What 30+ Years in VFX Teaches You, 7 tips in an evolving era
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After more than 30 years in visual effects, I can honestly say the technology has changed beyond recognition. When I started my career in the BBC design team in London, the tools were slower, the workflows were heavier, and a lot of what we now take for granted simply didn’t exist.
Today, we’re working in a world of real-time engines, virtual production, AI-assisted workflows, and increasingly seamless pipelines between creative and technical teams.
But for all that change, the biggest lessons haven’t really been about software. They’ve been about people, creative vision, problem-solving, and perspective.
Here’s what 30+ years in VFX has taught me.
1. The tools will always change. Taste matters more.
Every few years, our industry seems to reinvent itself. New platforms emerge, new techniques become standard, and suddenly the “futblog-padderure” becomes the baseline.
If you build your career purely around tools, you’ll always be chasing the next update. But if you build it around taste, judgement, storytelling, and the ability to see what makes an image truly work, you stay valuable. When I was at Ravensbourne College of Art and Design completing my degree in Graphic Design back in 1995, so much of the course centred around visual narratives, stories, coming up with abstract concepts. This was a college that for its time was fully loaded with tech. I’m glad that I learnt those basic principles as it carried me in my VFX career.
Software evolves. Creative instinct compounds.
2. Great VFX is invisible for a reason.
Some of the best work in our industry is the work nobody notices.
As we celebrate David Attenborough’s 100th in a couple of months, I reflect on how fortunate I’ve been with my company Moonraker VFX to have been a part of delivering many flagship series for clients like the BBC and Apple on hit series like Planet Earth III, Ocean, Earth at Night in colour for example where creative instinct and subtle augmentation were highly skilled applications of visual effects.
These weren’t extraordinary but crafted with instinct to serve the story so well that they disappeared into it.
That took me years to fully appreciate. Early on, like many people, I was always drawn to spectacle and yes that came around with projects we have created for Cosm and The Sphere, Bigger shots. More complexity. More obvious craft. But over time, you realise the most effective work is often the most disciplined. The shot that supports emotion. The detail that sells reality. The restraint that keeps the audience immersed.
Sometimes the smartest creative decision is not to show what you can do, but to know what the story needs.
3. The real job is solving problems under pressure.
People sometimes imagine VFX as purely artistic or purely technical. In reality, it’s both, and neither.
At its core, this industry is about solving problems. Constantly.
Budgets shift. Schedules compress. Briefs evolve. Shots arrive late. Ideas change in the edit. The challenge is not just producing beautiful work. It’s producing the right work, at the right time, under real-world conditions.
Over three decades, I’ve learned that calmness is a creative skill. So is adaptability. So is knowing when to push, when to simplify, and when to find another route entirely.
4. Culture shows up on screen.
This is one I believe more strongly now than ever.
The quality of the work is deeply connected to the culture behind it.
When teams feel trusted, heard, and united around a shared goal, the work gets better. When people are overwhelmed, disconnected, or treated like cogs in a pipeline, it shows. Maybe not immediately, but eventually.
The strongest studios aren’t just built on talent. They’re built on standards, collaboration, and an environment where good people can do their best work consistently.
Technology can accelerate a process. It cannot replace a healthy creative culture.
5. Relationships outlast reels.
A great showreel can open a door. A strong reputation keeps it open.
Over the years, I’ve come to value relationships more and more — with clients, collaborators, artists, producers, and teams. Our industry is smaller than it looks, and people remember how you work just as much as what you make.
Do you stay steady under pressure?
Do you communicate clearly?
Do you bring solutions, not just problems?
Do you treat people well?
That matters. A lot.
6. Curiosity is a competitive advantage.
The moment you think you’ve seen it all in VFX is probably the moment you start falling behind.
What keeps this industry exciting is that there is always something new to learn. A new method. A new visual language. A new production model. A new generation of artists seeing the craft differently. That’s not just in the office but outside influences too, seeing what people are doing in galleries, museums, theme parks, immersive cinema, all the markets we service.
Staying curious is how you stay relevant. It’s also how you stay inspired.
7. In the end, it’s still about the shot.
For all the big conversations around pipelines, platforms, AI, and the future of production, the truth is simple: it still comes down to the work.
Does the shot hold up?
Does it tell the story?
Does it create emotion, belief, impact?
After 30+ years, that standard hasn’t changed.
The tools are faster. The expectations are higher. The pace is relentless. But the heart of great VFX is still the same: craft in service of story.
That’s the lesson I keep coming back to.
And it’s probably why, after all these years, I still love it.
