Ariel Lu (呂亭葳) is a Berlin based Taiwanese artist and CG image maker.

Abstract digital art by Ariel Lu in red, pink & green tones.

picture of waves and frills in felt like material by Ariel Lu

Portrait of Ariel Lu with a bouquet of flowers.

Abstract image of pink, organic shapes intertwined with translucent, glass-like structures against a dark blue background by Ariel Lu.

Abstract black and white image of swirling, glass-like shapes against a dark background by Ariel Lu.

Ariel Lu (呂亭葳) is a Berlin based Taiwanese artist and CG image maker who uses Houdini as her main tool.

“I am interested in creating artworks that reflect the threads and pieces I've seen or experienced. I am drawn to express the strength and beauty of vulnerability and softness.”

Hailing from Taipei her work, family and studies have brought her to Sweden, the UK and now in Berlin. Some of the brands she's worked with including Apple, Google Deepmind, Hublot, Louis Vuitton and IKEA Space10.

FROM STAGES TO SCREENS: HOW ARIEL LU TRANSFORMED HER PASSION INTO A CAREER IN 3D ART

Her journey into 3D art began after working as a director of international touring entertainment in Taiwan. Ariel left her job at 30 to pursue motion graphics in Sweden. A brief encounter with Cinema4D led her to the intricate world of Houdini, and from there, she transformed her career from staging concerts to creating captivating 3D art.

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Can you tell us about your journey into the world of 3D art and how you discovered Houdini? 

Before encountering 3D, I was working as a director of international touring entertainment for a company in Taiwan for five years. Mostly managing exhibitions and concerts with a team. I chose that career because of my passion for music. That job immersed me in live performance visuals and a few occasions where I could come up with promotional visuals myself. I then had a longing to create beautiful things myself, compared to building the stage for artists as I had been doing back then. 
But I had no art or design related education. I majored in Sociology and Events Management. So I decided to quit my job when I was 30 and try studying motion graphics.
When I was there my school, Hyper Island in Sweden, had more of a focus and resources in the 2D realm. But there was a week of Cinema4D workshop, and ever since I decided to venture into 3D. I was very hesitant to try Houdini when I first heard about it. I did fundamental courses in my own time but never really switched. Until I had to use Houdini when I was doing my internship because that’s the only 3D software they use. And since then I’ve focused on Houdini.
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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLuInterview22-1000x611.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="611" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-34667" srcset="https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLuInterview22-1000x611.jpg 1000w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLuInterview22-700x428.jpg 700w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLuInterview22-768x469.jpg 768w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLuInterview22-1536x939.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLuInterview22.jpg 1800w" sizes="(max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px" /> 
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Houdini is known for its complexity and versatility. How did you master this software, and what resources or methods were most helpful in your learning process?
I was very lucky to have a mentor who’s also my partner, Adam Priester, who had started learning 3D, learning Houdini way before me. He would share learning resources and his mentality of how to approach Houdini generously. And I benefited from it a lot. It was really helpful for me to have a person that I could ask countless questions to, and be super supportive during the process. He is also one of the most diligent learners I know. And that attitude inspired me to put more effort into learning Houdini (when I really wanted to slack off) and try to overcome it instead of giving up. 
I first started learning with free tutorials and resources. And after I was more certain that I would invest my career in Houdini I then also bought paid courses where they provide wholesome and deeper knowledge of certain sections in Houdini that I was interested in. 
One thing I always do when I follow a tutorial is I would try to put my own spin on it. It could start from being as simple as a different input geometry, different values in the parameter. And then combine with other things I already know or from other tutorials. So I could create something based on the knowledge of the tutorials but the end result looks preferably completely different. Often in that process I would encounter errors and through investigations I would learn things I should pay attention to but didn’t when simply following. 
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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielInterviewneu-1000x611.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="611" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-34678" srcset="https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielInterviewneu-1000x611.jpg 1000w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielInterviewneu-700x428.jpg 700w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielInterviewneu-768x469.jpg 768w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielInterviewneu-1536x939.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielInterviewneu.jpg 1800w" sizes="(max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px" /> 
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Walk us through your typical workflow for a Houdini project. How do you approach a new project from concept to completion?
For commercial projects, I would usually start with making a setup that doesn’t require simulation and can provide fast iterations for art directions. Unless it’s an obvious brief that wants me to use vellum for example. I would also try to make it motion friendly within the given time from the start, unless the brief specifically mentions focus on styleframes only. I also research what others have done for the same topic beforehand to reflect on my own direction. Check the differences between setups (since there usually are more than one approaches.) And grab extra references along the process if needed. Then it would usually follow the process from styleframes to motion development.
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How do you stay motivated and inspired when you encounter creative blocks or technical issues?
With creative blocks I like to go checking out my surroundings. I take my inspirations mostly outside 3D. So I would try to immerse myself in paintings, new books, old books that I love, searching other types of crafts, and go out in nature or just on the streets. I also try very hard to look back on my heritage. I grew up spending almost 15 years in different parts of Europe and the rest in Taiwan. So sometimes I feel like an in-between. But I’ve started to get closer to lost crafts in Taiwan, for example visiting one of the last few rattan weaving shops, and a traditional feather duster maker to learn their histories over the past 70 years of their lives that’s tied to the economical development of Taiwan. I am also drawn to the working class, and the struggles of those with weaker social resources. In my experience I had encountered the most powerful generosity from people who aren’t rich, even poor but with a warm heart to generously give. 
It inspires me to make my creations not just for the elite but for the fascinating people that the society deem insignificant. 
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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLu_26_UPDATE-1000x611.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="611" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-34663" srcset="https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLu_26_UPDATE-1000x611.jpg 1000w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLu_26_UPDATE-700x428.jpg 700w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLu_26_UPDATE-768x469.jpg 768w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLu_26_UPDATE-1536x939.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLu_26_UPDATE.jpg 1800w" sizes="(max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px" /> 
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What advice would you give to someone who is just starting to learn Houdini and aims to become a proficient artist?
I personally think it’s quite important to think about what kind of work you’d want to be able to make, and research if there are artists who already are doing it, and see how the journey’s been for them if there’s a chance, or simply scroll their feed to see how they have progressed. And use that as a resource to reflect on what needs to be improved, what should be the focus. Because to me Houdini is so vast and people are using it in different ways to support various types of career focus.
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How do you manage to maintain a healthy work-life balance while working on demanding projects?
Not as much as I want to to be honest! I know I am the type of person that tends to put work above everything else when I’m in work mode. One of the reasons I chose to freelance was to counter this habit that I’ve seen myself doing in my previous profession. But as time progressed I realized, it requires me to consciously make that decision to stop working and deal with the anxiety that made me feel like I need to do more.
One routine I find helpful is the pomodoro technique. I would have a 5 minute break every 30 minutes. And a 20 minute break after two hours. After practicing this for a while I gain knowledge of how much I, specifically, can work a day that’s actually productive. It makes me more efficient, and often good ideas and solutions come in during those short breaks. It’s a method that I learned from a course called Learning How to Learn by Barbara Oakley, a professor of engineering who specialized in the relationship between neuroscience and social behavior.
My partner also constantly reminds me to stop working when it’s too late (:
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What hobbies or activities do you enjoy outside of your work that helps you stay creative and motivated? 

I love browsing, gardening and I love old stuff. I also like secondhand bookstores, old buildings and walking on different streets of Berlin just to see what they have. 
I like going out to just look at things: the outdoor sections of different florists for example. I had walked over four hours just to check out different florists in the neighborhood: what type of plants, flowers, pots they have, how do they present them, how’s the price, where are those plants from. For a period of time I resonate with plants a lot. A ton of the indoor plants that are being sold here originate from warmer weather in Asia or Africa. It is important to provide a similar environment for them to grow healthy and strong. This fact comforted me so much living and working abroad. It’s okay that I long for familiar things to feel alive because nature also does that. It’s okay that sometimes I don’t adapt. And yet when needed, I have the strength of a delicate flower that might look so fragile, but even after its stem being folded and snapped almost completely by my clumsy hands, it survived and continues to grow into a weird shape that I never thought would work. 
These daily encounters keep me motivated. And certain things come back when I’m creating. For example there was one time I realized the colors I chose echo the summer scenery outside my door.
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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLu_27-800x1000.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="1000" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-34675" srcset="https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLu_27-800x1000.jpg 800w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLu_27-560x700.jpg 560w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLu_27-768x960.jpg 768w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLu_27.jpg 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px" /> 
<img loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLuInterview1-1000x611.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="611" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-34664" srcset="https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLuInterview1-1000x611.jpg 1000w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLuInterview1-700x428.jpg 700w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLuInterview1-768x469.jpg 768w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLuInterview1-1536x939.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forward-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ArielLuInterview1.jpg 1800w" sizes="(max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px" /> 
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Join us for an insightful session with Ariel Lu at Forward Festival 2024 in <a href="https://forward-festival.com/berlin/overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Berlin</a>. Get more information <a href="https://forward-festival.com/speaker/ariel-lu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
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Image Credits: © Ariel Lu, 2024

FROM STAGES TO SCREENS: HOW ARIEL LU TRANSFORMED HER PASSION

ARIEL LU (呂亭葳)

Ariel Lu: Texture Sovereign.
&nbsp;
Ariel Lu (呂亭葳) is a Berlin based Taiwanese artist and CG image maker who uses Houdini as her main tool.
&nbsp;
“I am interested in creating artworks that reflect the threads and pieces I&#8217;ve seen or experienced. I am drawn to express the strength and beauty of vulnerability and softness.”
&nbsp;
Hailing from Taipei her work, family and studies have brought her to Sweden, the UK and now in Berlin. Some of the brands she&#8217;s worked with including Apple, Google Deepmind, Hublot, Louis Vuitton and IKEA Space10.
&nbsp;
Ariel will speak at the Forward Festival Berlin in August. Next to her, you will be able to hear Creatives like <a href="https://forward-festival.com/speaker/kelly-anna" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kelly Anna</a>, <a href="https://forward-festival.com/speaker/melanie-courtinat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mélanie Courtinat</a>, <a href="https://forward-festival.com/speaker/yukoshimizu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yuko Shimizu</a> and many more.

ARIEL LU (呂亭葳)

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