GEARS OF WAR:
E-DAY
ART DIRECTION / BLENDSHAPES
High-fidelity facial production delivered through Shelter Creative’s collaboration with Mighty Canvas for The Coalition.
VISIT GEARS OF WAR
INDEPENDENT CHARACTER STUDIO
VANCOUVER BC, CANADA / WORKING WORLDWIDE
CHARACTERS
FOR VFX & VIDEO GAMES
High-fidelity facial blendshapes. FACS-based expression systems. Realistic skin deformation.
CONTACT
CHARACTERS
CREATURES
DIGITAL HUMANS
PROPS
PORTFOLIOPOSTERS + FEATURED WORK
SELECTED
PRODUCTION WORK.
These are among the studio’s most relevant projects, representing high-end work across video games and feature-film visual effects.
GEARS OF WAR:
MORBIUS
FACIAL MODELING LEAD
Facial-modeling leadership and FACS-based expression work for the production at Digital Domain.
VIEW ON ARTSTATIONLOGAN
ASSET LEAD / FACIAL MODELING
Digital doubles and facial expressions for Logan, X-24 and Laura: facial modeling, FACS blendshapes and facial shot modeling.
VIEW ON ARTSTATIONTHE STUDIOFOUNDED 2024
SENIOR EXPERIENCE.
DIRECT INVOLVEMENT.
Shelter Creative Studio is led by Marco Menco, an Art Director and facial-modeling specialist with more than a decade of experience across high-end VFX, AAA games and cinematic production.
Marco’s background includes facial-modeling leadership at Digital Domain, lead and senior facial work for PlayStation, senior facial modeling at The Mill, and art direction and blendshape production through Mighty Canvas. Shelter brings that experience directly into every brief.
THE TEAMSENIOR ARTISTS / PRODUCTION SPECIALISTS
THE PEOPLE
BEHIND THE WORK.
A focused group of senior artists assembled around the needs of each production.
LOOK DEVELOPMENT / TEXTURING
PEDRO COSTA
Pedro is a Look Development and Texturing Artist working in VFX, with a focus on creating detailed, physically grounded materials and character looks. He has worked on contracts with Crafty Apes, Digital Domain, and Framestore.
His toolkit includes Maya, ZBrush, Houdini, Mari, Substance Painter, V-Ray, Arnold, Unreal Engine, and Unity, with experience spanning look development, texturing, shading, and character workflows. Alongside his work in lookdev, Pedro has a strong interest in facial modeling and FACS/blendshape systems.
EXPERTISEFROM SCULPT TO FINAL
SPECIALIZED FOR
HIGH-FIDELITY WORK.
- 01
CHARACTERS & CREATURES
Design translation, sculpting, anatomy, topology and production-ready character assets.
- 02
DIGITAL HUMANS, FACS & BLENDSHAPES
Facial anatomy, likeness, FACS-based expression libraries, high-fidelity blendshapes and realistic skin deformation.
- 03
TEXTURE, GROOM & LOOKDEV
Skin, materials, hair and final presentation developed as one cohesive character.
- 04
REAL-TIME & VFX ASSETS
Production-ready characters and props built for modern real-time engines and visual-effects pipelines.
- 05
COLLECTIBLES & DIGITAL SCULPTURES
Premium sculptural work designed for physical production, digital presentation and close inspection.
COLLABORATIONSBUILT AROUND PRODUCTION NEEDS
A FOCUSED STUDIO.
A WIDER NETWORK.
Shelter Creative collaborates actively with Mighty Canvas and its wide network of talent, assembling the right senior specialists for each production and working as a direct extension of internal teams.
CONTACTNEW PROJECTS / COLLABORATIONS