Sivakumar K — creative director working across cinematic AI video, image prompt engineering, and branded content, based out of 89Studio. Fifteen years in design, the last few spent teaching machines to hold a shot.
Fifteen years ago I started as a designer with a pencil and a deadline. Today most of my toolkit is generative — but the job hasn't changed: figure out what a story needs to feel like, then find the fastest honest way to make it feel that way.
My work sits at the crossing of cinematic scripting, AI image and video prompt engineering, and branded content — building shots frame by frame in Runway, Kling, Sora and Pika the way a DP would light a set. A recurring thread through the personal work is Tamil and Hindi storytelling: village and Mumbai settings, Pixar-style character design, short films, and a couple of children's storybooks still in progress.
I also teach. Every workflow I build for a client gets stripped down into a lesson for the students in my AI camera-movement curriculum.
A Tamil-language short built entirely from AI-generated plates — a village household at golden hour, cut together from cinematic prompt sequences rather than a physical shoot.
A set of animated character concepts developed for a children's storybook, styled for a Pixar-adjacent look while keeping distinctly Indian visual references.
An ongoing explainer series on engineering and transportation topics, scripted for clarity first and animated second — built for a general audience with no technical background.
A run of branded social content produced under the 89Studio identity — cinematic formats adapted for short-form platforms without losing the frame.
I run a curriculum for students who want to direct with AI tools the way they'd direct on a physical set — thinking in shots, blocking, and coverage before they think in prompts.