One-man CG powerhouse Vladislav Solovjov shares his director’s cut of eight beautifully rendered 10-second product animations created for skincare brand LYMA – each one designed to introduce a key product benefit.

Vladislav Solovjov: “The biggest challenge of this project, besides the time frame of only three weeks for production, was the overall visual complexity of relatively simple geometric elements. Each animation needed to metaphorically reflect scientific terms and features in a minimalistic yet boutique-looking style.

“By this, I mean cell division, hydration, microbiology, epigenetics, immunity, elasticity, and others. Sounds like science, right? But it needs to be easy for visual perception. That was our primary goal.
 

“Each animation needed to metaphorically reflect scientific terms and features in a minimalistic yet boutique-looking style.”

 
“I decided to use glass and bronze as the main materials for all scenes and shots. It allowed me to execute lighting, reflections, and refractions beautifully. I created a few custom HDRI maps to achieve excellent and round reflections without using heavy and complex area lights.

“This solution was quick, effective, and it looks fantastic. Of course, it reduced the total render time for each scene, giving me more space to work on compositing and editing.

“We had a few rounds of concepts and feedback trying to nail the look we all wanted. Luckily, we got some pretty stunning images reasonably quickly, pushing the production to the next stage in a matter of a few days, which was very helpful, given the tight deadlines.”
 
 

 
Client: LYMA

Director/animator: Vladislav Solovjov