NAME Luis Cardoso

Luis Cardoso discusses his journey from student to art director and shares his advice

JOB TITLE Art director

STUDIO Saddington Baynes

LOCATION England, UK

ABOUT

Luis Cardoso bolsters Saddington Baynes’ respected creative team with specialist CGI skills in beauty, luxury goods, and product.

WEB saddingtonbaynes.com

Can you tell us about your journey through the CG industry?

I started working with images at a young age when I joined the family business to help in the administration of a photography lab, which sadly wasn’t doing great due to the growing digital overtake. The experience led me to the Technical School of Image and Communication in Lisbon, where I graduated in Tv/video directing. After operating as a cameraman for a while, I started working at an advertising agency as a videographer and CG artist. From there, I decided to work on portfolio images, mostly for practice purposes. Those images went down really well in various CGI community forums. That popularity eventually earned me an invitation to come to work in London.

What advice would you give to those just starting a career in CG?

Experimenting was very important to me when I was just starting in the industry. Trying out new techniques helped me to develop solutions that I later used in client projects. Of course, it depends on where you’re looking to be in the future, whether that’s in a specific role within a VFX pipeline or a generalist. Personally, I’ve always found it to be incredibly rewarding to work on a personal project and be able to model, texture and light a CGI piece realistically.

What qualities, skills and abilities are essential to being an art director?

Naturally, you have to be highly creative, have a thorough understanding of visual techniques and a great eye for detail. A CGI art director is someone that looks after the lookdev, the artistic style and the quality of the visuals. In my opinion, lighting skills are very important for the role.

Because you will be relying on a team of artists, being able to work well as part of a group, with a range of people, is crucial. Also, make sure your computer skills are up to date with relevant art and design tools. Last but not least, be open to other people’s point of view and know how to cope with feedback – be it positive or negative.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

I love what I do and the variety of challenging but beautiful imagery I get to work on, such as for luxury brands Bremont and Graff Diamonds, to cosmetics including Estée Lauder and Jo Malone London, and beverage brands like Buchanan’s Whisky. It all differs from project to project!