Meet Marcos Vaz: Art Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Marcos Vaz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marcos, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
Motion design /animation is a weird industry. A lot of people don’t know exactly what you do or have misconceptions about it. There is a discussion about art vs design that are two complete different things and most people outside the business think that you are an artist. And with that the image of a free – work-very-little – no-need-experiences -or-degree type of job. But in fact is probably one of the most demanding and difficult job to do with a really high rate of people suffering with burnout syndrome. 

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am focused on sports, eSports and gaming design. It might sound cliche, but for me, the best work is always the one i am involved at the moment. Every project comes with a unique set of challenges that makes it fun trying to solve or figure out. But i can tell people consider my work for league of legends in china, for the movie Antman and the Wasp and the Ninja brand as elevated than the rest of my work. I’ve been working on my area for almost 30 years now, and i can tell you that a lot of the tools we use in our daily basis change rapidly and you must be eager to learn new things and techniques to avoid be left behind. For a while, i thought that i wanted create a piece of work to be immortal some how. Like a paint in a museum or a film in library of congress. But today, i believe my goal for the next years is to train and help some upcoming designers in my field.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
With the pandemic, i learned to see the city in a different light. I used to try to find different restaurants and movies theaters around the city, but now, i try to find parks and outdoors p[aces to hike. California is one of the best states for a roadtrip. You can go see the mountains and lakes in San Bernardino , visit wineries in Malibu and further away in temecula and solvang, You can visit the deserts plains in Lancaster and Palmdale, check the poppy seeds while you there. You can go fishing in the lakes on the santa clarita valley as well the famous Vasquez rocks park. You can find your inner-self i ojai. Walk in the magnificent gardens of the Huntington library in Pasadena, Drive around the coast from santa barbara to san diego with a pit stop in la jolla to see the seals on the beach.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
All the people in my life that made me the way i am today. From my family to my teachers, Former partners and current ones. But i have to say..Neville Brody.. I found his book of graphic design 40 years ago and that was the spark for me to focus in my area instead of architecture.

Website: www.estadodesonho.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcosvaz2/
Other: https://www.behance.net/marcosvaz