about me

Hello friend, my name is Leon Woud. I grew up in a small country on the edge of the pacfic plate.

This one.

I’ve always been a tinkerer (or tutū, as my dad would say). As a young lad, I’d take things apart to try gain understanding of how they work. This usually resulted in broken household objects and no greater understanding, but it laid foundations for who I am today.

An older, wiser tutū.

I spent the majority of my formative years in a small town north of Auckland, eventually moving there when I left home.

Did the obligatory young adult faffing about holding odd jobs (at one point I was screwing legs into office chairs on a furniture assembly line) before I finally found myself enrolled in a Diploma of 3D Animation course at the Media Design School, a decision that set me down the path I walk today.

Professionally, I’ve always considered myself a ‘Technical Artist’ as someone who loves to create art but has a penchant for technology. Unfortunately this has taken a more sinister turn of late thanks to Generative AI–something I’m not remotely interested in.

I’ve also long held aspirations for game development, a story telling format that captivated me from a young age. My wife and I plan to dive into indie game development, a community that is thriving back home in Aotearoa and here in Australia, where I live today.

I currently work for Wētā FX as a Senior Software Engineer. My role has always been quite niche, part software engineer, part support, part problem solver, part digital janitor.