Member Profile: Loumy Volmar
1. What do you do, and how long have you been doing it?
I am a freelance FX artist and a visual effects student at CG Spectrum. I am currently working on creating the magical effects for a short film called “Ivory and Gold” directed by the wonderful Theo Brown.
2. What was your first job?
My current freelance job is my first industry-related job! That said, my first job in the visual field was as an assistant to the Director of New Student Orientation at NJIT.
I was hired to help with excel sheets, emails, and event-planning but then the pandemic hit, and on the first day of the job, I became a video editor, animator and social media coordinator. I learned to do this on the fly and started making 2d explainer videos in After Effects, learning what I needed along the way. I had a lot of fun coming up with fun little animations that would liven the videos up and that experience cemented my desire to be a designer.
3. Where did you complete your formal education?
I completed my formal education at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in May 2023. I graduated with a BA in Digital Design and a BS in Human-Computer Interaction. In Fall 2024, I enrolled myself in a year-long program at CG Spectrum so I could specialize and become an FX artist. I graduate from the program in November 2024!
4. How did you first get involved with ACM SIGGRAPH?
I first heard of ACM SIGGRAPH as a first-year design student at NJIT. Our Professor Glenn Golman encouraged us to apply to be student volunteers and I took his advice, and I have now just finished attending my second SIGGRAPH conference in Denver and I’m excited to hopefully attend for many more years to come!
5. What is your favorite memory of a SIGGRAPH conference?
As a student volunteer in Denver, I primarily worked in the VR Theatre Kiosk, my team and I had the pleasure and privilege of assisting three generations of one family attending the conference. It was truly a wholesome and heartwarming experience to help and watch the grandmother-mother-son trio discover the adventures of the Kiosk together.
6. Describe a project that you would like to share with the ACM SIGGRAPH community.
This past year, as part of my time at CG Spectrum, I was put in a group of randomly selected students to work on a three-month project for The Rookies 2024. I ended up leading the project and I am really proud of our work, especially with us collaborating over 4 time zones. You’ll find it if you google “The Rookies Wellerman project.”
We are now working on a second group project that is battle-themed and the team has expanded to include a few student artists I met while at SIGGRAPH in Denver. We are just a bunch of students that want to make something cool together. I am really grateful to have my team on this journey with me and super excited to show the world what we’re making together.
7. If you could have dinner with one living or non-living person, who would it be and why?
A non-living person I would love to have dinner with would be my high school principal. He passed away during the pandemic and I never got to see him again to tell him that I figured out what I wanted to do career-wise. He had a wonderful belly laugh and I would have loved to experience that one more time as I told him I would become a visual effects artist.
Someone I would love to have dinner with who is currently living would be my mentor at CG Spectrum Daniel Hourigan. I live in New Jersey and he lives in Australia. I see him every week on Zoom and he has taught me so much over the past year and I would love to thank him with a nice meal!
8. What is something most people don’t know about you?
Most people do not realize that I am very self-introspective and self-conscious. I can come off as very confident and self-assured as I act very goofy and loud most of the time. I think a lot about what I do and how it may be perceived, but I have learned to care less about the outside perception and to just enjoy myself. I hope that my goofiness can make someone smile and hopefully make them feel comfortable enough to relax and let their own anxiety go a bit. If I’m walking around skipping and dancing, maybe more people will feel like they can as well.
9. From which single individual have you learned the most in your life? What did they teach you?
I’m going to cheat a little bit and pick two people that have taught me. My father taught me to forge my own path while also teaching me the value of continuous self-introspection. I can always hear him in my head with an old quote: “Know thyself, and you will know the universe and the gods.”
The other person is NJIT’s Director of New Student Orientation Kristen DeGraff. She taught me to fake it till I make it, to stay on task and get the job done.
10. Is there someone in particular who has influenced your decision to work with ACM SIGGRAPH?
The person who has influenced me to work with ACM SIGGRAPH is definitely Glenn Goldman. Having him as my studio professor was an amazing experience and the work I did in his class made me realize that making effects and simulations was the path I wanted to take and that I wanted to take it a step further and get involved in SIGGRAPH in order to meet like-minded people.
11. What can you point to in your career as your proudest moment?
My career is in its infancy but I would say that my proudest moment so far was my mentor’s recommendation landing me my first freelance job. Hearing that he had recommended me for the job was such a validating moment. I am incredibly grateful and I will make him proud.