I had the chance to work with LightVFX on one of those projects that pushes you out of your comfort zone in the right way. The Seraphim creature for Coachella 2026, featured in Anyma’s show, was exactly that; ambitious, abstract, and technically demanding from day one.
I worked across two characters on this show, Seraphim and the Thunder Goddess. For both, I was responsible for the full suit and body setup, making sure everything held together from structure to final lookdev, especially considering how unforgiving large-scale projection can be.
The Seraphim concept was already strong, an all-seeing, feathered entity, something between divine and alien. Translating that into a believable digital asset meant finding the right balance between anatomy, rhythm, and detail. It had to feel intentional from every angle, even in motion.
Once the sculpt was solid, I explored different approaches for the feather system. Cards, instancing, procedural variations. None of them gave me the level of control I needed until I moved into Yeti. That’s where things clicked. Yeti allowed me to art-direct the flow, density, and breakup in a much more natural way, while still keeping things manageable in production.
At some point the system stopped feeling technical and started feeling alive. The repetition fades, variation kicks in, and suddenly the surface has rhythm. That shift is always the goal.
For the Thunder Goddess, the challenge leaned more into presence through costume and body design. One concrete example, we layered materials in the suit to react differently under stage lighting, so highlights would break and shift during movement. That helped the character read clearly even from a distance, which is critical in a live show environment.
The collaboration on this project was strong across the board. Huge congrats to the team at LightVFX, they were responsible for the full visual experience and brought everything together in a way that felt cohesive and powerful. Seeing the characters integrated into the show, synced with music and lighting, is always where the work really comes alive.
Also, shoutout to my good friend Ian Spriggs for the incredible work on Lisa’s likeness, and for handling the head likeness on this project. That level of fidelity is not easy to achieve, and he nailed it as always.
Projects like this are a reminder of why I enjoy this space. You take a risk on something unfamiliar, you build the system from scratch, and piece by piece it starts to make sense. In the end, you get something that couldn’t have existed any other way.