[FRAMED] Lead Lookdev Artist, Alexandre Canniccioni, Melbourne

If you could travel back in time, which film, TV series, advert, or immersive project would you love to have worked on?

Aliens, Jurassic Park, Jumanji & The Terminator. These are the movies that really sparked my curiosity about CG as a kid.

Which Framestore character do you feel you’re most like?

Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy.

What fictional world or place would you like to visit?

I would love to get a wizardry education at Hogwarts!

Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in VFX?

Seeing super close-up, hero CG creatures in films — and realising how believable they could be — is what inspired me to pursue a career in VFX.

The DREAM project would entail:

Creepy monsters that get increasingly gory injuries as the movie progresses are my favourites and I’ve been lucky enough to get the chance to work on many such endeavours throughout my career. A plus if it’s an iconic creature that gets engraved in pop culture.

How do you explain what you do to someone who doesn’t work in VFX?

This is always a tricky one — even among my fellow CG artist peers — and I still wish I had the perfect answer. As lookdev artists, our role is to make the detailed work of modellers and texture artists truly shine. We’re responsible for adding the final touches to an asset’s build, defining how worn or pristine a surface feels through the way it interacts with light.

Using a versatile toolbox of shaders, we create materials that mimic everyday surfaces like wood, metal, plastic, glass, and skin — and sometimes materials with entirely imagined, fantasy, or sci-fi properties.

Describe your career journey into the exciting world of VFX.

It all started in my childhood, when I got a Super Nintendo for Christmas. While playing, I couldn’t stop wondering how video games were made. A few internet searches later, I’d installed a piece of software called RPG Maker, which let me create SNES- and Game Boy–style games.

As the next generation of consoles arrived, my curiosity shifted to how 3D games were made — and not long after, to how super-realistic CG in movies came to life. From there, I dove into every tutorial I could find, both online and in print. I even remember reading the entire Blender 2.0 user manual, which was almost 1,000 pages long.

I went on to study a three-year public college course in the Quebec countryside, in the small town of Matane. I never actually completed the degree — I skipped a relaxation course. Whale songs weren’t really my jam.

I started my career in 2010 as a junior texture artist at Modus FX, a now-defunct studio near Montreal. Lookdev had always been my goal, but it’s typically a role that requires a fair amount of experience. I officially moved into lookdev at Modus a few years before the studio closed, which turned out to be perfect timing.

Around 2013, Framestore opened its Montreal studio, and I joined as one of the early hires — we were only about 20 people at the time, with JP and Chris Lawrence at the helm. I came on board as a lighter, despite having no formal experience in the role, as that’s the usual pathway into lookdev there.

In 2016, I set my sights on Australia and took a lighting role at Iloura. Over the years, I moved between Iloura and Framestore — Iloura becoming Method, then back to Framestore, and back again as Method eventually became Framestore.

It was truly a dream come true: working at my favourite studio, in my favourite city, in my favourite country.

What does a day in the life of a Lead Lookdev Artist look like?

Coffee before anything. Then it’s straight into reviewing my own renders and the team’s. From there, we kick off reviews — I’ll lead the team’s internal sessions, and the versions that are ready get passed on to supervisor reviews.

I also review texture versions, making sure maps are split in a way that gives us the control and quality we need to deliver each asset. There can be multiple rounds of reviews in a single day.

I’ll check lighting renders as well, making sure everything is behaving as expected — and digging in when it’s not. On top of that, I’ll join any meetings where my input is needed.

Since lookdev sits right in the middle of the pipeline, we get to collaborate with a wide range of departments, including animation, rigging, modelling, texturing, FX, environments, lighting and compositing.

Favorite artform?

I love traditional art forms, but I really enjoy every medium. To me, they’re all just tools for conveying an image and sparking an emotional response.

What is the last piece of art that inspired you?

I really love Vecna’s design in the latest season of Stranger Things. Exactly the kind of stuff I’d want to work on!

How do you unlock your creativity?

I take inspiration from art I love and try to apply techniques and mediums that are employed in these styles. Lately, I have been really digging the dark Japanese Y2K aesthetics and cyber sigilism. I have been learning a lot about Blender to create my own characters in these styles. I like to dabble in so many things that it’s hard to focus on just one. Traditional painting, jewellery making, clothes alterations, car modifications, and 3d illustrations are just some of my creative outlets. I recently got my hands on a projector, and it would be cool to combine CG illustration with light mapping!

From where do you seek inspiration?

My Instagram feed and saved collections!

Ceramics, makeup artists, fashion designers, photography, old magazines, illustrators, sculptors — My algorithm knows too much about me and feeds me a constant stream of inspiring material to look at.

Share the best piece of advice you’ve ever received:

Not advice I’ve necessarily received — more what’s worked for me. Believe in yourself, keep honing your craft, take opportunities when they come, spend a few years at a studio, move around, and eventually find your niche and your people.

What tech do you need that hasn’t been invented yet?

Hover tech… Where are our hoverboards and speedracers?

Alexandre Canniccioni, you’ve been [FRAMED].