luca pisanu
LOS ANGELES

Drawn from
curiosity.

ART DIRECTOR & VISUAL DEVELOPMENT

Olivia, a black-and-white character painting by Luca Pisanu

Forgotten Island.

Explore the project
A bridge through the imagined world of Nakali — Forgotten Island

Plein air.

01 / 15
PERSONAL / GAME DEVELOPMENTIN DEVELOPMENT
A lone survivor beneath Nookvale’s orange Afterglow sun, with layered purple hills and a navy skyA cozy little apocalypse.
An independent game by Luca Pisanu

Nookvale

Explore the game ↗Cozy zombie survival · iOS alpha

The blog.

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Warm sunset lighting in Nookvale, Luca’s cozy zombie survival game for iOS
NOOKVALE / DEV 1

A cozy little
apocalypse.

Read the devlog
ITALY / LONDON / LOS ANGELES
Luca Pisanu outdoors in Los AngelesLUCA PISANU / LOS ANGELES, CA

About.

I’m an Italian Art Director and Visual Development Artist based in Los Angeles, currently at DreamWorks Animation.

I make worlds for films and games. Outside the studio, I paint, take photographs, and develop independent games through Soft Orbit Studio.

Recent experiences

  • DreamWorks
  • Disney
  • Netflix
  • Apple
  • Insomniac Games
  • Guerrilla Games
Say hello
All work
DREAMWORKS ANIMATION / VISUAL DEVELOPMENT

Forgotten Island.

I feel incredibly lucky to have been part of Forgotten Island from the very beginning all the way through the end of production.

It was a wonderful experience getting to explore the world of the film as it evolved, from some of the earliest ideas and experiments, when we were still discovering what the movie could be, through to the visual language that eventually defined it.

I’m deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to work alongside Production Designer Ryan Carlson, Art Director Chris Grun, and directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, as well as so many incredibly talented artists throughout the production.

Here is a selection of Vis Dev work I created for the film at different stages of its development.

01 / FORGOTTEN ISLAND

Selected paintings

02 / FORGOTTEN ISLAND

FINDING
NAKALI’S
LANGUAGE

The very first painting I did for Forgotten Island. At this point, we didn’t have any character or production design yet, so everything was still wide open. It’s really fun to look back at this now and see how much the film evolved.

One of the most special moments of this project was having the incredible opportunity to design the DreamWorks opening logo in the style of Forgotten Island. Seeing it come to life was such a joy, and I’m truly grateful to have been trusted with something so iconic!

03 / FORGOTTEN ISLAND

COLOR
KEYS

One of the very first explorations of Jo, back when we were still discovering her personality, shapes, and overall look.

This was part of an early exploratory phase, before the character designers began their dedicated design work on the main cast. Just one of many fun little sketches that helped get the creative process started!

04 / FORGOTTEN ISLAND

THE
PHILIPPINES

05 / FORGOTTEN ISLAND

DWENDE
VILLAGE

06 / FORGOTTEN ISLAND

MODULAR TREES

I also had the pleasure of designing a modular tree-building system, using just a handful of reusable parts to create a wide variety of trees directly in 3D. A really fun challenge to explore!

+ 01 / TURNAROUNDS
+ 01 / TREE TURNAROUND
+ 02 / TREE TURNAROUND
+ 03 / TREE TURNAROUND
+ 04 / TREE TURNAROUND
+ 05 / TREE TURNAROUND
+ 02 / MODULAR STUDIES

Building the forest.

07 / FORGOTTEN ISLAND

MYTHICAL
BIRD

With gratitude.

Production Designer
Ryan Carlson
Art Director
Chris Grun
Directors
Joel Crawford
Januel Mercado
Visual Development
Luca Pisanu

Thank you so much for taking the time to explore this collection of artwork. I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse behind the scenes of Forgotten Island.

A huge thank you once again to the incredible team of rockstars who brought this film to life and made the entire journey so inspiring, fun, and unforgettable. I feel incredibly lucky to have been part of it! ❤

Artwork © DreamWorks Animation.Original collection
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