Hello! I’m Mary Kane, a rising senior at the Savannah College of Art and Design and a Game Design major. I was a sculpting co-op. During the fall quarter of 2019, Hasbro’s sculpting team visited my school and came to talk to my character art class about our work. I was a bit intimidated because they all seemed to know so much, but everyone was really friendly and gave me helpful critique. After listening to a presentation from the team that same day, I was really impressed by the company’s genuine desire to do good in the world and make kids happy by making toys. I participated in a Hasbro winter workshop where I created an articulated action figure under the guidance of a mentor within the sculpting team, and that was a ton of fun. I learned a lot and even though it was challenging, I discovered that sculpting action figures was just as fun as creating characters for games. Both have their challenges and perks.

After having such an awesome experience with the winter workshop, I decided to apply for the summer sculpting co-op position, and almost went into shock when I got the call telling me that I had been selected for the position. I couldn’t stop saying “oh my god”. I was so excited! I couldn’t believe I was going to get the chance to work with such skilled artists!

When I learned that the internship was going to be 100% virtual, I was a little disappointed because I had been looking forward to experiencing the working environment of being an in-house sculptor, but I was still super excited. Meeting virtually with the sculpting team was really laid back and even though I didn’t get to be there in person, they made me feel like I was still part of the team. The hardest part about working remotely was not having access to more powerful computers, but that wasn’t usually too much of an issue. I also really missed having people around me while I worked since I’m used to that environment at school, but listening to podcasts helped some.

My first week at Hasbro was super exciting and a little bit stressful since it started the day after my last class of the school year, and I hadn’t slept much because of finals. Everything went really smoothly, and I was impressed with how prepared everyone was to work virtually. I was nervous at first because I still wasn’t very used to doing regular video conferences, but after seeing how friendly and casual everyone on the team was, I felt more at ease.

On a typical workday I would sculpt from 8 am to 5:15 pm, making sure to take a break every hour to get up and stretch and at 12 pm to eat lunch. My working space wasn’t the most ergonomically friendly since I just set it up in my room but getting to see my cats more often was nice. I really appreciated the Tips and Tricks meetings that members of the sculpting team presented, as well as all the other virtual meetings and presentations. I also emailed and called to talk about projects, and all the communication helped me to feel less lonely while working remotely.

One of the best things about the internship was how laid back and welcoming the sculpting team was. All my managers were super friendly and easy to talk to, and I never felt like I couldn’t ask questions, which I really appreciated. Since everyone on the team was very knowledgeable and obviously a great artist, I was a bit intimidated when I first started, but I quickly got over that because they were all very down to earth and happy to take the time to answer my questions and teach me things necessary to the job. The other sculpting co-ops were also super talented and friendly, and I enjoyed getting to talk to them. Overall, the people I worked with were probably my favorite part of the internship.

Over the summer I worked on a ton of awesome brands. I got to work on a lot of Star Wars figures, which was a dream come true. I feel so lucky to have been able to work on projects and characters that I loved when I was a kid (and still love today)! My favorite memories are probably just having fun conversations with the sculpting team and being able to work on one of my favorite Star Wars characters.

The thing that impressed me the most about Hasbro is how genuinely welcoming and caring everyone I got to work with was, as well as how much passion everyone has for making toys. I cannot overstate how much I appreciate this encouraging environment, as it was an amazing foray into my first job working as a sculptor. It really felt like everyone there wanted me to succeed not only for the sake of the company and the products I was making, but so that I would become a more confident artist and person, even beyond my time at Hasbro. I truly feel like I’ve become much more confident in my ability as a sculptor since I’ve learned so much since I started this internship.

If I had to give advice to incoming interns, I guess it would be to take a moment to appreciate how awesome it is that you get to be a part of this process, and to not be intimidated by working at such a well-known company. Communication is also really important, and you should be emailing back and forth with your managers pretty often.

Mary Kane- Sculptor/3D artist Co-op

Savannah College of Art and Design