Meet Mauricio Botero Ruiz | Visualization Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mauricio Botero Ruiz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mauricio, what’s your definition for success?
Personally, success is as simple as taking a decision and committing to it for as long as it is necessary.

On 2012, I made the decision that I wanted to work in visual effects movies no matter the cost. After some guidance in my undergraduate degree in Colombia, I started to find resources in my spare time to learn what it takes to be a visual effects artist and which discipline was the right one for me.

My college didn’t offered the education for it, but I was able to get enough information through instructors and in the Internet to find educational resources on video post production, digital compositing, and animation in form of video tutorials, books, and podcasts. In the process I perfected my english comprehension since all these materials were available only in English.

It took me a whole college career and a master degree in Animation here in the US to realize that I wanted to be a previs animator in the visual effects industry. I had many roles throughout my professional life such as video editor, film colorist, motion graphics designer and animator, digital compositor, and 3D animator before getting a job at The Third Floor (based in Los Angeles and Atlanta) where I discovered that previs and postvis is my true passion.

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.
I’m a visualization artist working in movies and television series for clients in Hollywood. I work as an employee in a company called The Third Floor Inc, which is based in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and London. I have worked in projects such as the first season of “Loki”, and the movie “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania”.

It wasn’t easy to get where I am now. I had many obstacles in both my personal and professional life. I had to overcome the cultural shock that was to be in a foreign country with a different culture while at the same time figuring out how to live alone. At the same time, I had to learn a lot of new skills such as drawing, design, and character animation in a college whose expectations were higher than I anticipated. I had to sacrifice a lot of my time and interpersonal relationships to get the skills that I needed.

I mostly overcome these challenges by learning how to be kind to myself and understanding that I have to own my career and choose what to do with my own expertise, instead of allowing other people to tell me what I should pursue. Learning how to take care of my mental and physical health allowed me to break my personal barriers and get to the place I am now, doing what I always wanted to do since I started my undergraduate studies: making movies as a visual effects artist.

When I got the job opportunity in The Third Floor, the hardest part was to keep growing as an artist daily to avoid falling into the comfort zone. I spend a lot of my spare time learning new skills to keep improving my own work to stand out in my team.

I want the world to know that the most important aspects for a successful career, regardless the area, is balance. As humans, we have physical and mental limitations but I see a lot of my colleagues seeing those limitations as a weakness. I see them as an opportunity to understand us better, rework some habits in our favor, and become the best version of ourselves in both our personal and professional life. Productivity and success is the result of good habits.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Throughout that week, I will bring my best friend to some of my favorite spots in Atlanta such as:

Piedmont Park:
By far one of my favorite places. I love to walk around the park to take pictures or to hang out with friends to play tennis.

Cafe Intermezzo:
One of my favorites cafes around town.

The Aquarium:
I love to visit the Aquarium to see the variety of animals there. I always had a fascination for aquatic animals, sometimes more than ground animals.

The Beltline:
Walking is one of my favorite activities, and the Beltline is an amazing spot to walk.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to dedicate it to my grandfather Carlos Ruiz, who passed away a few years ago.

His passing happened at a pivotal point in my career during my first visit to an animation networking event (CTN Expo) in Los Angeles. Since that day I promised myself to move forward and become the best version of myself, overcoming some mental health issues I was having at the time.

I believe that if it wasn’t for him, I may not be in the place I am right now.

Website: https://www.mauthorn.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/maurobotero92

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MauBotero92

Image Credits
Laura Londono