Lucas Camargo is a director at Brooklyn-based animation company Roof Studio. “You can wear many hats during a production,” he says. “I’m not only directing — I also draw, animate and model.”
Let’s find out more about Roof‘s Camargo and his process…
What’s your favorite part of directing animation?
Creating worlds and imagining different solutions to an idea. The nature of creating implies storytelling, which helps to justify and find design choices. It is a fundamental part of building worlds.
Rosemarie’s Life
Most of the time, people won’t see these ideas on the screen but navigating around and thinking about a character’s story enables me to establish features like their silhouettes or their outfits. All of these details bring depth to them and are something I enjoy.
What’s your least favorite?
Having to deal with clients’ mandates on creative things.
What is your most productive time of the day?
Mornings. I think each person has a time of the day when their energy flows at a peak, so it is important to understand that and to harness that energy. With time, I found that mornings get my ideas flowing, and somehow that time after waking up is closer to my dreaming chunk of the day, so more surreal thoughts bleed in.
How has the COVID shutdown affected the way your studio has been working?
The transition to WFH was seamless. In many ways, we were already set up for virtual workflows because we work with global artists. We can access the machines in the office and work like we are there. Having said that, creativity can be hard when you’re enclosed at home. I am used to going outside for inspiration and sitting in coffee shops to draw and develop ideas. Thankfully, I live in a big studio space and ended up at least having some space at home to create.
Rosemarie’s Life
If you didn’t have this job, what would you be doing instead?
Something similar. I am a creative person, so I focus all my energy on a project. Creating is a fulfilling thing in my life, so I wouldn’t be doing anything drastically different.
Why did you choose this profession?
I started working as a designer and moved into the roles of art director and creative director for advertising for most of my career. The switch to directing animations was something that attracted me as an outlet for my creativity, which happened four years ago. So, for most of my career, I was on a completely different path — until I got tired of just doing advertising and changed course.
Can you name some recent projects you have worked on?
Rosemarie’s Life is a 3D-animated short about an elderly WWII survivor. In sharing her life story, Rosemarie becomes a source of inspiration for her caretaker. The film was part of an outreach campaign for CURAVIVA, an alliance of the government and healthcare organizations in Switzerland, to promote careers in long-term healthcare.
Unbreakable
The other project was a CG short called Unbreakable about a stuffed animal named Barbara the Bunny, who is expelled from the toy factory for being “defective” due to her persistent cough from a rare lung disease. She desperately seeks treatment all over town before coming upon a sweet toy repair owner who knows exactly how to fix her up. The film was for biopharmaceutical company Insmed to bring awareness to this rare lung condition called NTM, which is often difficult to identify.
Both projects have won a number of industry awards, including Cannes Lions.
What is the project that you are most proud of?
In my professional work, I’d say Rosemarie’s Life. The project included 45 characters! I had to work on so many character designs. It was a challenge but also very rewarding.
In my personal work, I am very proud of my art project UntitledArmy. It is an ongoing project that lets me develop some non-commercial pieces.
Rosemarie’s Life
Name three pieces of technology you can’t live without.
Coffee, sketchbook, music
What social media channels do you follow?
Mostly Instagram and Twitter. It is an outlet to test ideas and connect with people and other artists. Instagram is where I get to post my art project as UntitledArmy almost every day. As an artist, it is good to get those small, rewarding moments when you post something.
Do you listen to music while you work?
Music is key. I am always listening to something. It drives the energy to create. I don’t have favorite music to work to. I put on music that I know will drive the mood I need.
What do you do to de-stress from it all?
I think about how we are all going to die someday, and the universe will tear apart billions of years from now. Putting things into scale and perspective makes the mundane things become even more mundane.
