Agenda

What if building a shader felt more like painting a portrait than solving a math equation? In this session, Naughty Dog Technical Artist and illustrator Rosy Fu reveals how classical oil painting techniques can guide the development of artistic character shaders. Drawing on metaphors from Caravaggio's process—canvas stretching, grisaille, glazing, and varnish—matching real-time shading, from UV setup and depth masking to lighting models, color packing, and final polish. This talk reframes shader authoring as an artistic process, helping attendees visualize complex systems with greater clarity and creativity.

Takeaway

Learn to reinterpret traditional painting workflows (canvas prep, glazing, varnish) as shader stages in a PBR pipeline.
Understand how "controlled errors" (intentional departures from photorealism) can define distinct art styles.
Discover practical examples of stylized rendering techniques used in the Last of Us.
Gain a new perspective on shaders as artistic tools for art direction, not just technical implementation.

Intended Audience

This talk is for technical artists, shader developers, art directors, and students interested in bridging art and technology.
No deep graphics-programming experience is required—attendees will benefit whether they're artists seeking to understand rendering, or programmers looking to infuse artistic intent into their shaders.