Meet Akshay Tiwari | Designer and experimental artist

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

Hi Akshay, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Art found me at a young age and it’s been a passion ever since. Alongside my artistic endeavors, I also developed a knack for math during my school days. You could often find me sitting at the front of the class, sketching away on the last pages of my books.

Starting with simple graphite on paper as a child, my artistic journey has evolved into experimenting with pixels and data manipulation today. From India, where I was introduced to the intersection of art and design, I pursued a major in ‘Experimental Media Arts’. This phase allowed me to explore unconventional ways of blending art and math.

However, as with any experimentation, I found myself questioning how to apply these newfound skills practically. This led me to Savannah, where I enrolled in SCAD’s Motion Media program. Here, I encountered inspiring professors and fellow designers who helped me contextualize my skills in motion design.

Following my time at SCAD, I embarked on various commercial projects for film, TV, and advertising as a full-time designer at The Mill, New York. Specializing mainly in 3D design and motion, I’ve had the opportunity to showcase my work across different platforms and work with brands like Netflix, Meta, Google, IBM and many more.

Despite the technical aspects of my work, art remains the constant driving force in my life. It serves as a vessel for exploring my curiosities and presenting questions to the world around me. Through art, I continue to navigate the evolving landscape of creativity and its significance.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
While I appreciate design in all its forms, my true passion lies in 3D design. I specialize in procedural design, a method where I craft “recipes” rather than manipulate individual polygons. This involves using code and visual scripting to solve the puzzle of each moving image element, piece by piece.

Commercially, I adopt a highly conceptual approach in the early stages of a project, allowing for abstraction through design. I strive to understand the core of the client’s creative brief and showcase it through experimental design under careful art direction. This ensures that I remain grounded in both the narrative and technical aspects of every project, whether it’s advertising campaigns for Google Pixel or title sequences for Netflix series.

In my personal projects, I follow a similar approach, but as both the designer and client, exploring my own curiosities. Some of these projects, such as titles for the NODE festival and a Moon Knight fan film I directed, have received recognition at festivals like Promax North America, Applied Arts, and Motion Awards.

During my first year at The Mill, I had the opportunity to pitch, design, and animate the titles for the Netflix horror anthology, “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.” This experience, where opportunity met preparation, resulted in a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in the ‘Main Title Design’ category this year. It has also won a gold award at the Australian Effects & Animation Fest and an AICP award, achievements of which I am immensely proud.

However, the most fulfilling moments for me as a digital artist are those instances where my vision aligns perfectly with the final outcome. When the craft embodies the vision, it brings me the greatest pride. Digital design may seem limitless, but it’s the meticulous decision-making process that makes each design truly special. Behind every exceptional piece of work lies countless hours of experimentation and creativity.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
It could very well be a food exploration trip with particular places like Tabla, Bhojanic, Chai Pani, Botiwala, Madras Mantra and many more Indian places that add their tasteful twist to Indian cuisine!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This answer could be the longest credits crawl to a movie that is yet to end! In my opinion, art is mostly a selfish pursuit and it is incredible to meet friends, mentors and have a family that supports you through the journey. Now that I look back on the thousand ways a kid with my aptitudes could have grown up in India, I always admire the open-mindedness combined with rigor and discipline that my parents instilled in me to follow through on my dreams. I always feel gifted to have them and my brother as my biggest fans. Throughout my journey, I’ve had the privilege of learning from remarkable mentors, some of whom have become cherished friends. They’ve not only imparted invaluable skills and tools but also offered fresh perspectives on the importance of artists in fostering meaningful connections. I would like to shout out a few of them – Serjan Burlak, Rohan Dalvi, Adam Swaab, Kishore Darak and Arvind Venkatadari. As an artist and designer, we draw inspiration from so many ‘silent mentors’ like books, music and other media too. Of these few books, comics, artists and movies that I would dedicate a lot of my thoughts to would be – ‘Understanding Comics’, ‘Vagabond’, ‘Ping Pong’ by Taiyo Matsumoto, Frank Miller, Jim Lee, Trent Reznor, Tool and da Vinci, of course. Also, last but not the least, shoutout to good friend Miloni Shah who made this interview happen!

Website: www.akshaytiwari.design

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/9_to_phi/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshaytiwaridesign/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/9toPhi

Image Credits
Akshay Tiwari