Spencer Livingstone is a Creative Director, 3D Visualiser, and founder of Presume, specialising in photorealism and visual storytelling. Through Presume, he helps brands communicate ideas through compelling CGI, combining technical rendering expertise with a strong eye for design. His work spans consumer goods, industrial design, and health & beauty, creating everything from large-scale exhibition visuals for Joseph Joseph to detailed product imagery for Aesop. Spencer has judged for the KeyShot Awards and won a global photorealism challenge hosted by KeyShot and Yanko Design. He continually explores new CGI techniques, pushing the boundaries of realism and clarity while collaborating on innovative visual storytelling projects.
In this presentation, we will explore the key influences behind this approach, beginning with Spencer Livingstone’s photography and the ways it informs the lighting, mood, and composition present throughout Presume’s work. His imagery often captures quiet, atmospheric moments in everyday spaces, and these observations provide a strong visual reference for building believable digital scenes. We will examine how careful study of real-world environments, such as the way light falls across surfaces, how materials age, and how spaces naturally accumulating detail helps guide the process of digital creation. By translating these observations into 3D workflows, artists can produce scenes that feel grounded rather than artificial.
A central focus will also be the importance of imperfections. Small details like subtle wear, surface variation, and slight irregularities play a crucial role in transforming clean digital models into convincing imagery. Through a selection of both past and current projects, we will demonstrate how these principles are applied in practice, revealing the creative process behind crafting photorealistic visuals that feel authentic, atmospheric, and emotionally engaging.