Samsonite's Craftmanship - Mattepaintings

I’m thrilled to share one of the projects I worked as a Matte Painter & Environment Artist; the “Craftmanship” commercial for Samsonite, under the direction of Method & Madness.

This was an ambitious challenge — instead of simply showing product tests in lab settings, we created an entirely new, hostile ecosystem: a kind of “Earth 2.0” that would serve as the ultimate proving ground for Samsonite luggage. (Credit to the concept team for forging that vision.)

My contributions included:

Building environment matte paintings and background plates to support the stylized world we were creating

Integrating 2D and 3D elements so that the transitions between painted and CG were seamless

Collaborating closely with lighting, FX, and compositing teams to ensure consistency and mood

Helping transform visual development concepts into final, usable assets

From a technical standpoint, the entire project was done in Maya as main DCC, Houdini for FX, Redshift as render engine and Nuke for compositing (and putting together the 2.5D DMP).. Among the trickiest aspects were simulating clouds, crystals, collision effects, dust, condensation, popping rocks — physics-driven elements that had to feel grounded yet dramatic.

Timing was tight, and part of the team was relatively junior (which meant extra rounds of feedback, experiments, and iteration). But thanks to everyone’s patience and dedication, we pulled through and delivered something special for such an iconic brand.

It’s always inspiring when your role, in a larger pipeline, makes a meaningful impact on the emotional tone, depth, and believability of a project. I’m grateful to have been a part of this.

CREDITS

From here my most sincere gratitude to every single person involved including:

Creative Director (Samsonite): Douglas Goh.
Production: Wen Hao & Christian Fontaine.
VFX Supervisor: Cristian Spagnuolo.

FX Artists:
- Yating Tan (CG Lead)
- Bervyn C (GC Generalist)
- Jasmine Paula (CG Generalist)
- Chetan Walia (CG Generalist)
- Bryan Canales (CG Generalist. Houdini Artist)
- Amandine Bonnanfant (Computer Technician)
- Andrea Previn (FX Artist. Houdini Artist)
- Hisham Taufik (Lighting Artist)
- Tan Hui Kwan (CG Artist)
- Valdemaras Dzengo (Houdini Artist)

Concept & Look Dev: Manuel Camino & Najeeb Alnajjar.
Matte Painting Artists: Koke Nuñez
Music & SFX: Lyris Studio.