Maciej is the Co-establisher and owner of the Essential Studio. He has over 20 years of professional experience. Maciej worked in the game dev and CG animation industry as a Senior 3D and Concept Artist, Art Lead, and Art Director. He worked for AAA and AA game studios on video games like Dying Light , Dying Light 2, Dead Island Definitive Edition and Off The Grid. Maciej enjoyed working on CG animated trailers for titles such as Call of Duty, Dying Light 2, and Resident Evil Village, which won many renowned awards. He is passionate about building great teamwork, project management, and proper production pipelines. Besides, he loves producing music, mixing vinyl records, cooking, participating in sports, and enjoying every day.

Miguel, a highly skilled and accomplished 3D artist, has an impressive track record of over 20 years in the film, game, and CG industries. Their passion and expertise lie in environment design, concept development, and art direction, where they demonstrate mastery in various aspects, including modeling, texturing, shading, and pre-compositing. Throughout their career, Miguel has made significant contributions to renowned projects, including their instrumental role in developing the highly anticipated LOTR Gollum Game and their involvement in the critically acclaimed Resident Evil Village.
With Miguel on board, you can trust that your projects will benefit from their unwavering dedication, leadership abilities, and combined wealth of knowledge they bring to the table. Not only is Miguel a consummate professional, but they are also a valued team player who understands the power of collaboration and effective communication. Their ability to seamlessly integrate their technical expertise with their artistic vision sets them apart, allowing them to lead and inspire others while consistently delivering exceptional results.

Paulina works as a 2D and 3D artist with a strong focus on concept art and 3D character creation. Her main passion lies in designing characters and clothing, where she combines artistic sensitivity with solid technical skills. She specializes in modeling and sculpting in ZBrush and brings her creations to life through detailed texturing in Substance Painter. What sets her work apart is the seamless connection between digital design and physical craftsmanship. Paulina uses her skills to develop original concepts that she not only designs digitally but also personally sews and constructs, creating unique, tangible interpretations of her artistic vision. Her work is driven by a love for character design, form, and storytelling expressed through both 3D art and handmade creations.

Cinematic designer and video editor working at the intersection of film, games, and visual experimentation. 

Trained in experimental film direction, he approaches each project as a visual narrative shaped by rhythm, light, and emotion. 

His work spans game cinematics, trailers, music videos, and commercial content, combining Unreal Engine workflows with hands-on camera work and refined post-production. 

Driven by curiosity and new technologies, Kamil explores storytelling, immersive imagery, and visual language to create cinematic experiences.

Technical Artist and CG Generalist focused on tools, procedural workflows, and performance. He designs solutions that speed up production and keep projects stable—across real-time and pre-rendered work covering materials, effects, lighting, logic, and 3D asset creation. He hunts down bottlenecks, streamlines pipelines, and supports teams with version control and asset workflows. Bridging art and engineering, he prototypes tools, automates the repetitive.

​Meet Magdalena Modzelewska, a highly skilled tailor and clothing simulation specialist with 15 years of professional experience in the art industry. She holds two design-related majors, and has worked as a Senior Character Artist in various studios including Platige Image, Televisor Studio, IN Capital Studios, and Evermotion, among others.

Magdalena has worked on numerous projects, including as a Lead Character Artist for the production of two animated short films in the "Apex Legends" universe titled "The Old Ways" and "Voidwalker", created by Platige Image for the global game publisher and developer Electronic Arts. In addition, she virtually dressed supermodel Belle Hadid for the CY-B3LLA project while working at Televisor Studio. She has created thousands of clothing models for film productions, advertisements, and online stores, and places great importance on the realism of fabrics and their behavior in motion.

Lucas is a professional concept artist with seven years of experience in the game industry. His expertise and experience have contributed to award-winning video games and products such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Dying Light 2. Lucas was also designing worlds for AAA titles with Karakter design studio.

In addition, he contributes his work to Magic the Gathering, giving artistic feedback and critique for the New3dge concept art school in Paris. In his free time, he likes to read books, does sports, and create his worlds. 

His clients include Wizards of the Coast, Creative Assembly, Fantasy Flight Games, VOLTA, Karakter, CD Projekt Red, and Techland.

Joanna is a dynamic Producer, UGC Content Creator, and Marketing Specialist with a passion for crafting engaging and high-quality content. With a keen eye for detail and a creative approach, she generates compelling social media posts, website content, and advertising materials. Her expertise in digital marketing strategies and her love for storytelling makes her a valuable asset to our team. Joanna's dedication to connecting brands with their audiences ensures that every project she undertakes is executed excellently and enthusiastically.

With a decade of rich experience in character art, Chriss Gryzka is a celebrated addition to Essential Studio. His expertise spans a broad spectrum of projects in both the gaming and film industries.Chriss's notable tenure at Platige Image saw him crafting compelling characters for cinematic masterpieces and advertisements, including projects like "For Honor," "Ghost Recon Wildlands," "WatchDogs2," and "Total War: Warhammer2." At Nickelodeon Animation in Burbank, he contributed his talent to "Star Trek: Prodigy."His versatility is further highlighted by his roles at Deep Blue and Bloober Team, where he was instrumental in shaping characters for "Gwent: The Witcher Card Game," "Steel Rats," and "Dying Light." Beyond gaming and film, Chriss excels in grooming and cloth simulation, bringing realism to his creations.Starting October 2023, Chriss will also share his vast experience as a mentor at M4G Seminars, guiding aspiring artists in the intricacies of character design.Chriss's arrival at Essential Studio promises to infuse our projects with unparalleled creativity and technical finesse in character artistry.

Aleksandra is a self-taught artist with a strong foundation in traditional art, which naturally evolved into 3D and environment concept art. Her work focuses on building immersive, believable worlds for games and films, where realism is carefully balanced with imagination and strong visual storytelling.
 

She has a keen eye for composition, mood, and environmental narrative, allowing her to design spaces that feel lived-in and emotionally grounded. Aleksandra approaches each scene with attention to atmosphere, lighting, and material detail, ensuring that every environment supports the broader creative vision of the project. Her adaptability and thoughtful design process make her a valuable contributor across both early concept stages and more defined visual development phases.

3D Artist with over 6 years of experience in the animation industry, including work at the renowned studio Platige Image and for major clients such as Activision, Ubisoft, and Sony PlayStation. Specialized in modeling and digital sculpting, with a strong focus on highly detailed, production-ready characters. Proficient in Maya, Arnold, ZBrush, Marvelous Designer, Substance Painter, and Unreal Engine, and skilled at creating optimized assets with clean topology and efficient UVs.

Kaja is a talented programmer with unique technical and creative skills. Holding a Master's degree in Computer Science and a background in architecture, Kaja brings a distinctive perspective to the team. Their architectural training has sharpened their ability to think spatially and solve complex problems. At the same time, their advanced computer science education equips them with the technical expertise necessary to excel in software development. Skilled in web design, Kaja is also passionate about AI and is particularly interested in image processing. Understanding the crucial role of design in translating ideas into functional products, Kaja strives to create efficient code that leads to visually appealing products. Her unique blend of technical skills, creative flair, and passion for AI make them a valuable asset to our team.

Jerom is currently a Nuke Compositor at RISE | Visual Effects Studios. He previously worked at ColorOffOn as a Nuke Compositor and On-Set Supervision & ACES Implementation. Before that, he was a Nuke Compositor at Platige Image for the Netflix show "The Witcher" & as several Game Cinematics and a Nuke & Flame Artist at digital STRAIK for commercials.
He graduated in January 2017 with my Master's degree in Compositing at Escape Studios. Next to my Master's module, He led a compositing team of seven artists in London for the German short film 'Mascarpone' while working on his own shots for the short film. 

While studying, he started working as a Compositing Studio Assistant at Escape Studios to assist the tutor and support the students with their shots during and after the class. 

Before attending his Master's study, he learned the fundamentals of filmmaking during his bachelor's study.

As an artist since childhood, he never doubted the honesty and power of visual arts and storytelling. He holds a Master's Degree in Architecture and Urban Planning. He has gained recognition in international competitions such as ImagineFX and Gnomon Workshop. His illustration works have been featured in industry magazines and albums. His ability to communicate ideas effectively with clients has helped him sustain a freelance career since 2006. He is skilled in a broad spectrum of styles that he has developed and tested through numerous projects, one of the most recent being the "Uncharted" movie. During his downtime, he finds solace in watching a good movie with a bowl of popcorn or hiking. His clients include companies such as: Paramount Pictures, Apple, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Legendary Pictures, Netease, Volta, Mattel, Ubisoft, Games Workshop, Fantasy Flight Games, Applibot, DeNA