A day in the life of a...3D Designer, Yorgos Kefalas

“I like that every day brings up new challenges”

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Yorgos Kefalas is 36 and was born and grew up in Greece. Yorgos moved to the UK in 2016, and he now lives in London with his boyfriend, Daniel. Yorgos currently works as a freelance 3D Designer. He has obtained several degrees in related areas such as Graphic Design, Audio Visual Arts, Sound Design, and Sound and Music Computing. He has worked on stage shows such as HMS Pinafore, Moulin Rouge and Wicked. Yorgos appreciates having “the ability to choose” what projects he now works on. By learning many related areas in the world of theatre, he is able to “jump from project to project” and also enjoy the process.

Read on to learn more about Yorgos!

A typical day in my life at present would begin waking up and having a coffee. I usually work from home so I go into my study and look at emails and see what work is pending for that day. The projects I work on are quite lengthy so I usually have things to continue with from the previous day. I work on things such as designing theatre sets. Sometimes clients would come back to me with more things to do, some tasks need to be done urgently so I’d have to fit them into my schedule. To give an example, today I might work on a 3D environment and make a storyboard of a play I’m working on. And I might do 3D modelling of a specific theatre set, like texturing and putting in materials and putting in lighting so the designer knows exactly what the set will look like.

Yorgos at work at his computer

After this sometimes I would make the 2D drawings, the plans for the builders. Or for costing. So I would send the plans so they can be costed and they would then give me feedback so I can adjust the design and make it cheaper if possible. The plans would also go to the Director to see what they want, and again we would adjust the designs accordingly. The Director might want the set to be able to do other things. Sometimes I might create artwork for the shows I work on. Every day is different really, and that’s what I like about this job. Every day brings up new challenges. And I like sorting things. I try to structure my time such as giving myself at least an hour's lunch break around 1pm or 2pm. I start work at 10am and ideally finish at 6pm - although I rarely finish at 6pm in reality! It depends on how demanding the project is. 

My journey to where I am now began when I did my 1st Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design back home in Greece. I studied Graphic Design and then started working as a Graphic Designer for magazines in Greece. Whilst doing that I obtained a 2nd Bachelor’s degree, and a Master’s degree. The 2nd Bachelor’s degree I did was in Audio Visual Arts, which is itself quite a broad area. So my direction at that time was towards music. I did my Master’s degree in Sound Design. A year after finishing my time at University I came to the UK because I couldn’t find any work in Greece that was making me happy. Also financially my situation was quite bad. At certain points I was working 3 jobs to make up a full salary.    

“When you get into theatre and into 3D design 

it opens up another world. The sky’s the limit. 

You can do anything within that field. 

And the more you learn about the craft the more 

different tasks and projects you can work on.” 

So I came here to London and for the first 2 years I did another Master’s degree here. That was an MSc in Sound and Music Computing. After that I spent some time working odd jobs, until a freelance job came about that looked cool. It was to work with a Theatre Designer. I worked with him for a bit just doing some visuals and then he asked if I’d like to join his team. I did because it was a great opportunity. It was in theatre which I really love. So I joined his team and I was a “Jack of all trades”. I would do all sorts of things. After that there were some other freelance jobs. So that’s what I do now. I’m a freelance 3D Designer. I help in the production of theatre shows and events and immersive experiences. That’s my career to date. 

In terms of how I became a 3D Designer, as I said earlier my 2nd Bachelor's degree was in Audio Visual Arts and some of the modules on the degree were in 3D design so I have that knowledge base. So when that job offer I mentioned came up it was great because I love theatre. I love a good show. I love something that will impress me. I love the lights. I love the drama. I love a good performance. So the job was challenging in the beginning but I adapted pretty quickly I think. 

Yorgos’s preview image of the stage show “Wicked”

The biggest challenge in my job is we need to get everything done on time because the deadlines are usually very tight. Everybody needs something, and we need to facilitate everything. That all comes at the cost of your own time sometimes. Also, because I’m not an engineer there’s a lot of research behind what is built. I need to know the materials and how things are built. This comes with experience but also involves a lot of research on my part. As time goes on this aspect becomes less and less challenging as you gain knowledge through experience. 

A success in my role is that it's always rewarding to see what you’ve designed and tried to achieve come to life on the stage but especially when you see it on stage exactly as you imagined it to be. That’s a great success. Sometimes I can compare the renders I envisioned to the finished product and they look very similar which is rewarding. It’s cool to see what I envisioned on the stage. I’ve worked on a lot of great projects, particularly when I worked with the Theatre Designer called takis. For example, I worked on the stage show of Moulin Rouge which I’m really proud of. That’s a career highlight for me. I enjoyed being able to do research on the Art Nouveau style and then put it into my stage designs, and see them come to life on stage. 

Yorgos (left) in Greece with his boyfriend Daniel (right) 

The best piece of career advice I’ve been given came from my boyfriend, Daniel (pictured above) who also works in a similar field. He reminded me to not panic, because at the end of the day it’s only theatre! No-one is going to die! He said don’t panic. Just chill out. Do the best I can do. So if I ever feel a bit stressed about a job I’m working on, I remember those words. And it helps me relax, just get it done, and enjoy the process. 

For me, career success must incorporate the financial aspect, but more importantly it’s about having the ability to choose what shows you’re going to work on and what jobs you’re going to do. I think when you can have flexibility in what you do in your job - if you can jump from project to project, or have multiple projects that are different within the same line of work, and enjoy what you’re doing - I think that’s career success. It’s the ability to choose projects that inspire you. 

In terms of the biggest career transition I’ve made, I’d say my career has involved continual transition as I’ve learnt subjects in different areas such as Graphic Design, then Sound Design, and most recently 3D Design. It may not seem like a huge transition but each of these subjects has its own depth, and I have made that change 3 times already in my life. Who knows? I might do it again!

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