Meet Kate Meine

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kate Meine. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kate below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Kate with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

My work ethic is a product of the influence of many people on my life. The person who comes to the forefront of my mind is my mother. Ever since I was little, she has been an inspiration at home and at work. She is incredibly hard-working and dedicated. She contributed greatly to my schooling, spent a lot of time with my siblings and me, and put in 100% at work all at the same time. I can recall whenever I doubted my ability to achieve something, or my likelihood to succeed, she would tell me, “If any living human being can do it, so can you.” I think this mindset, the example she was in day-to-day life, along with her many reminders to never cut corners, molded me into the person I am today. Now, because of her, nothing seems unachievable, and no task is too difficult.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

As a Lighting and Compositing Artist and I am at the tail end of any visual effects or animation film pipeline. I come in when the assets and animation are final, and it is time to get a final, polished image out of the software. CG Lighting, for those who do not know, is essentially the process of placing light into a CG scene in order to imitate reality and allow for software to produce a near-final image. After the image has been rendered, or essentially taken out of the software, it moves into compositing for final edits, additions, and clean-up.

This might sound very theoretical to anyone not involved with CG, but it can really be summed up as: painting with light and imitating how the physical world looks when captured by a camera, but in CG! I certainly think that my background in traditional painting and photography has aided me greatly as a Lighting and Compositing Artist, as all of the skills transfer.

I have just finished working on my capstone film, Lost Track, as the Lighting and Compositing Lead, and had the privilege of leading demos, setting up guides, and teaching my fellow team of 10 how to light and composite. Keep an eye out for Lost Track on the 2025 – 2026 festival circuit!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Know your why, be grateful, and never dwell on failures, or in other words go “next”. Though I am still quite early in my career, these three things have been paramount in keeping me motivated and reminding me of the purpose of the work I put in every day.

To start, it has been essential to me to know WHY I am doing what I am doing. When the going gets rough, the first question that pops into my mind is: why? If you know why you started on the path you are on, and if you can have that reason handy when things get rough, it will make all the difference. Choosing to persevere BEFORE things get difficult will push you through when they do. Because life will get difficult, make sure your “why” is strong enough to base your life’s work on.

Be grateful for what you have! If you take time to reflect on the blessings you have today, it will keep you grounded in the present. Enjoy the day that you have, the people that have been placed in your life, and the challenges that you get to face. Do not spend your time looking back or looking forward, be present, and ensure that you are showing up each day to do the most with what you have. Inevitably, over time, your work will improve.

Something that I picked up from one of my basketball coaches back in high school that has stuck with me is to always go “next”. Not every day is the best day, and not every shot you take is going to go in. Going “next” just means: do not dwell on your failures, or they will inhibit your future successes.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

When I feel overwhelmed, I take a step back, make a list, and plan accordingly. If I am overwhelmed by a deadline, then I split my list amongst the time I have remaining and start knocking off subtasks one at a time. There is a saying that my mother used to say, perhaps a little gruesome, but the meaning still stands, she used to say in answer to anything I felt overwhelmed by, “How do you eat the elephant? One bite at a time.” The meaning being, if you have a huge task ahead of you, split it into smaller achievable pieces, and move from there!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://katemeine.artstation.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katemeine

Image Credits

Credit to:

Lost Track Team

Phantom of the Opera Team

Drew Daly