Neil Gittins

Visual Development & Art Direction — Game · Film · Moving Image

I help directors and teams find the visual heart of a story — atmosphere, tone, and a coherent world audiences can feel.

I’m an animator, designer, and director with 15+ years across animation, motion design, and storytelling. My background spans art direction, title sequences, ambient short films, and visual identity for moving image. I’ve worked at the intersection of narrative, atmosphere, and design, crafting experiences that linger emotionally and speak in tone as much as story.

Today, my focus is on cinematic worldbuilding and story-driven visual development for projects that want more than surface. I help shape the visual DNA of new IPs, from tone and story logic to environments, symbolism, and emotional rhythm. Whether leading or supporting, I collaborate closely with directors and writers to move projects from abstract idea to living world.

In a time of generative speed, I still believe in coherence, taste, and emotional truth, in building worlds that feel lived in, fragile, and inevitable. My practice is hybrid: I work with drawing, motion, 3D, Unreal Engine, and AI tools, not as ends in themselves, but as vessels for story and soul.

If you’re creating a game, film, or moving image experience that needs clarity of vision, emotional grounding, and visual storytelling with depth, I’d love to talk.

What I Do

  • Visual Design & Direction

  • Worldbuilding & design language (shape, colour, scale, rhythm)

  • Look-dev, styleframes, key art, colour scripts

  • Keyshots & sequences to define atmosphere and tone

  • Storyboards & cinematic previz

  • Title design/motion sequences

  • Pitch bibles/decks for IP and series development

  • Art leadership & mentorship; team workflows, and mentoring

How I Work (Process)

  • Story First — clarify theme, emotional objective, and audience reaction.

  • Visual Language — shape grammar, palette, scale, light, texture.

  • Exploration — iterate in 2D/3D; test contrast, rhythm, mood.

  • Keyframes & Sequences — lock the world’s feeling.

CORE PRINCIPLES

  • Emotion leads every decision; design serves story.

  • Design is language — shape, colour, value, rhythm communicates meaning.

  • Show less, say more — clarity over noise.

  • Contrast guides attention — choose where the eye lands.

  • World logic matters — culture, physics, and light must cohere.

  • Compose for the subconscious — images should feel inevitable.

  • Iterate with intent — stages build toward a finish.

  • Everything is a tool — every element reinforces the focal idea.

  • Nature teaches structure — form, pattern, and scale inform design.

  • Collaborate generously — honest feedback, steady pace, shared ownership.

© THE CIRCLE THE SQUARE 2025. All rights reserved.