Judges & Mentors - October 09 CGTantra Digital Matte Painting Challenges

[kaustavsinha]

1) Philip Straub (Art Director, Illustrator, Concept Artist & Author)
http://www.philipstraub.com



Current:
Owner, Studio Art Director at Unity New Media Entertainment
Owner at Philip Straub Illustration and Design

Past:
Art Director at NCSoft
Studio Art Director at Electronic Arts
Art Director at EA



Brief Biography:
As an Art Director, Philip Straub has worked with some of the biggest names in the gaming industry including: Vivendi Universal, Electronic Arts, NCSoft and Big Fish Games. Philip’s work has appeared in over 30 childrens’ books, and he has co-authored three digital art tutorial books, including d’artiste Digital Painting.
In the entertainment industry, he has worked with many clients including: Mattel, Fisher Price, Disney, Universal Studios, Warner Bros, DC Comics and Knowledge Adventure.
He also teaches an annual online Concept Art class to students around the globe. Philip is a founding member of The CGSociety and regularly contributes to the illustration and digital art communities, by judging illustration competitions including: The Society of Illustrators, PAINTER, EXPOSÉ and CG Challenges hosted by The CGSociety.
Philip’s licensed designs appear on a variety of products including: books, games, wall murals, scrap-booking, gifts, stationery, apparel and textiles. As a freelance illustrator, his work has appeared on: broadcast media, book jackets, CD, magazine covers, trading cards, feature films and advertising campaigns.
Philip Straub & Ballistic Publishing take the fantasy graphic novel to the next level, with their latest release, "Utherworlds". "Utherworlds" combines a fantasy novel with written and spoken languages, maps and stunning paintings in a large format, that showcases Philip Straub's artwork like never before.

Honors:
2008 : Expose' 6 Advisory Board member
2007 : Judge for "Painter", the first annual juried competition for the best artwork produced using Corel's Painter Software.
2006 : Corel Painter 10 Advisory Board member
2005 : CG Society Advisory Board Founding Member
Judge CG Networks CG Challenge Grand Space Opera
Judge CG Networks CG Challenge Masters and Servants, etc.

Philip Straub is the guest Judge for the October 2009 Challenges

An Exclusive Interview with PHILIP STRAUB



2) Christer Wibert
http://wibben.cgsociety.org/gallery



Current:
Concept Artist at Massive Entertainment (Computer Games industry)



Brief Biography:
I have been working as a Concept Artist in the games industry for about three years, and am working full time at Massive Entertainment. The most recent project I worked on was the pc title "World In Conflict", on which I designed the user interface and did a lot of concept illustrations and production art. Though the biggest part of my job focuses on visual design, I have also done a lot of Matte-Paintings and 2D art-assets for different projects at Massive.
When I am not at work, I spend most of my time painting personal projects and was recently awarded the CG Choice Award and 3DTotal Excellence Award for one of my paintings.



3) Frederic St-Arnaud
http://www.starno.net



Current:
Senior Digital Matte-Painter at RodeoFX

Past:
Matte-Painter Freelancer at Mokko Studio
Matte-Painter Freelancer at Meteor Studios
Lead Matte Painter at Digital Dimension
Matte Painter Consultant / Teacher and Artistic Director at Alpha-Vision
Matte-Painter Freelancer at FX Cartel
Matte-Painter Freelancer at Intelligent Creatures
Matte Painter / Concept Artist / Texture artist at Hybride Technologies
Character Animator at Fly Studio
3D Artist / Concept Artist at Enzyme etc



Brief Biography:
I'm a visual effect artist with 12 years of experience, focusing on
high-end photo-realistic digital matte painting, set extension,
concept art and art direction in the film industry. I have contributed
to more than 25 feature films, dozens of commercials for television
and a few TV series. I'm working for different visual effects
companies as a matte painter, concept artist and sometimes as an art
director or teacher.
My film credits include Terminator Salvation (T4: Salvation), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Death Race, Babel, Silent Hill, Sin City, Sky captain and the world of tomorrow, Once upon a time in Mexico, Spy kids 2 & 3 and The Golden Compass, which won the best visual effects Academy Awards in 2008.

Honors:
2008: Endorsement for the coverpage of the book d'artiste - Matte Painting 2 (Ballistic Publishing)
2007: Endorsement for the coverpage of the book Digital Art Master volume 2 (DAM II)
2007: Jury Member of the Unofficial Matte-Painting Challenge on CGsociety.org / CGtalk.com
2007: Award Winner on Pixel Theory 3D.com
2007: Excellence Award on www.3Dtotal.com
2007: Artwork "The Decline of Babel Myth" released in the book EXPOSE 5
2006: Excellence Nomination Award for the book EXPOSE 4
2005: CG Elite on www.CGchannel.com
2005: Award Winner for the book EXPOSE 3
2003: Award Winner at CGsociety.org / CGtalk.com etc

An Interview with FREDERIC ST-ARNAUD

"Cleopatra Queen of Egypt" - Digital Matte Painting Tutorial by FREDERIC ST-ARNAUD



4) David Luong
http://davidluong.net



Current:
Senior Cinematic Artist at Blizzard Entertainment.
Teaching matte painting online at CGWorkshop/CGSociety.org

Past:
2006: Rhythm & Hues Studios
2005: Luma Pictures
2005: Disney Toon Studios



Brief Biography:
After graduating in 2005, I did a quick stint at Disney Toon Studios as a background painter on Tinkerbell. Then I went on to work at Luma Pictures on Underworld Evolution. When that was complete, I worked as a compositor at Rhythm & Hues studios with films such as Garfield 2, Superman Returns, and Night at the Museum.
Once those were complete, I moved on to Blizzard Entertainment, where I am very fortunate to get to work on cinematics that have inspired me through the ages. I work as a finisher, doing things from lighting, rendering, compositing to matte painting. Credits include Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.
I'm also teaching a matte painting online course at CGSociety's CGWorkshop, going into the beginnings of a matte painting, to the end using compositing techniques and camera projections.

Honors:
Published matte painting works in D'Artiste Matte Painting Book 2
Artwork published in The Cinematic Art of World of Warcraft: The Wrath of the Lich King.



5) Tiberius Viris
http://www.tiberius-viris.com

Current:
Art Lead at LifeBlood Games



Brief Biography:
Tiberius Viris is a visual effect artist focusing on environment illustrations, digital matte-paintings and motion graphics for film and entertainment media. His work is featured in many prestigious books such as Expose 5, Expose 6 and D'artiste Matte Painting 2 from Ballistic Publishing, as well as, Digital Art Masters vol. 3 from ZooPublishing. Tiberius worked as the Lead Matte Painter in the independent film, "The Hunt for Gollum".

"Tutorial 1 : Basic Set Extension" - Digital Matte Painting Tutorial by TIBERIUS VIRIS

[kaustavsinha]

6) Sedevcic Leonardo
http://www.mattepainting.be



Current:
Digital Matte-Painter 2D-3D, Brussels, Belgium



Brief Biography:
I have 8 years of experience in mattepainting, for movies, TV and shows, illustration and concept design. I have worked for Celine Dion, Sting and many others...
When I’m not working, I like to play video games, adventure games, platform games (with the mame emulator) and I hope in the near future of becoming a teacher in mattepainting, for the next generation.

The Crab : A video tutorial by SEDEVCIC LEONARDO



7) Justin Michael Holt
http://www.justinmichaelholt.com



Current:
Senior ViewPainter with Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) in San Francisco, CA working on Gore Verbinski's "Rango", starring Johnny Depp.



Brief Biography:
Justin Holt studied Visual Effects with a concentration in texture painting and lighting at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He got his first big break by landing a position with Rhythm & Hues Studios as a lighting technical director in Los Angeles on the Academy Award Winning Animated Feature "Happy Feet". While there he slowly worked his way into the discipline with which he possessed the most interest and enjoyment in: texture painting. After a few months, Justin was responsible for painting various textures on "The Kingdom", "Evan Almighty" and the Academy Award Winning Film "The Golden Compass". And within a year, he found himself placed with the distinct honor of painting the skin textures for the Hulk and his adversary the Abomination in the recent Marvel release of "The Incredible Hulk". From there, Justin has found his career take off, working as a senior texture painter, concept artist and digital matte painter with The Moving Picture Company on several features including Zack Snyder's "Watchmen" and Bruce Willis' upcoming sci-fi action film, "Surrogates".

[kaustavsinha]

1) Nick Marshall
http://space-sprayer.cgsociety.org/gallery

Current:
Runner at Double Negative, London, UK



Brief Biography:
Having grown up with the dream of becoming a book illustrator, but somewhat disillusioned with art education in the UK, I taught myself the basic art principles. By the age of 15, I was successfully selling my traditional art on my self produced website, with over 200 commissions and 50,000 hits a year. At age 18, I fell in love with the idea of digital art, and matte painting in particular, which appealed to me for my love of environment painting. I decided to leave the traditional art and pursue a degree in Digital Visual Effects, which i have just completed. Whilst finishing my degree, I completed my first two freelance matte paintings, and am about to begin the hunt for a permanent position at a visual effects studio, either in the UK or overseas.

CGTantra Username: space-sprayer



2) Jorik Dozy
http://www.akajork.com



Current:
Digital Matte-Painter at the Gnomon Studios, LA, USA



Brief Biography:
My name is Jorik Dozy (21) and I am from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. A while ago I moved to Hollywood, California to study at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects. Before I came to Gnomon, I worked as an Art Director and Graphic Designer for various clients, I mostly did designs for national tv shows. My passion now lies in film and digital painting and ofcourse matte painting. Since 4 months, I work part-time as a matte painter and concept artist in the industry mainly on video clips.
Besides my work and studies, I am the founder of the international art collective called: The Luminarium. This collective produces art works of all kinds and releases them in an online gallery form, there for everyone to enjoy. We feature digital art, traditional, photography and even music.
I am very excited to be able to be here on the forum and I am sure I will learn loads from this experience!

CGTantra Username: Akajork

[kaustavsinha]

Hi Everyone,

I'm very much happy to announce that, the panel of honorable Jury members will remain the same for the October 2009 challenges, as it was for the September 2009 challenges! Philip Straub is going to be the guest Judge for this month's Challenges!

On behalf of the entire CGTantra Team, I'd like to thank the panel of Jury members, for taking out time from their super-busy schedule & providing us with the results, along with their very precious critiques, on the contestant's matte-paintings! It has been an honor for us to have you all as the Judges for the matte-painting challenges!

[kaustavsinha]

Hi Everyone,

One of the honorable Judges of the "CGTantra Digital Matte Painting Challenges", Tiberius Viris has created a digital matte-painting tutorial, titled "TUTORIAL 1 : BASIC SET EXTENSION"! If you are new to this form of art and would like to know, what are the most basic tasks, that a Junior Matte Painter undertakes in a studio, then this is the perfect tutorial for you! Through the use of a plate image, Tiberius covers the following essential tasks, that are performed by the Junior Matte Painter:

• Cleaning
• Extending
• Light Enhancement
• Grading

Click on the following banner, to read this tutorial!

[kaustavsinha]

Hi Everyone,

I've recently interviewed the world-famous Illustrator & Concept Artist, Philip Straub, who is the guest Judge for the October 2009 edition of the CGTantra Digital Matte Painting Challenges - "The Votussoloum"! In this exclusive interview, Phil revealed about the techniques, which he uses, to create his world-renowned Illustrations! He also shared his experiences that he had, while creating his recently launched fantasy graphic novel, "Utherworlds"!

To read this exclusive interview, click on the banner below!

[3Dsachin]

very nice work done!!

[kaustavsinha]

Hi Everyone,

One of the honorable Judges of the "CGTantra Digital Matte Painting Challenges", Frederic St-Arnaud has created a digital matte-painting tutorial, titled "CLEOPATRA QUEEN OF EGYPT"! It is a personal matte painting of Frederic St-Arnaud, which is inspired from the movie, "Prince of Egypt" from Dreamworks. One of the most interesting & fascinating feature about this matte-painting is that, it uses the world-famous Taj Mahal, as the plate image, for the matte creation!

Click on the following banner, to read this tutorial!