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Interview with the world's top production company, Illusion CGI studio in Thailand: Amazing craftsmanship as if done by the spirits, creating a super breathtaking print ads

Thailand's Illusion CGI studio, one of the most desired print production agencies global advertisers want to work with. Under its amazing craftsmanship as if done by spirits, the objects in the painting are lifelike, and the texture details can withstand constant magnification and scrutiny. Although it is an illusion, it is vivid and real.

Throughout the past decade, many of the world's most prestigious print advertisements were produced by Illusion, such as Samsonite's "Heaven and Hell", which won China's first Cannes Grand Prix, as well as Maxam's " Civilization" and KFC's "Hot&Spicy",also Chupa Chups "Sweet Escape".

Illusion was founded in Bangkok in 2001, specializing in print post-production with expertise in CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) production technology. Since its debut, it has won more than 2,800 awards in domestic and international competitions, including 39 Grand Prix. In 2015, Illusion was selected as "Production Company of the Year" by the Clio International Advertising Awards, and in 2018 and 2019, it won the "Asian Production Company of the Year" award at the London International Awards.

In addition to a fantasy tone commonly done by CGI print, through the extremely detailed, realistic and vivid painting of materials, Illusion blurs the boundary between virtual and real in its works. There will always be a moment when you can't tell whether it is a real scene captured by an ultra-high-definition lens or an elaborate forgery done by the artists. Illusion is honest and confident about its "skills of simulation", after all, the company's name is "Illusion". In 2004, on its own poster, through a bunch of popcorn that looked like white skeleton at first glance, it bluntly says to the audience: seeing is not believing.

Popcorn (photography + retouching)

Brand: Illusion CGI studio / Creative agency: Leo Burnett Bangkok / Production company: Illusion CGI studio

Surachai Puthikulangkura , founder & CEO of Illusion CGI studio,

Post Rattanas, overseas producer director of Illusion CGI studio

1

Happiness in Every Square Inch

Hyper-realistic style, releases the power of details.

Chiang Mai, Thailand, February 2018.

Surachai, the founder of Illusion, stood on the TEDx stage, and the theme he shared this time was "Happiness in Every Square Inch". Towards the end, Surachai showed the audience a print poster that the team had recently created in collaboration with Droga5 New York for the epic drama Game of Thrones. As part of the picture was continuously enlarged, the sound of "Oh" burst out from the audiences— No one could have imagined that there were so many easter eggs hidden within the square inch in the crowded and highly dense picture. Although it is only 1/10,000 of the group portrait, when you look closer, the expressions and postures of the characters are lifelike, and the folds on the skin and the carvings on the saber are also meticulous.

Game of Thrones Game of Thrones

Brand: HBO / Creative Agency: Droga5 New York / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

Part of the work

Surachai shares the behind the scenes story

Surachai is always familiar with the excitement of the audience. Even the world's top advertisers would be too shocked to close their mouth when viewing the finished draft handed over by Illusion. The praises from creative partners from all over the world are the extraordinary high-key presence on the company's official website. Lv Haoxi, a former art director of JWT Shanghai, described that whenever he opened the project progress email of Illusion, he was "like an excited child who received a gift on Christmas morning" . With the help of superb CGI drawing technology, the illusion woven by Illusion can be quickly perceived by people. Not only presenting the full picture of fantastic and exaggerated concepts but also through the extremely clear, concrete, and real-like painting of details, the print concept and the emotions it embodies successfully bypass the doubts in the brain and get into people's hearts. While shocking at first glance, it can withstand meticulous gazing.

Sour-Faced Man, Sour-Faced Woman
Brand: Super Zuper Sour Candy / Creative Agency: Hakuhodo Indonesia / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

Taste The Feeling  

Brand: Coca-Cola / Creative Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Thailand / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

Chubby & Fatty  

Brand: Midea Air Fryer / Creative Agency: Lotus:H Jakarta / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

Architecture Museum Paris 

Brand: Architecture Museum Paris / Creative Agency: Havas Paris / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

Attention to detail, simulation of reality - this is a type of art style known as "hyperrealism". The illustrator usually sketches based on very careful observation, or high definition references, assembling the details that are overlooked or even not exist together, creating a highly similar to reality, but more clear, delicate, and emotional picture. 

Realistic, concrete, and focused, "hyperrealism" is a niche in the painting world, but Surachai has been in love with it since college and has continued loving it to this day. Surachai went to Japan in 1988 to study Visual Communication Design, where he initially came across Macintosh and Adobe Photoshop. When studying abroad in Japan, he saw the real works of Van Gogh and burst into tears when looking at the colors and details of the paintings [Reference 5]. Returning to Thailand after a few years, and taking the job as a retoucher. After accumulating enough art and technology working experiences, he realized that computer graphics would be the future of the visual industry. In 2001, Illusion CGI studio founded by Surachai emerged. The style of "hyperrealism" painting and CGI technology were offered with the possibility for further collision and fusion.

D: What are the reasons for setting CGI as the main business direction?

Post: Surachai originally did photo retouching, but this work was actually the assistance of the photographer. After all, the lens angle and light were set, and the retoucher was only responsible for the final touches. In his view, this leaves us with very little opportunity to express our ideas. CGI allows us to have more opportunities to participate in the discussion of visual creativity and communicate with the creative team thoroughly and directly. At the same time, the digital workflow of CGI makes it easier for us to expand into the global market.

D: Bringing "hyperrealism" to print advertising, how do you understand your own style?

Surachai: Print ads are not real images. In order to make the picture look better, when taking photos, the original details and sense of reality will be reduced through post-production, while "hyperrealism" puts sense of reality and details into print advertisements. I think this is the best way for brands to be able to tell their story and their intentions to consumers through a picture.

Post: "Hyperrealism" is a great style for print ads. To be able to tell a story within 3 seconds with stunningly detailed graphics.

D: At the start-up of Illusion, how was the market feedback?

Post: In the earliest days, we were lacking in CGI hardware and software. Moreover, at that time, few people in the advertising industry knew about CGI, photography was the mainstream in the market, so customers would be even more unlikely to choose CGI. In those years, our profit was mainly made by retouching pictures. Eight years after the company was established, we then started to receive invitations for CGI projects.

In 2009, after introducing CGI to two creatives from Ogilvy Thailand, the 100% CGI print advertisement "Ivory " that Illusion collaborated with them was initiated, and won the Gold prize of Bangkok Art Directors Association Award (BAD Awards) Print Craftsmanship CGI category. In this piece for WWF, grand and delicacy coexist. At first glance, it looks like real sculpted ivory, but after zooming into each part, it turns out to be a flowing hunting scene. The elephants fell from left to right, and their helpless expressions contrasted sharply with the vigorous posture of the predators, shooting, loading pistols, cutting off the ivory, and the tension of the story is extremely intense. Obviously the work is still, but so life-like. 

Ivory  

Brand: WWF / Creative Agency: Ogilvy Thailand / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

Part of the work

Regarding the success of "Ivory", Surachai described it as a "bang", which instantly opened up their CGI business. However, despite the success of some of the works in international competitions at the time as well as the continuous improvement of illusion's technical capabilities, local CGI opportunities in Bangkok were still limited, and most clients preferred to use photography. So the team began to look for international business possibilities. 

In 2011, Illusion went abroad and cooperated with FP7/BAH Bahrain, a creative agency from the Middle East. In "Batelco Directory ", they perfectly presented the incredible and vast creative concept: the bustling city is densely populated with buildings, and the hospital, hotel, and Chinese restaurant can be accurately located by simply flipping the search page. 

A ultra-high-definition view from the top, but if you take a closer look, each house is worth appreciating. (Zoom in~ Did you find the Ferris wheel~) 

Batelco Directory  

Brand: Batelco / Creative Agency: FP7/BAH Bahrain / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

Part of the work

2 

Mysterious Alchemy

From anatomy and scale, these details must be correct.

For "hyperrealism" painting, the most puzzling thing is its creating process - what kind of techniques are used to make the painted objects so real and delicate? 

Painter Leng Jun once described his process of creating a wooden stool: first paint the wood, then highlight it, scrape off the mottled parts, and then make it old... completely follow the beginning process of the stool to represent it. The final vision of the painted wood is more real than the wooden frame of the picture. 

For Illusion, although brushes and paper become computers and software, it inherits the rigor and dedication to simulate every detail from "hyperrealism" painting. At the beginning of the execution, the "research" of the real appearance of various textures is the key to the success.

D: "Research" is a word you repeatedly mentioned. What do you need to research?

Post: After receiving the layout from the creative team, we will start working on this print theme. Details serve to enhance the story, so the foundation must be strong and solid before production. In order to cross-validate the accuracy of various detailed descriptions, we need to find a large amount of high-quality information for reference and study them carefully.

For example, if you create animals, from anatomy and scale, these details must be correct and the same to humans. Different ethnic groups will have different appearance details that need to be studied. Honestly speaking, whether humans, animals, or even a feather, the creation of any texture can be challenging for us. There are too many categories of skin, hair, age, and ethnicity, and the details that will be different. We do have artists who are particularly good at drawing a certain type of texture.

D: Your collaborators often describe your work as "beyond expectations". How did you achieve that?

Post: For the reference shared by the client, we will try to figure out what they need and expect to see in the finished manuscript. While executing the brief, we will also use our own aesthetic and artistic perspectives to determine whether the details are sufficient and whether more supplements are needed to achieve the best visual. For the final draft, in fact, we will have a clear imagination in our minds from the beginning. Of course, it also develops step by step during the project. The brand team, the creative team, and our own team are constantly contributing ideas. People will see the updated section every time when reviewing the work and offer guidance for the next step.

In 2013, Illusion received a layout from creative agency Y&R Dubai for Harvey Nichols menswear. A rhinoceros and an elephant are wrestling, and although they look a bit wrinkled and old in the picture, Illusion knew this piece needed to be elegant, strong, and powerful to represent the brand tone. They first researched the real body type of the rhinoceros, selected the sturdy-looking white rhinoceros and black rhinoceros as references, merged the head of the white rhinoceros with the waist of the black rhinoceros, and tightened the abdomen slightly to make it look both real and powerful. 

The scale of bodies, movement and posture of rhinos and elephants, including dust, dirt, small flying insects on their bodies, are the same with the real situation in nature. In order to enhance the expressiveness of the picture, the composition of the overall picture and the outlining of skin folds all follow the golden ratio rule, as well as light and facial expressions are given to further render the atmosphere and emotions.  

Maximum Impact 

Brand: Harvey Nichols Dubai / Creative Agency: Y&R Dubai / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

Part of the work

Dirty animals stubbornly refuse to be separated from dishes in Sunlight dishwashing ad. In 2013, this campaign won two golden lions at Cannes in print category and print craft illustration category.  Post recalls that its“biggest challenge was getting the animal to have a human-like expression while still getting the details right anatomically.” Symbolizing remnants and oil stains on kitchenware, the animal models created by Illusion not only look good, but its breed must refer to the correct breed for food. The postures of pigs, sheep and cows embracing the utensils are designed referencing anatomical structures, and the stains and spots on the body are completely depicted according to the real environmental surrounding. The anthropomorphic expressions were first performed by the creative team and then transplanted onto the 3D models of the animals. 

Clingy Animals 

Brand: Sunlight Dishwashing Liquid / Creative Agency: Lowe Bangkok / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

Part of the work

D: As an artistic expression implemented in software, how do you compare CGI, to hand drawing?

Post: If you compare works of the same level, there are many similarities between CGI and hand-painting. But what we do is commercial art rather than pure art, and flexibility is the most important thing. CGI drawn by software allows us to flexibly implement changes and adjustments to better serve them especially when the creative team and the brand side have different thoughts. Hand-painting can really express the artist's emotions very well, but for commercial art, especially advertising production, communication is more important.

D : Faced with numerous project invitations, how does Illusion make a choice? How long is the project cycle in general?

Post: The project cycle is generally 2 to 4 weeks, and it will also be adjusted according to the project type, complexity, and level of details. We communicate visually with partners via email, including the steps of development, our thoughts, what we did in the development, and receive feedback. Limited to 8 to 10 hours a day, we really can't accept all job offers, especially some projects that we are not sure we can execute the brief. The last thing we want to do is ruin a creative concept. We are very specific in selecting projects and spend a lot of time making the best of it once it's taken. We love refreshing creative concepts, and we also assess our ability to make it happen. Creative teams and brands have always been considered partners by Illusion, and we will do our best to help them succeed in the market and awards.

3

Heaven and Hell

The ultimate creativity and the ultimate craftsmanship complement each other and

achieve each other.

In 2011, a print advertisement of Samsonite's "Heaven and Hell" created by JWT Shanghai and produced by Illusion showed the dual advantages of CGI print in "time" and "visual". 

To show the durability of the brand's luggage, JWT Shanghai has created a wonderful visual story - the upper and lower parts of the screen are divided into two parts, the upper passenger enjoys "heaven" courtesy, while the lower luggage is tortured in "hell". Through the beating and falling, the suitcase is still intact after the torture. 

Before inviting Illusion to produce, JWT Shanghai has tried different art styles, including Sistine ceiling murals, classical stained glass, etc., but it cannot achieve the ideal visual, and the great artist's hand-painting is too time-consuming. After the finalized decision on a Greco-Roman sculptural style, they contacted Illusion. 

Layout of Heaven and Hell

Surachai described how he felt when he received the layout as "love at first sight" and knew that the piece would win at Cannes. In addition to the amazing creativity, storytelling, and art direction, the intricate character elements and story scenes in "Heaven and Hell" made him realize that this is a good opportunity to introduce and show CGI illustrations and craftsmanship to the world. 

In just 5 weeks of intense production, in order to draw the real texture of the Roman sculpture as much as possible, Illusion has conducted in-depth research on this artistic style and material structure. They recruited a muscular man to photograph his body posture and muscle lines , for the design of Satan's character reference. In the lighting design, the soft halo of heaven is spread from top to bottom, forming a strong contrast with the violent red flame of hell from bottom to top. In addition to production, Illusion has improved the overall vision. For example, several auxiliary picture elements in hell are removed, so that the audience can quickly browse the whole image in 4 seconds. 

The most critical improvement is the suitcase: as the "key role" of the advertisement, it must be eye-catching. Therefore, the presentation angles of the 12 suitcases in hell were carefully designed to display products from 12 different sides, and the light shading from the center of heaven was used to visually highlight their brightness, and the halo reflected on each side was real and natural. When dealing with Satan, who is very easy to "grab the attention", the direction of their eyesight, the arc and the landing points of their wings were adjusted one by one. These subtle details were used to guide the audience to focus on the suitcase. 

Heaven and Hell 

Brand: Samsonite / Creative Agency: JWT Shanghai / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

Part of the work

Behind the scenes of Samsonite's 'Heaven and Hell' 

The ultimate creativity and the ultimate craftsmanship complement each other and achieve each other in "Heaven and Hell". In 2011, it won the first Cannes Grand Prix for China, together with 3 gold and 1 silver, and was declared by Gunn Report as the world’s most awarded print ads in history one year later. 

In 2012, JWT Shanghai and Illusion collaborated again to launch the super shocking relief sculpture print " Civilization", which continued to win 2 gold and 2 silver in Cannes. After that, produced by Illusion, works such as "Back" created by Havas Shanghai and "Chop-Chop 2.0 " created by Amber Shanghai have achieved remarkable results in international competitions. 

In "Chop-Chop 2.0 ", in order to illustrate a very sharp knife cut and to feel that they could collapse at any seconds, Illusion manually placed and adjusted every 3D block assembling the animal. 

Civiliaztion  

Brand: Maxam / Creative Agency: JWT Shanghai / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

Back 

Brand: Getty Image / Creative Agency: Havas Shanghai / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

Chop Chop 2.0  

Brand: Ammeloo / Creative Agency: Amber China Shanghai / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

In 2017, Cheil Hong Kong cooperated with Illusion to launch a very visually recognizable print advertisement JBL "Block Out the Chaos ". In 2019, the two parties worked together again to create the Chupa Chups "A Sweet Escape". Both cases were CGI character design, supplemented by lighting and detailed illustrations. 

Block Out the Chaos  

Brand: JBL Headphones / Creative Agency: Cheil Hong Kong / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

A Sweet Escape 

Brand: Jumbo Pearl / Creative Agency: Cheil Hong Kong / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

KFC's "Hot & Spicy " series of posters created by Ogilvy Hong Kong and produced by Illusion was a well-deserved "big winner" at the 2018 Cannes Lions Festival, winning a total of 5 gold and 2 silver. Since the look of the product is too unique to be created through CGI, the case was completed through photography and retouching. During the production process, KFC Thailand generously provided Illusion about 200 pieces of good-looking fried chicken to be photographed. 

KFC Hot & Spicy (Photo + Retouch) 

Brand: KFC / Creative Agency: Ogilvy Hong Kong / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

D: As the world's number one print ads production house, how do you understand the strengths of Illusion?

Surachai: I believe that Illusion has the best team. Without them, I would not be able to achieve what I am today. There are many talented artists here, and many employees have specialties. Some directors have worked with me for over 10 years, and many have been here even since founded. We have a long-standing relationship and we know each other's work styles and preferences very well. I particularly recruited the team members, value the strengths and abilities of each employee, and I am eager to see their progress. Everyone can create the best results if they can work on what they do best.

Post: In the field of production, our artists must be very knowledgeable about their profession. CGI production is not a very common skill, you need to have an interest and a passion for the industry, advertising, and art. There are 3D generalists, 3D modelers, light artists, overseas producers, etc. in the Illusion team. Our work system includes training sessions to help them better integrate into the team.

D: Working with creative teams from all over the world, do they have differences in creative concepts and production requests? How does Illusion maintain an international cooperation network?

Post: In terms of creative ideas and production demands, there is not much difference between them. All winning cases have great ideas and great art direction, plus our craftsmanship to get it done. Overseas partners will first contact our designated overseas producer, who is responsible for receiving brief and initial project information, as well as budget and schedule planning, and then enters the production process. We work with the client's time zone. In addition to email, we also use Teams, Zoom, Google Meet and other tools to facilitate their communication. Our team has had overseas artists, and also a co-producer from China. Illusion has continued to cooperate with Chinese creative agencies, and "Heaven and Hell" has made us famous internationally. Of course, we have also been assisting local Thai agencies and brands.

4 

On the peak, the exploration non-stop 

Everything starts with the founder's personalized aesthetics and trend prediction, combining the rather niche "hyperrealism" style with the pioneering CGI technology. With the help of like-minded people, after 20 years of devotion to the industry, a small studio in Bangkok has grown into the world's most famous print production agency. 

Taking "make a masterpiece" as the business philosophy, the emergence of Illusion has influenced and led the development of print advertising, and continued the vitality and charm of still images in the digital media era.

However, in the face of numerous new marketing methods, how long will print ads's competitiveness last? As a highly personalized style, will "hyperrealism" also be some kind of restrictions or restraints? 

In Post’s view , it is undoubtedly the digital age, technology is constantly affecting the creative process, NFTs, Internet celebrities, and the metaverse are becoming the focus of the industry, but still images will continue to be widely used in brand promotion. In addition, although the client will refer to the earlier works, while satisfying the needs of them, Illusion refuses to repeat itself, and never stops developing.

Post: We are always learning and experimenting, treating each brief as a new challenge. When the creative team gives a new direction, correspondingly, we need to explore new technologies and new procedures to present new results. It's like a new journey, there must be unexplored places. So we have to constantly reset our perception and keep it open.

Since student days being fond of "hyperrealist" painting, Surachai is still committed to it up until today. He admits that Illusion does not seek any new styles of work other than hyperrealism : "I believe the peak of 'hyperrealism' has yet to come, and many techniques are still to be developed and refined." Rather than planning for the future, Surachai prefers to focus on the present and focus on each specific case in front of him. 

Surachai: Our future is now. We've spent a lot of time in the past looking to the future, as far as possible, to accelerate business development. But for business, spending so much energy on the future that you ignore the present can be problematic.

Today, more than ever, we know how to stick to the present and complete the research and development at hand. While preparing for future quests and transformations, we will delicately do our best work every day.

In the face of such a group of CGI masters with firm beliefs, skills and ingenuity, as readers, we unconsciously let go of our obsession with certainty and bravely fall into the illusion created by Illusion. Although the objects in the paintings are hard to tell between unreal and real, but people's experiences, feelings and memories are absolutely real.  

~ At the end of the article, let's enjoy another wave of works ~ 

Karana Travelgear Karana Travel Bag 

Brand: Karana Travelgear / Creative Agency: Ogilvy Thailand / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

3M Cushion Wrap

Brand: 3M / Creative Agency: Creative Juice Bangkok / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

Stop one. Stop them all. 

Brand: WWF / Creative Agency: Leo Burnett Sydney / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

Build the Future

Brand: LEGO / Creative Agency: Ogilvy Thailand / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

It happens here

Brand: FGM / Creative Agency: Ogilvy & Mather London / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

Sensitive Toothpaste

Brand: Sensitive Toothpaste, Unilever / Creative Agency: Lowe Singapore / Production Company: Illusion CGI studio

References

1. Why the future is now for Thai CGI Studio Illusion, Little Black Book , 20220301.

lbbonline.com/news/why-the-future-is-now-for-thai-cgi-studio-illusion

2. Kim Shaw, The real illusionist: Surachai Puthikulangkura, Campaign Brief Asia , 20190520. campaignbriefasia.com/2019/05/20/the-real-illusionist-surachai-puthikulangkura/

3. Lin Ying, "Heaven and Hell": how to add points for details? Interview with JWT JWT Shanghai art director Lu Haoxi, "China Advertising ", 2011.9.

4. Surachai Puthikulangkura, Happiness in Every Square Inch,TEDxChiangMai, 201802.

5. Visually Speaking: Illusion เปิดวิธีคิดและสร้างสรรค 2ภาพ CGI, Thailand Creative & Design Center.

6. ถอดรหัสลับภาพลวงตา, Creative Space Workshop 2015, Thailand Creative & Design Center.

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