Acted as a bridge between Surfacing, Pipeline, Lighting, Modeling, Grooming, Rigging, and Production
- Directly supervised one dedicated TD and provided technical leadership to a department of 50+ surfacing artists
