Rocket League is the physics-based car soccer phenomenon we all know and love and with a high skill-ceiling both on and off the pitch.
Whilst plenty perfect their craft by hitting nasty double taps, pogo Mustys and much more, others decide to put their right brain to work.
Meet Renan “Kogut” Kogut, a Brazilian animator who has taken the Rocket League community by storm.
The South American artist has a varied and decorated career having worked with BBC for the kids’ show “Yakka Dee” and with Valve for the Steam Community Awards, but it is his work around the sports-racing hybrid that has placed him in the public eye.
Recently featured in Jared “SunlessKhan” Zook’s latest video, the second biggest YouTube channel for the Psyonix title, Kogut is peaking professionally and we just couldn’t help ourselves from approaching the community personality.
GINX TV had the honour to sit down with Kogut himself to chat about his work, his inspiration and his story for 33 Boost.
@SunlessKhan, I just cannot stop animating this character. 😆Hope you like it!
— kogut (@kogut_r) June 22, 2021
Likes + Follows + RTs much appreciated! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/FUHZMFuQef
Graduating with a design degree and a digital media minor even living a year in New York city perfecting his craft, the content creator has been animating for 10 plus years, with the second half of those doing so professionally.
Like every good creative, Kogut is bombarded with creative thoughts in the unlikeliest of times and places.
“Ideas usually come to me when I don’t expect them. Maybe I’m showering, maybe I’m falling asleep, maybe I’m watching RLCS and I think ‘oh, that could be a great animation!’”, the 29-year-old said. “I have a document with all my written ideas so I don’t forget them.”
- Read more: Rocket League's Lawler on getting in (and out) of the RLCS, his new TV show, and being a punk
He developed a profound love for the Rocket League title and community in its early days, and he considers himself “an old school player.”
“I watched RLCS Season 1. I cheer for every team [Francesco] ‘Kuxir’ [Cinquemani] is on. I’m a Kux fan. I still play with the same friends I started playing with back in early 2016.”
Since moving from Brazil to Portugal a year and a half ago, Kogut has had to “compromise” and play with "SAM ping” to keep in touch with his friends back home.
"THIS IS ROCKET LEAGUE!" animation. That's it. That's the tweet.@CallumTheShogun@FindableCarpet@RLEsports
— kogut (@kogut_r) June 14, 2021
Likes + Follows + RTs always appreciated! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/CwzvXvNpmc
One of his most well-known works was his recent animation based on the iconic “This is Rocket League” call from the Season 5 World Championship, the video game’s most famous goal.
The video went viral, in 24 hours it surpassed 60,000 views and 5,000 likes, hitting the timelines of casters Callum “Shogun” Keir and Kevin “FindableCarpet” Brown; the original casters for the immortal NRG shot.
Although Kogut states most of his work takes around one to one-and-a-half weeks to complete while juggling a full-time job, this masterpiece stretched the animator.
“The ‘This is Rocket League’ animation? I almost cried [chuckles]. It was done almost entirely by hand. I wanted [that project] to be in my portfolio”, the Brazilian shared confirming the short took him double the usual, a complete three weeks to finish.
Living a busy life, Kogut still manages to grind the game playing in Europe servers, one of the toughest regions in the world. “I’m a tryhard at heart… I don’t know how to freestyle. I barely know how to flip reset or do any fancy stuff”, he said humbly with a peak rank of Grand Champion 2 in duos.
One of his many creative inspirations within the scene which motivated Kogut to get involved was and still is Jalen “Jayski”, motion graphic designer and intel source Shift Co-Founder.
The Intel World Open will mark the first truly international event for @RocketLeague / @RLEsports. That also means new looks, right?
— Jalen / Jayski (@1jayski) September 15, 2019
Here are my concepts for jerseys, decals, and banners for future RL National Teams.
RT + Likes always appreciated. 🤞🏾🧡
🇺🇸 • 🇨🇦 • 🏴 • 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/tZoGGbwzt6
Talking about his career in retrospect, Kogut didn't reach for colleagues and peers but kept it closer to home. “My wife; she is a great supporter of my animations and my number one fan. Also, shoutout to my good friends Vitor and Eric, we play threes every Friday.”
“I’m sharing with the world what I have fun with”, he shared gleefully. “If I inspire one person to actually make content for the community, I am happy. I hope to inspire someone just like Jayski inspired me.”
Kogut plans to continue to work within the Rocket League community and every new project that comes his way as we wish him the very best in all his future endeavours.
Make sure to follow 33 Boost for more exclusive content, to follow and contact Kogut to create more marvellous work and to keep the ball rolling.