Paulius Dascioras – Senior Artist
After working on wonderful projects like Chernobyl or Stranger Things season 4 as an art director, we are happy to welcome into our team the award-winning artist Paulius Dascioras. Today, he shares with us his experience as an artist in the movie and tv show industry.
Did you already have a connection to art during your childhood? Did you study art at some point?
I went to high school which was an art gymnasium, this is where I chose sculpture for the first time. That’s also where I started learning 3D modeling. After graduation, I studied at Vilnius Art Academy, where contemporary, conceptual art was pushed forward, but it was not my thing. After sculpture studies, I have decided to give myself another shot, at architecture this time. These were great studies and my previous skills in sculpture, drawing, and 3D helped me a lot. I got a diploma and started working, but my dreams were shattered quickly… As a naïve young architect, I have been shocked by the first contracts and a complete lack of creativity in it. Simply dancing to the flute of the client gave me no satisfaction as an artist.
How did your career in the film industry start?
One day, the professor who reviewed my final bachelor’s project contacted me with an offer to create architectural drawings of Tokyo Hotel, originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. That’s how I learned about the growing film industry in Lithuania, as these were drawings for the construction of a movie set. I met the production designer, who told me this was a “Netflix” project, a streaming platform not really known to me at the time. He offered me to start art directing straight away. I had to do the drawings asked by the production designer but also supervise the art team and the construction of the sets. You get to know people, painters, sculptors… it is an engaging and intense job!
After this first project, I stayed in touch with the designer and we worked together on several projects later. There was a rumor that something big was coming, everybody wanted to participate: Chernobyl! I was lucky to be hired and after reading the script (very well written) I knew it was going to be great! The crew worked relentlessly for nine months; we were all thrilled by the result! The series was a huge success, Design, Art direction and the whole art department received awards. It is the biggest and most awarded show made in Lithuania. No project since then was as hyped as this one.
How come you considered changing for an artist position in an outsourcing studio?
Early 2020 we have just finished working on Stranger Things and the new projects I was offered were less and less appealing to me. At the same time, my daughter was born and covid stuck in the world. life changed, but thanks to the pandemic and worldwide quarantine, I had time to think about my career and be with my family in a low-stress environment.
When you work in the Film industry, it dictates your lifestyle and now I wanted to change that. I feel I had two choices at that point, to move forward with movies or quit. The awards received for Chernobyl could help me get a job in the U.S. as a production designer, but this position is even more stressful as you’re the one making the final decisions, you are always in a hurry, always traveling, working weekends and very, very long hours… not the best way to get a good work and life balance.
I’ve heard of Goodname by another Lithuanian artist who worked at the studio in its early stage. As I was home, I had time to practice my 3D skills and I made some new art pieces to build up a portfolio. I sent it to Erikas Perl, who was as curious to meet me as I was to meet him. I was nicely surprised to see such a dynamic team getting bigger, working on big projects, and located in Vilnius. I am happy to be part of this team now as I get to improve my skills and have plenty of creative freedom.
You worked on amazing projects, what lessons have you learned from them? Do you see any differences with what you do now for video games?
Overall, I got to learn how to work fast and I improved my soft skills like organization, problem-solving, stress management or communication. For most projects we had to do a lot of research to be historically correct and replicate everything perfectly, I learned to make effective reference gathering. We have visited spectacular places where nobody is normally allowed to go. Still, artistically speaking, I lost part of my 3D and drawing skills while art directing for movies.
The main difference between movies and games is the time! When creating concept art for games you have a lot of time to think about the assets and illustrations you must create and you get a lot more creative freedom. I was missing that in the film industry. There you have roughly the same deadlines, but instead of only polishing up the concept, you also have to build it physically, paint it, transport and get it ready for shooting. Think of all the limits that you have - human resources, budget, time, and a number of people that it all has to go through to get approved... it’s a nightmare.
Last but not least, could you share with us what fuels your creativity?
Life experiences, knowledge, books, history. I avoid looking at what other artists create, I don’t visit Artstation. I feel that doing this constrains your work instantly because you will be influenced by what you saw. I prefer doing my research in history or reality by checking old photos, documentary information… And also, thanks to movies – I don’t watch movies anymore. I cant. I see acting, I hear the script being spoken and some sort of professional trauma kicks in, keeping the movie magic away from me.
Stardust, Paulius Dascioras,2020