We were lucky to catch up with Ricardo Bonisoli recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ricardo, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Since I was a child I was always surrounded by art at home, while my mom painted beautiful landscapes and portraits my dad created all sorts of weird and surreal art pieces ranging from sculptures to films. Early in life I developed a deep appreciation for all that and realized my desire to pursue a career in visual arts. The most important lesson I learned from my parents was to appreciate art as a lifestyle, as a never-ending experimental process. I remember my dad’s studio with very fond memories, every time I’d go there I would see the a new random creation – metal works that would balance themselves perfectly, strange masks, surreal photographs and prints.

During my teenage years I immersed myself into drawing, the feeling of making people laugh through my drawings was one of my favorite things. This passion eventually led me to the Caracas Design Institute, where I pursued a degree in Illustration. This program was instrumental for me as an artist, it gave me very important principles that I still apply today; composition, lighting and the fundamentals of color science. The IDC taught us to be highly critical of our own work, the competition was very high, we had to work very hard to impress the teachers. Toward the end of my program, I believed my career path would be as an Illustrator or Graphic designer until I took a 3D modeling and animation class, right away I knew I wanted to specialize in that area.

My next adventure took me about six thousand kilometers away from my hometown in Venezuela to Vancouver Film School in Canada – a new country, new life. Here I embarked on a one-year specialization in 3D animation and VFX, a decision that felt like a gamble at the time, but fortunately ended up giving me some good returns. Fast forward from completing my demo-reel at VFS, the Vancouver film industry was thriving with opportunities, with major studios such as Lucasfilm’s ILM, Sony, Disney opening their doors. I bounced around for about 10 years from studio to studio chasing the projects I wanted. It’s not an easy game because sometimes you are very comfortable at a studio but the movie you want is somewhere else. The funny thing is, occasionally you do get to work on that project you wanted, only to find it becomes a massive flop. During my time as a VFX artist I was lucky and grateful to work with very talented people on many films and franchises I enjoyed like “X-men”, “Star Wars”, “Terminator”.

After witnessing my 3D creatures in major features like “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” or “Aquaman”, I felt it was time to explore something I had wanted to try for a long time: directing. I joined forces with a few great VFX friends with similar interests, and together, we created our first short film, “The Seahorse Trainer”, this was my first project as a director and provided me with one of the richest creative experiences of my career. Being exposed to the whole process of crafting a film from the concept art to the final color export was something incredible for me. The project performed very well and took us to many film festivals. Someone once told me that once you finish your first film, you’ll be hooked, and that person was absolutely right, since then filmmaking became my main focus, I’ve been directing more pieces, mainly shorts and music videos and it’s hard to get enough from it.

Returning to the questions, given what I know now, I genuinely don’t believe there’s anything I could have done to expedite my learning. Perhaps I could have skipped my illustration program and gone directly to Film School, but again, I am very happy with the foundation it provided, and I also formed incredible friendships during that time. I don’t believe the focus should be solely on “making it” I truly think it’s more about having an awesome journey.

In summary, I consider the most essential skills for a creative career are patience and perseverance. Patience allows you to keep learning and improving year after year while perseverance empowers one to persist, learn from failures, get back up, and continue the creative journey.

Ricardo, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Ricardo Bonisoli, I am an independent filmmaker and visual effects artist based in LA. My passion lies in creating unique and surreal projects. I enjoy utilizing my VFX background to bring characters to life and enhance the worlds of my cinematic endeavors.

From my VFX career, some of the projects I am proud of include “X-men: Days of Future Past,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” and “Valerian: The City of a Thousand Planets.” On the filmmaking and directing front, I take pride in several projects, with a notable mention being my short film, “The Seahorse Trainer.” This film received one of three Jury awards at the Seattle International Film Festival, granting it Oscar qualification. My latest project (soon to be released) is a music video titled “Like This,” featuring the amazing Lauren Bannon, also known as Lloren. It tells the story of a girl who decides to spend her last days on Earth with a mannequin named “Manny.”

You can find my work on my Instagram and website, @Ricardo_bonisoli and www.ricardobonisoli.com. Additionally, please feel free to explore our company’s page at www.rooxterfilms.com, and Instagram at @rooxterfilms.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

From my perspective, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative is the process itself. As a filmmaker I find immense joy when I am able to connect at a deep level with fellow artists from different disciplines: writers, concept artists, cinematographers, actors, musicians. This collaborative journey has an enchanting quality, filled with the magic of translating ideas into sounds and visuals. It’s a process that can be demanding and sometimes even painful, but when it unfolds properly, the experience is nothing short of extraordinary.

Another rewarding aspect for me is the ability to share my voice and vision with the world, the power to inspire and provoke thought and evoke emotions.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

The most important thing is to recognize the value of art and acknowledging the impact of artists. Aside from providing disconnection and distraction, Art has a very unique power to stimulate meaningful conversations, provoke people to question their assumptions, confront biases, and engage with complex topics that need to be discussed in our society.

When it comes to support, I believe it’s also essential to encourage newer and up-and-coming artists who may not yet be fully established. Sometimes, all it takes is a small comment or a compliment for a creative person to persist and discover the inspiration for their next creation

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ricardobonisoli.com
• Instagram: Ricardo_bonisoli
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricardo-bonisoli-b545b926/
• Other: www.rooxterfilms.com
• IG: rooxterfilms

Image Credits
Naim Sutherland