Staff Profile: Motion designer of NAVI.GG.BET

Meet Evgeniy "pan4o" Panchenko!

We've got a lot of talented people working at  NAVI.GG.BET and each of them has an interesting story to tell. Because of their job specifics, they often remain unnoticed, working modestly behind the scenes, but this by no means belittles their contribution to the common goal.

The guest of our today's Staff Profile is the one whose works you see all the time on our YouTube channels and social media pages. We want you to meet our motion designer,  Evgeniy "pan4o" Panchenko! In the interview below, he shares how he got started in 3D design and landed at NAVI.

— Hello, Evgeniy! Thanks for agreeing to this interview. First off, tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you? Where did you study? 

  — Hello! I was born in Poltava, and I'm 27. After finishing school, I started working for a local advertising agency. My whole life, as long as I can remember, I've been doing video design.

— You work as a motion designer at Natus Vincere. Please, tell us a little about what you do.

— My task is to create cool graphics and stylize videos. In other words, I'm "flexing on NAVI".

— Did you begin your career with 3D design, or you tried your hand at graphic design as well?

— My career began with movie making. I made a short video about my local Counter-Strike 1.5 team. I just wanted to feature our amazing highlights there, something like "2 leg shot kills" or "a five-man boost".

— How long have you been interested in design in general? What is essential to be successful in this sphere? 

— Despite doing some multimillion projects, I keep paying loans and still eat instant noodles. That's what you need to be successful!

— How difficult was it to learn motion design? Did you follow anyone's example? 

— When I started doing this, there were no YouTube tutorials to follow, and I had to learn everything by myself, just by trial and error. Until I started using such portals as movienations.com, videocopilot.net, and youtube.com, I had long viewed an  video as an example. And when I decided to focus on motion design, it was . Now there are many nice works on behance.net, but I try not to focus too much on any individual designers. Using someone else's example is the same as copying, and I don't want to spend time on doing something that has already been done. 

— There's an opinion that a PC is the holy grail for the people of your profession, and that it has to meet very high requirements. What do you have to say about that?

— The right hardware is, for sure, essential for animation and visualization. When you finish a project, you have to evaluate it yourself before showing it to other people. As a result, you see it in 360 px only or waste 90 % of your time waiting when you want to change something... of course, the hardware is essential. We can use a fax or a pager to text, but everybody uses mobile messengers for a reason. 

— Do you remember what your first works looked like? Is it true that only practice makes perfect?

— This rule works in all spheres. Even today, most of my works look like an undigested meal, but not everything has to be shown to others.

— What is your usual work procedure? What do you begin with? Can you shortly describe all the stages? 

— I get very different tasks. In most cases, I watch and analyze similar works. If I find something that either looks similar or has an interesting detail that I can use in my own way, I begin working regardless of time and place. And when you don't like the task at hand, just postpone it until the very last day and then, sleepy and terrified of losing a client, do it overnight - profit!

— How much time do you spend on creating a good intro or a video? Tell us about the works that you spent the most time and efforts on? 

— It can take everywhere from an hour to a year -- it all depends on a client. When I'm trusted to rely on my own taste, I begin experimenting and spend huge amounts of time on that, but I end up creating something very unique as a result -- usually, such works end up in my .

— What inspires you?

— I just scroll through  until I feel like I want to prove that I can do better.

— What was your first big project?

— A movie for  NAVI.

— You have a vast experience and lots of interesting works in your portfolio. Name the project that you feel the proudest of. 

— So far, there's not so much to be proud of. I hope I'll have something like this in the future, but I think when you feel too proud of what you do, you can't grow and improve. 

— As far as I understand, you've had a lot of one-time offers, but what about a stable job? You worked for STB (translator's note: a Ukrainian TV channel), what did you do there? 

— I was an outsourced designer doing graphics for a talk show. I landed a job by posting my CV on one of the job-search websites. I worked there for around a year and had to do almost the same thing over and over, so I lost interest. I didn't have enough courage to resign, so I began freelancing and then I was asked to leave for missing deadlines.

— Let's move on to your Born to Win story. How did you join the organization? Why did you choose NAVI?

— Back in 2006, when I made my first CS video, I decided that I wanted to make videos for the best Counter-Strike team in the world. We just had fun with my friends at the internet cafe. And four years later, I saw the Ukrainian players win IEM4. On that day, I began designing different club-related things such as T-shirt prints, profile pics etc and added  ZeroGravity to my friend list. After one month of working, I was offered a 100 $ salary. I was shocked! I did what I loved and was paid for it! It seemed like heaven. :D 

— What were the requirements? Did you have a job interview? 

— No requirements. Back then, the club had three employees aside from the lineup itself. I was the first one who asked for a place and they had no one else to choose from, so I began doing everything related to graphic design. 

— What would you recommend to those whose dream is to work at Natus Vincere?

— Don't pursue money - just do what you love, and share your CV on different job-search websites.

— What was your first impression?

— I was 20, working from home and getting paid for making videos and graphics, while my classmates were studying to get questionable degrees (most of those ended up useless). At first, I thought that it won't last and I won't be lucky for long.

— What did it mean to you, to be part of Born to Win?

— It meant to make my impossible 2006's dream come true. I started believing in myself! :D

— What are your responsibilities today? Do you work more than before? Are the projects more difficult?

— Today I do post-production, animation, composing, modeling, visualization, and broadcast works.

— Are your responsibilities at NAVI different from your other projects?

— Practically, no, because even as I was getting started I never split my profession into graphics and 3D design. I focused on what was interesting to me, and it could be Photoshop, 3dsmax, and SonyVegas simultaneously. I wanted to know the peculiarities of every popular software program.

— Do you think you have enough space for creativity? Are you able to realize all of your ideas?

— I have enough space for creativity, but, unfortunately, I can't make all of my ideas come true.

— Do you follow Born to Win matches? Which games do you like?

— Personally, I play only CS:GO, but I'm happy when our Dota 2 players win. :)

— What's your opinion on some other, more recent lineups of Natus Vincere (Paladins, Quake Champions)?

— I used to enjoy Quake 3. I remember the times when such players as  Lexer, uNkind, zero4, COOLLERZ, rapha, and  cypher were popular. They were like rock stars to me, and their coolness was estimated by their configs and how long did those take to launch. 

— Do you play any games yourself?

— Yes, I sometimes play CS:GO. We do it together at the office, it's a part of team building and growing mutual understanding.

— If I'm not mistaken, you enjoy rap and the battle rap genre. What do like about it?  (Who's your favorite MC? Did you like Oxxxymiron vs.Dizaster/KPSS?)

— My music taste changes depending on age. I didn't like Russian rap until I heard Oxxxymiron ft. Schokk, Сага об орлах и канарейках. It hit the spot perfectly. Before that, I listened to Nightwish, Blessthefall, and Eminem. Now I like LSP, ATL, Thomas Mraz, SD, ХХОС, Khaski, SIDxRAM, and Mytee Dee.

I watch almost every battle. Rhymes, punches, known faces, and show - that's what it should be about! KPSS did a great job; Dizaster is a great man as well. 

— Your works have been featured in Versus, 140 bpm battle, and some other popular projects. It's amazing, how did you achieve that?

— Thanks. It worked the same way as with NAVI: I saw those projects and realized that I can do better, so I did it, for free. But designers don't waste time doing free work. I approach it like a drug dealer, "The first one is free, but you have to pay for the second".

— You've also had several projects with TATO Movie, e.g. music videos of Artem Loik and Oleg Kenzov. Did you enjoy working on those? 

— NAVI and TATO MOVIE's cameraman comes from my home city, Poltava. Because Loik and Kenzov are also from Poltava and there weren't so many designers at that time, they hired me. Music videos are one of my favorite things to do. I get a ready-made video and edit it the way I like while taking the client's wishes into consideration.

— You have some YouTube shows in your portfolio, e.g. Trash Lotto with Eldar Dzhakharov. Do you often get to work on such projects?  

— It works the same way as with VERSUS, SLOVOSPB, 140bpm, and RAP NEWS: I just do it for free first. If they like what I do, I get a job offer for the next season. 

— Last, but not least, what professional goals do you have for the future?

— Probably, a personal production studio where I would continue working as a designer. Also, the opportunity to work with the best CG and video tools.

Quiz

— What's your favorite music artist?
— Oxxy, Khaski, LSP.

— What's your favorite movie?
— Forest Gump, PS: I love you; I rarely watch movies, 2-3 times a year.

— What's your dream place to visit?
— A hotel with a Central Park view.

— What's the best way to spend a weekend?
— Put your time into your hobby (it's probably the worst way to spend the weekend, I don't know how to rest).  

    — What's your life motto?
— Do your best!

VIEW EVGENIY's new artworks: