Bruno Lopez-Vargas
Freelance Motion Designer / Illustrator
Portland, OR
Q What do you do?
“I’m a motion designer, 2D animator, illustrator, and video editor!”
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
Where do I even begin? I took a lot of turns to get to where I’m at now - I was taking on a lot of odd jobs and figuring out how to squeeze in animation and design any way I could. I was doing social media marketing for a beer startup for a while, then went on to do socials for a theater in San Francisco, CA called “The Marsh”. I ended up getting really lucky and ended up landing a graphic design internship at Vacasa the summer I moved to Portland. My mentor and now good friend David Dacosta took a huge chance on me but I’m so glad he did because not long after my internship ended I was picked up by a social media marketing agency called Sparkloft. They had a very small but robust design team - I was originally hired on to do video alongside motion design but I ended up really developing what their motion capabilities could look like. It wasn’t long before my title was switched over to Motion Design Specialist. After that, I started spearheading motion for the agency and eventually, in 2020, I hopped off to explore freelancing. I managed to snag Lithia Motors as a client and went on to work for a few agencies after my time at Lithia but now I’m back to freelancing and honestly I can’t imagine going back.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
I love to have fun. I know it may seem like a pretty generic statement but it really shows through work that I do and the persona I bring to the work environment. At the end of the day, we’re all people and taking life too seriously can be a drag. I try to instill my motion projects with as much life as I can - often incorporating textures, vibrant colors, and elements of traditional animation when there’s room to do so.
Q What are you working on right now?
I’m currently working on a few different projects - I’ve got some Nike work in the pipeline as well as some stuff for TikTok. I’m not at liberty to disclose what exactly these projects are but just know that they’re a lot of fun and it’s pushing my abilities as an animator.
Q What’s your style?
I LOVE LOVE LOVE textures and traditional animation. I find that a lot of the graphic illustration styles that have been popping up tend to start blending together quite a bit. My background is in traditional animation and so I love really pushing my stylistic boundaries and seeing how I can push and pull at proportions and whatnot. I have two projects that really showcase my taste - firstly the music video for Portugal. The Man I worked on: https://brunolv.com/portugal-the-man and secondly a personal piece I worked on for my band: https://brunolv.com/to-bloom
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
Ah, honestly I’ve been really getting into sound design/music production. Logic has been the newest tool I’ve unlocked and much like after effects, there are so many possibilities to explore. And that’s just with the stock plugins! Aside from that, I would love to learn more about graphic design - I feel that it’s the last missing piece in my arsenal.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
Honestly, building a consistent schedule. As a freelancer I’m often working strange hours and am up pretty late through the evening churning out quick turn projects. It makes my sleep schedule pretty irregular and with overlapping deadlines things can get messy quick.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
Outreach. It’s the most time consuming part of my job. That and probably file organization. Once I get into the thick of it, project files start accumulating pretty quickly and more often than not I spend an extra day organizing all of my project files to make sure the client can actually use it to make edits if necessary.
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
I would probably go back to 2017 and tell myself to have my employer pay for more classes. They’re expensive. And I also had a lot more time back then. Woulda made things a lot easier this time around but ya live and ya learn.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
Oof, I would probably ask about cold emails. How to get new clients. Also their journey through the industry. It’s always interesting to hear people’s stories and their trajectories leading up to where they’re at now.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
An ideal client would have a clear vision of what they want and adhere to the agreed-upon revisions. More often than not, this is ignored, and we end up in revision purgatory. I also have a pipeline I like to follow, and it's one that seldom gets used. When it does get used it makes the project flow seamlessly. Lithia Motors was one of the few clients where this was the case and it was honestly one of my favorite companies to do business with!
Q: What is your rate?
I charge anywhere between $2500 - $50k per project depending on the brand, size of the project, whether the content will be evergreen or not, and how much usage the client can get out of the pieces I make. It’s a pretty big range, I know, but I’ve seen paychecks of varying sizes working with different brands that have all sorts of budgets.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
Shoot me an email! brunolopezmedia@gmail.com
Q Who is a creative you admire?
Maria Rodriguez: https://sparkykneecap.weebly.com/ https://www.instagram.com/sparkykneecap/
Victor Gomes: https://bizarthestar.com/ https://www.instagram.com/bizar_gomez/
Priya Kakati: https://www.priyakakati.com/ https://www.instagram.com/gingerpk
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
Cycling between creative outlets.
This member profile was originally published in December 2024.