How a self-taught artist became a concept designer for blockbusters like The Avengers and Spider-Man: No Way Home

As well as legendary talents from Japan, such as Otomo Katsuhiro, Hayao Miyazaki, Mamoru Oshii, Kentaro Miura and Akira Kurosawa. I also admire cinematographers such as Roger Deakins, Emmanuel Lubezki and Greig Fraser.

Then there are the Old Masters like Caravaggio, Leonardo da Vinci and Leyendecker. I could go on forever because there are so many brilliant artists, directors and creative minds. Every year I discover new ones who continue to inspire me.

I used to paint digitally in Photoshop and eventually moved into animation and 3D for my artistic work. I love Blender, but there are many other tools that do an equally good job of helping me bring the ideas in my head to life, including digital cameras. I’m a big fan of Fujifilm.

I never settle into any mould – I like to explore, experiment and see what works. My career began in digital painting. I’m self-taught, but I’ve explored every adjacent area, including traditional art – I drew a lot as a kid but only learned ink and pencil seriously later – photography, 3D, animation and recently, AI.

My mind is curious about how things work and where they can go. I love seeing artists create incredible work, and having that mix of inspiration and envy drives me to keep improving.

I used to believe in dogmas: work-life balance, working hard, working smart. I kept journals, planned my days by the hour, built routines. But over time I realised we all try to fit into familiar moulds and groupthink, when in reality we’re all unique. Looking back on 20 years of successes and failures, I see there’s no mould for me, only intuition guiding where my work or loved ones needed attention.

Balance is a constant act, built on hard compromises. True happiness, I’ve learned, comes from that delicate dance between wants, needs and musts – and sometimes, doing what you don’t want is what sustains it most.

My career has always come in waves of intensity. When I first entered the film industry and was landing one blockbuster after another, I thought each project would top the last.

There was one particular project that I got offered to work on, which back then I felt would’ve been a life-changing experience on top of what I’d already managed to achieve. I was euphoric and had really high hopes where things would go afterwards, and… it simply didn’t work out.

Bad timing, bad fit. I was disappointed, but it taught me a lesson: curb expectations and focus on the present. I stopped caring whether the next thing was the right thing and started caring whether it was with the right people. That shift turned success into a pleasant surprise rather than a source of disappointment.

They’re similar in spirit, but also different at the same time. On a technical level they’re the same: you use the same tools and go through the same creative process, with similar rounds of feedback.

The differences emerge in why you make what you make, the purpose behind the work. Games are about systems and interaction; film is about emotion and control. In film, everything is authored, composed and timed.

In games, you design a world where the player becomes part of that authorship. Film teaches you to build emotion through imagery; games teach you to build meaning through experience.

I would say leave your ego at the door. Collaboration isn’t about proving how good you are. Instead, it’s about helping the project become the best version of itself.

When you work with a team – directors, VFX artists, designers – your ideas are just one thread in a much bigger tapestry. The key is to stay open, flexible, and yet still bring conviction to your part.

The best teams I’ve worked with were full of people who respected each other’s craft and shared an obsession with quality. You’re hired because the director, production designer or producer sees how your expertise can elevate the project. Being collaborative and dependable is just as important as being talented.

When we started Learn Squared, the goal was simple: to make art education taught by working professionals accessible to anyone, anywhere. To show how professionals learn from one another and to reveal that pattern to students: what experienced artists focus on and what they discard.

It was something you didn’t see in online education up until then. To get that elsewhere, you had to attend highly sought-after and extremely expensive art schools. We wanted to create a gateway to the professional world for a fraction of that otherwise prohibitive cost.

It all stemmed from the fact that all the founders of Learn Squared were self taught artists and we knew the pain of finding quality education without going hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt. I think that’s what made it unique.

White Rabbit, without a doubt. Not because it won awards, but because it was the first time that I fully put myself into something which was truly mine.

It was co-created with my friend and creative partner, Emily Yang, who brought so much of her own vision and soul into it. Working with her reminded me how powerful true collaboration can be, just like when I started Learn Squared, when both people are equally invested in the story and the message behind it.

The project came from a deeply personal place and was built completely independently, with people we love and respect. It represents everything that I’ve earned over 20 years: storytelling, art direction, discipline, but also everything I’ve unlearned – letting go of control, trusting others and embracing chaos.

I want to keep developing my art and my soul – directing, creating and pushing new projects forward. Some things are already in the works that I can’t talk about yet. I’m also exploring what AI can do to empower artists and trying to find the right place for it in the creative process.

Don’t chase style; chase substance. Learn the fundamentals, but also learn who you are. The industry changes fast, tools evolve, trends come and go. What stays is your curiosity, the experience you build over time by making your own choices (good and bad), and your ability to solve problems creatively.

Don’t be afraid to fail. My entire career is built on failing forward; every mistake was a lesson, including some harsh ones. And success tastes different when it’s earned, especially through failure.