Akanksha Jain, founder of Othersoul studio, merges art, design, and storytelling through CGI and VFX. Based in Mumbai, she crafts surreal, cinematic worlds celebrating diversity and culture. Akanksha embraces exploration over fixed style, values collaboration, and champions sustainable creative careers while addressing inclusivity and representation in design.

Can you tell us a little about your first few steps in your career. Was there a moment or experience when you realised this was what you'd do as a career?

I studied fashion communication in Bangalore India, then crossed continents for an MSc in international business at Glasgow, UK. During a stint as a brand visualiser, I built 3D products & environments for clients; that was the first time I tasted the pleasure of creating objects or worlds from scratch. Those projects intertwined my interests - art direction, fashion, photography, sci‑fi and made me realise I could definitely live in the space where art, design and storytelling meet.

I jumped in, and Othersoul was born from that leap. Othersoul is a CGI and VFX studio specializing in motion design and visual storytelling. I've partnered with brands like Apple, Netflix, L’Oréal, GAP, and Lenskart to build distinct visual identities and content ecosystems across digital and immersive platforms.

What lessons from your career have most shaped your style and approach?

The biggest lesson is not to grip too tightly to a signature style. Initially I was told that artists follow a style (of work), but over the years I see that style follows the artist, as their practice evolves.

I remember I joined the #36daysoftype challenge on Instagram and literally unleashed 1 tutorial everyday on myself, to create a different artwork based around an alphabet. So, so freeing to me. I continue to use that theory to keep creating new work which reveals to me, my newfound interest in something super specific at the time- like achieving a certain style of hair realism, or working to learn fluid sim without porting to Houdini (I’m a Blender3d girlie through and through).Another lesson is to distance myself from my creative output and look for creative nourishment in other sources.

I inherently believe a lot of my time should be spent selfishly on myself, learning instead of creating. Naturally, I love shortcuts. The conundrum is what do I do with the urge to perfect an output? So, my process shifts constantly. I go to considerable lengths to replace tediously executable ideas with ‘what else can I create instead of following this diabolical workflow because I don’t have the time’. I want to have the time, though, which is the thing. I ration very carefully, what aspects of design deserve a lot more time and what don’t- so I don’t exhaust myself with the idea of doing everything perfectly.

The tension and release between these 2 facets have mostly shaped my work.I’m lucky in that to always have a fresh set of eyes from Rohan who is my partner in design/life. Working with Rohan showed me how sound and image can talk endlessly to each other. Makes me pay attention to the small things.

He is so good at tinkering and self-learning, which is also how I was inspired to learn this in the first place. Do your own thing, no matter what, and no matter how long it takes to arrive because once you do, the doors unlock. This has become my creative anchor.Another key lesson I’d say is inviting “happy accidents” to join my workflows- it keeps the work alive and always makes me feel so cheeky about working in the design industry as a concept.

Tell us about the core values or philosophies that guide your creative practice.

I would have to say world‑building and radical imagination. Othersoul is where surreal meets cinematic. We explore the edges of fashion, technology and mythology. I’m driven by the urge to create spaces that feel strangely familiar.

Representation happens to take central stage in my personal work and by way of that, commercial work too; there’s a gap in realistic POC 3D models, so I’m subconsciously drawn to feature people of colour in my work and aim to celebrate diverse body types, infuse culture into the ether little by little.

Collaboration shapes everything: Music and visuals are often two halves of one conversation that goes on in the studio. The most yummy part of any audio-visual project is when the arduous tasks are complete and I chop film on my laptop and push colour and shadow sliders on Lightroom. Suddenly the artwork has taken flight while I sit here in awe.

What needs to change, so emerging and under-represented creative professionals have more opportunity, are seen and heard?

It needs more inclusive infrastructure. I believe that design as a career choice comes with the notion that privilege unlocks more doors, and seriously where is the lie? In my knowledge, under‑represented voices are limited by not just resources, but might also be actively facing geographical and political disadvantages. Is the income disparity, rampant sexism, a fledgling economy, and a capsizing climate ecosystem not enough stuff to worry about? An equitable world is when the time spent into a painstaking or otherwise craft, helps you pay not just your real bills but also help one fund a lifestyle that fuels full-bodied creative expression for artists. A creative career needs to be sustainable and we need to allow recovery time as a way of life for everyone, in every field of work.

Small community‑led art initiatives especially in places where design education is uneven needs to become the norm. I see it happen more and more around me and I’m so happy for it.

The emergence of more and more agency-led representation for artists of all tenets of design & art is definitely one of the nicer observations from the past 4-5 years. Access to experienced agents and mentors could really teach emerging artists how to form perspective about their work, support their vision for how they shape their life and continue to produce and learn in their lifetimes. A lot of learning and experimenting is mastered in time isolation.

Who is there to guide you once you emerge from the studio, apart from the internet? Most of all, the industry must listen to local stories rather than impose external narratives to earn ‘cool points’. That’s how you avoid cultural appropriation, kids. Worth looking into isn’t it?

How important is it that creative professionals find their unique voice?

Looking ahead, what do you think are the key factors that will influence change for creative professionals?

How much does your city influence your work?

Mumbai lives in my bones. I was born to parents who chased independence and ambition here in the ’80s. The city’s noise, textures and overlapping chaos taught me not just how to layer a scene, but the need for an intentional relationship with work. As a child I’d watch my architect mother turn plans into building, that sense of space and transformation is still in my practice. Metropolitan cities can seriously itch my brain in the best possible way. I’m always trying to embalm entire new cities that I travel to, into my memory forever, when I walk through them. I love the accessibility to creative stimulation, as I often crave a me-time museum walk or a bass-filled nightclub to connect with electronic music.

I must have access to steel welding workshops, have access to a local carpenter to call when I build something for my studio, a glass-cutting workshop at stone’s throw and an overflowing textile store and pattern-masters must always be within reach for me. I don’t think I could aspire for a quieter landscape because cities are so spicy and I’m forever foraging for inspiration in between them. I love making my work step out of the computer and into my hands.

My studio plays the role of a quiet refuge and the city must offer me all else. That’s the ideal relationship for me.

How much does your culture influence your work?

In commercial work, I operate borderless I feel, in that I’m mainly focused on expanding someone’s vision to a point that solves a problem, albeit aesthetically.

In my personal artistic journey, culture is definitely a key driver. I often mix sci‑fi imagery with Indian visual identities. My work is an exploration of heritage and futurism, a way to both honour and re‑imagine where I come from. There is so much maximalism and attention to detail in every corner of this country, it’s hard to not have it as a repository of context for building so many key pieces.While designing random objects of curiosities, I’m always thinking, if it’s a garment, what embroidery from which Indian state could fit within this realm of digital textile.

If it’s a piece of tech, I’m thinking about which style of motifs and materials. Could I borrow from ancient relics, or could I borrow from a school of thought? I have such a good grip on random things like the different depths of the nose bridge on a human that shape their apparent identity. Length of the space between the nose and the lip, and what repercussions would that info have on my design choices. Calibrating the size of the head in comparison to the size of the body to help recreate a sense of an identity that I’m gravitating towards. Difference between the thickness of muslin cotton and chiffon fabrics for draping certain pieces of garments. It’s seeped into all the littlest details of my thinking.

Tell us some of your favourite, creative professionals and inspiring places in your city!

My earliest inspiration is music. That was my earliest encounter with witnessing people using artistic expression as a way of life. As for places, it’s less about specific galleries and more about environments: the Art Deco façades in South Mumbai, the chaos of Sassoon Dock during street‑art festivals, afternoons spent in Kala Ghoda surrounded by sculptures and bookshops. The signages on some of these spots hold such a place in history! An era before computers even.

These spaces are layered, lived‑in, chaotic yet sacred, echoing the kind of worlds I try to build.I’m always looking up at some creative beings who have had a lifetime worth of a creative journey and expression: Nick Knight, Hideo Kojima, AR Rahman, Rick Owens, Erykah Badu, Pharell, Hajime Sorayama, TA-KU, Mr. Carmack, Hiatus Kaiyote, FVCKRENDER, Beeple. Their lifetime learning curve looks so fascinating to me, transcendental almost.

I’ve a very long list of favourite creative professionals in my city/country, and it’s also mostly about who they seem to be as people and their beautiful practice that ultimately draws me to them. In the digital art realm it’s got to be Kushagra Gupta (@kushlet), Shweta Sharma (@sharmatinahi), Aniruddh Gupta in India.

In the music industry, it’s got to be Rohan Chauhan (@kaosfuturemusic), Tejas Nair (@spryk.in). They are not afraid to think differently and are constantly evolving as creatives, pushing fiercely for the cause of adoption of new mindsets and artistic journeys.

What should emerging creative professionals keep in mind as they begin their design career?

Stay curious and shape‑shift often. There’s no single manual for a creative life. Let your work evolve, lean into what excites you, and listen to collaborators, to your surroundings, to yourself. Acknowledge your privileges and the structural barriers others face, and build community as you grow. Most importantly, care for yourself; challenges like burnout and self‑doubt come in waves, but your instinct to create will always guide you back to shore.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

_