Aylwin Fernando is a Vancouver-based Creative Director, Supervisor, and Artist with over 20 years of experience across feature films, streaming, commercials, in-game and game cinematics, feature film, and television. He has worked with a diverse range of clients in leadership roles, including positions as a 2D and 3D Supervisor across numerous projects. His deep experience in photo-real lighting and compositing, combined with cinematography expertise across both 3D and 2D software, gives him a strong command of the VFX pipeline. Paired with a keen aesthetic sensibility, this allows him to collaborate closely with clients to realize their creative vision while consistently meeting production timelines and budgets. Aylwin's path began in the sciences, studying Mechanical Engineering, before he followed his passion for film and television into an honors degree in Media Arts from Sheridan College. After graduating, he built a career as a CG Generalist, later specializing as a Lighter. Along the way, he developed expertise in gathering, organizing, and preparing camera, lighting, and location data — skills that gave him a comprehensive understanding of production, spanning pre-production, on-set supervision, and post-production. His ability to collaborate with creative teams has taken him around the world, supervising productions both locally and internationally. Over the course of his career, he has worked with clients including Bell, Zellers, Winners, Sapporo, Budweiser, Much Music, Fuji, Black Diamond, Hyundai, Subaru, Toyota, Lexus, Cineplex, Kabam, Riot, Electronic Arts, Square Enix, Disney, Microsoft, Amazon, and Sony. As a child, Aylwin loved comics — though he rarely read them word for word. Instead, he'd study the drawings and invent his own stories. That early instinct still shapes his philosophy today: he believes being an artist means committing to exploration and discovery, cultivated through curiosity, imagination, and a deep engagement with the human experience.

Aylwin Fernando

Aylwin Fernando is a Vancouver-based Creative Director, Supervisor, and Artist with over 20 years of experience across feature films, streaming, commercials, in-game and game cinematics, feature film, and television. He has worked with a diverse range of clients in leadership roles, including positions as a 2D and 3D Supervisor across numerous projects. His deep experience in photo-real lighting and compositing, combined with cinematography expertise across both 3D and 2D software, gives him a strong command of the VFX pipeline. Paired with a keen aesthetic sensibility, this allows him to collaborate closely with clients to realize their creative vision while consistently meeting production timelines and budgets. Aylwin's path began in the sciences, studying Mechanical Engineering, before he followed his passion for film and television into an honors degree in Media Arts from Sheridan College. After graduating, he built a career as a CG Generalist, later specializing as a Lighter. Along the way, he developed expertise in gathering, organizing, and preparing camera, lighting, and location data — skills that gave him a comprehensive understanding of production, spanning pre-production, on-set supervision, and post-production. His ability to collaborate with creative teams has taken him around the world, supervising productions both locally and internationally. Over the course of his career, he has worked with clients including Bell, Zellers, Winners, Sapporo, Budweiser, Much Music, Fuji, Black Diamond, Hyundai, Subaru, Toyota, Lexus, Cineplex, Kabam, Riot, Electronic Arts, Square Enix, Disney, Microsoft, Amazon, and Sony. As a child, Aylwin loved comics — though he rarely read them word for word. Instead, he'd study the drawings and invent his own stories. That early instinct still shapes his philosophy today: he believes being an artist means committing to exploration and discovery, cultivated through curiosity, imagination, and a deep engagement with the human experience.

Available to hire

Aylwin Fernando is a Vancouver-based Creative Director, Supervisor, and Artist with over 20 years of experience across feature films, streaming, commercials, in-game and game cinematics, feature film, and television.

He has worked with a diverse range of clients in leadership roles, including positions as a 2D and 3D Supervisor across numerous projects. His deep experience in photo-real lighting and compositing, combined with cinematography expertise across both 3D and 2D software, gives him a strong command of the VFX pipeline. Paired with a keen aesthetic sensibility, this allows him to collaborate closely with clients to realize their creative vision while consistently meeting production timelines and budgets.

Aylwin’s path began in the sciences, studying Mechanical Engineering, before he followed his passion for film and television into an honors degree in Media Arts from Sheridan College. After graduating, he built a career as a CG Generalist, later specializing as a Lighter. Along the way, he developed expertise in gathering, organizing, and preparing camera, lighting, and location data — skills that gave him a comprehensive understanding of production, spanning pre-production, on-set supervision, and post-production. His ability to collaborate with creative teams has taken him around the world, supervising productions both locally and internationally. Over the course of his career, he has worked with clients including Bell, Zellers, Winners, Sapporo, Budweiser, Much Music, Fuji, Black Diamond, Hyundai, Subaru, Toyota, Lexus, Cineplex, Kabam, Riot, Electronic Arts, Square Enix, Disney, Microsoft, Amazon, and Sony.

As a child, Aylwin loved comics — though he rarely read them word for word. Instead, he’d study the drawings and invent his own stories. That early instinct still shapes his philosophy today: he believes being an artist means committing to exploration and discovery, cultivated through curiosity, imagination, and a deep engagement with the human experience.

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Work Experience

Senior Lighting TD Unreal / Mid Tech Artist at Studio Wildcard
December 31, 2022 - Present
Develop lighting models, in-game level lighting, and look development for ARK: Survival Ascended in Unreal Engine 5. Implement real-time and offline lighting workflows using Lumen and Unreal Path Tracing, including hardware RT (RTX) for in-game, in-game cinematics, and offline cinematic-quality renders for trailers. Build asset and actor blueprints plus materials for real-time in-game graphics and offline cinematic delivery. Help set up the OCIO color pipeline for in-game visuals and rendering.
Senior VFX Supervisor & Unreal 5.1 Generalist at Atmos Labs
January 1, 2022 - January 1, 2023
Led the production team for cinematics and developed blueprint tools for lighting, modeling, and character customization. Supervised rigging, modeling, lighting, and shading in Unreal; streamlined pipeline workflows for game- and cinematic-ready assets. Mentored artists in lighting and blueprint development. Collaborated on ShotGrid integration and built automated NFT turntable generation from command-line and JSON inputs. Established scalable workflows for customizable character builds in partnership with engineering and software development teams.
Senior Unreal 4 Finisher at Bron Digital
January 1, 2021 - January 1, 2022
Developed accurate lighting models in Unreal for photorealistic interior/exterior environments and characters for animated productions. Instilled best practices for level and sequence lighting, troubleshooting ray-traced translucency and developing fallback solutions. Built lighting blueprint tools to support live lighting sessions with the DP. Collaborated with directors, art directors, and environment/production teams to achieve the desired look and feel.
Unreal Generalist at Nexodus | Atmoss
January 1, 2021 - Present
Develop photorealistic lighting models and animations for 3D characters. Create blueprint graphs supporting 10,000+ customizable characters via data tables and custom UI for art direction. Supervise asset ingestion and export pipeline from Maya to Unreal, managing real-time rendering in UE5 for compositing and final delivery. Partner with clients, creative directors, artists, and accounting teams to meet deadlines and manage expectations.
Senior Unreal Lighting Artist at Nexodus
January 1, 2020 - January 1, 2020
Provided lighting for interior and exterior offline photorealistic scenes in Unreal Engine 5 using Lumen and hardware RTX for the ARK 2 cinematic trailer featured in the Game Cinematic Awards.
Lighting Supervisor / Senior Look Dev at MOVR S
January 1, 2020 - January 1, 2020
Developed photorealistic shader setup and rendering for studio-lit CG humans and garments from CLO3D and Maya/Arnold. Streamlined the production pipeline from garment design to final render.
3D Lighting Supervisor at Mainframe
January 1, 2020 - January 1, 2021
Supervised lighting and rendering for a series animation made by Maddie. Oversaw QC and troubleshooting, flagging production or technical limitations affecting rendering. Developed lighting and compositing templates supporting 200+ rendered and published shots per week. Attended client screenings and negotiated solutions to keep the show on budget and schedule. Managed local and remote teams; mentored artists in lighting and compositing.
3D Lighting Lead at Pixomondo
January 1, 2018 - January 1, 2020
Created show and sequence light rigs; managed HDRI capture/prep and LIDAR scan data for CG use. Built lighting templates for rendering in Arnold, V-Ray, and Clarisse iFX/Builder for feature film and television projects. Created lighting slap comps and Nuke tools to support the final lighting review process. Contributed to sequence rendering pipeline development for Builder and ACES color-space implementation in Maya and Clarisse. Built asset turntable rigs in Maya and Clarisse for color-accurate rendering across multiple DCCs. Led multiple artist teams to maintain consistent quality and on-schedule delivery.
2D Compositing Lead / Senior Compositor at Pixomondo
January 1, 2017 - January 1, 2018
Composited live-action and full-CG shots; built 2D Nuke templates and tools. Developed looks, FX rigs, and look-development treatments. Led teams of 2D artists across TV, commercial, and feature film projects.
On-Set & 2D Supervisor / Jr. Unity Developer at Goldtooth
January 1, 2014 - January 1, 2019
Supervised compositing for AAA game cinematics, trailers, and pitches; managed the Compositing Department including project bidding and hiring. Built compositing templates and provided on-set supervision for green-screen, environment laser scans, and full-body motion capture. Wrote commercial pitch treatments for game cinematics. Developed applications for holographic devices as a Unity developer.
Compositor at Moving Picture Company
January 1, 2013 - January 1, 2014
Composited and developed looks for VFX shots on The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
On-Set & VFX Supervisor / Creative Director at Ballet Inc
January 1, 2013 - January 1, 2020
Served as Creative Director, VFX Supervisor, and On-Set Supervisor across interactive and traditional media projects. Provided creative services to directors, studios, and agencies on feature films, television, commercials, and video games.
Lead lighter / VFX Artist / Compositor / On-Set Supervisor at Dashing
January 1, 2011 - January 1, 2013
Provided on-set supervision and developed lighting models and look development for numerous international commercials. Created VFX design treatments and composites.
Lead lighter / Senior Generalist at House Of Cool
January 1, 2011 - January 1, 2013
Collaborated with directors to realize creative vision through lighting, texturing, and shading. Designed VFX simulations and rigs; led look development for commercial projects.
VFX & On-Set Supervisor / Senior Generalist at Krystel Levy Pictures
January 1, 2011 - January 1, 2013
Partnered with directors and production teams on on-set and VFX supervision, match move, VFX development, matte painting integration, and live-action/CG compositing for film and commercials.
CG & On-Set Supervisor / Lead lighter / Senior Generalist at Crush Inc
December 31, 2002 - December 31, 2010
Served as CG Supervisor and operations manager of the CG department, managing teams of 5–15 in-house artists and freelancers. Supervised on-set work for international commercial productions: green screen, clean plate, tracking markers, measurement gathering, witness camera capture, and HDRI gather/stitch. Acted as Match Move Supervisor, Lighting Lead, and Lighting TD; provided technical scouting and on-set/VFX supervision for post-VFX. Supervised lighting for physical product and element shoots. Bid, forecasted, and managed projects and pitches.

Education

Media Arts at Sheridan College
January 1, 2000 - January 1, 2003
Art Fundamentals at Sheridan College
January 1, 1999 - January 1, 2000
Mechanical Engineering at Toronto Metropolitan University (Ryerson)
January 1, 1998 - January 1, 1999

Qualifications

ADCC – Love Hate: Best in Craft, 2011 Bessies, The One Show NY; Shortlisted at Cannes
January 1, 2011 - January 1, 2011
Honors Graduate, Sheridan College Media Arts, 2003
January 1, 2003 - January 1, 2003
Best in VFX, Sheridan College Media Arts
January 1, 2003 - January 1, 2003

Industry Experience

Media & Entertainment, Gaming