Behind The Drop: Douglas Godinho

For a motion designer Douglas Godinho, a project that he began as a side hustle while working as a VJ has become his full-time gig. Douglas is a Canadian VJ working in the music industry for the past eight years, and he’s best known for his video work in Toronto with touring acts including Deadmau5, Kaskade, and Carl Cox.

Inspired by a meeting with Mike Winkelmann (aka Beeple), Godinho decided to use a combination of Cinema 4D and Redshift Renderer to create animations that would represent his yearning for artistic expression. As a VJ-turned-motion designer, he created an array of DJ-inspired animations. At Phoenix Team, we talked to him about creating the animation and how he got inspired by Beeple to transition from VJing to motion graphics.

Douglas sat down with Mike Winkelmann (aka Beeple) in 2018 to discuss his daily habit and creativity. Beeple shared the importance of making one piece of art every day, no matter what. Douglas walked away, recognizing the importance of daily habits, and decided to re-evaluate his artistic processes. “If I want to get my art out there and get noticed, I need good habits,” said Douglas. Mike made art every day, even on the day of his child’s birth. Three years later, Beeple would turn his ‘everydays’ into non-fungible tokens (or NFTs). He created a collection of his everydays and sold it on Christie’s for USD 69 Million on March 2021.

In 2020, Douglas saw his industry come to a halt due to the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). As the government put distancing measures and stay-at-home orders in place, the government canceled music-related events. DJs went virtual, and VJs went broke. Douglas adapted by shifting to motion design and hasn’t looked back.

Little did he know, Beeple’s encounter would benefit him in this transition. Contemplating how to respond to COVID-19, Douglas decided to quit his job as a VJ and dive into motion design full-time. It was a tough decision, but I felt it would be better to try and fail than always to wonder what if.

The transition from VJing to motion design has allowed him to work on some cool projects. But it wasn’t always like that: his first animation project was a disaster. His VJing background has formed the basis of his motion graphics work since that transition. He always enjoyed the creative freedom of working in media where there are few to no rules.

Douglas Godinho has always been passionate about animation. As a child, he often watched Walt Disney movies and was fascinated by animated films. So, when he decided to choose a post-COVID career, he chose animation. He learned 3D animation online and began sharing his work publicly.

Godinho is something of an outsider in the animation world. He had never used Cinema 4D before, but he decided to use it for this project, which became part of his NFT drop series. “Cinema 4D had a reputation of being user-friendly,” he said, “so I wanted to see if I could use it without having any experience.”

Since his first NFT, Douglas has created inspiring 3D worlds using Cinema 4D and ZBrush. Douglas uses his skills to produce some of the most innovative 3D motion graphics in Canada.

Are you interested in supporting Douglas Godinho? Buy his NFTs on OpenSea! Journey to the Center, Rainbow Light, Through the Wormhole, MetaMercury, Star Tunnel.

Originally published at phoenixteam.io on November 7, 2021.