How VR helped me during the pandemic
This is our first spotlight on a team member and how they’ve continued to work, grow, and take pause to find meaning during this time.
In December of 2019, the world changed. Now, many countries are beginning the process of vaccination programs in the hopes to return to a semblance of what was before. Now, it’s important that we, creatives, give space to our peers to speak frankly about this strange once-in-a-lifetime collective experience. At Masterpiece Studio, we have decided to start a new series where we spotlight a member of our team from across the globe who has found unique ways to cope during the pandemic. Some spotlights will focus on VR. Some will not. This is about lifting our colleagues up and for them to tell their stories.
First up, senior 3D artist, Jorda Moldes.
On Spotlight
Jorda Moldes (B 1986. Galicia, Spain)
Jorda Moldes is a 3D artist, sculptor, and VR pioneer. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Digital animation from Universidad Veritas. He has taught as a professor at the Universidad Creativa in Costa Rica in design and 3D Modeling. Moldes has worked in the 3D industry for more than 13 years and has worked in advertising, animated TV Shows, and freelance VR projects. Moldes has worked with AAA from Cocacola Centro America and Ogilvy.
Jorda, what was your experience.
Since the pandemic began, I felt uneasy. Weary of routine. I was locked into a small confined apartment space and this made me start to develop (a bit) of anxiety and difficulty concentrating on projects.
Typical distractions started to bore me. Television. Social media. The usual. Little by little this creeping feeling of disconnection with myself and others began to take over. It’s strange saying this since I work for a company in the VR space, but it’s true. Being able to create art in Virtual Reality made it easier to reconnect with me. I was able to evade the world for an immersive studio that was outside the four walls of my living room. For context, my living room is also my home office, dining area, and everything in between.
Virtual Reality has helped me a lot as an artist. It’s helped me be able to have more control over lapses of concentration when working. It’s helped me have a little moment of peace against the chaos.
Creating work in virtual reality during the pandemic was like a teleportation machine to a lot of different places during the quarantine.
Sculpted in Masterpiece Studio Pro and rendered in Blender, by Jorda Moldes
I also have to say that working in VR not only helped me on that dogmatic daily work level but helped me think naturally about what I could do next through one-of-kind experiences. I participated in guided tours of museums, played online games with my co-workers after work, and even did a little bit of exercise with my headset. It helped me not to go crazy while isolated. Although the pandemic increased a feeling of disconnection with others and myself, I can say that at a certain point of the confinement I also managed to listen to my emotions, and translate them at a creative level within virtual reality.
It’s weird. For the first time in my life, I feel fully connected with my art, and working in virtual reality helped.
Next up, our Director of Operations discusses the finer points of gardening to aid in developing positive mental health.