Frederic St-Arnaud is a Senior Digital Matte-painter at Rodeo FX. He is 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. He has contributed to more than 25 feature films, dozens of commercials for television and a few TV series. He is working for different visual effects companies as a matte painter, concept artist and sometimes as an art director or teacher. These are few of his Honours:
Honors:
2008: CGTantra Showcase Challenge winner.
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
We caught up with him to share his experiences with us.
Q. Glad to have you here for the interview, Frederic! To begin with, tell us something about yourself?
Hi to every CGTantra readers! I'm living in the province of Quebec in Canada. I was born in a small French town in the mid seventies just in the middle of the province. I did my first drawing at 3 years old and since, I never stop. I always dreamt about doing special effects for cinema. I did many latex puppets, creatures and make-up effects for theater plays when I was a teenager until I discover the first 3D visual effects from movies such as Terminator 2 and The Abyss. I decided to do a traditional cartoon and 3D animation program in a private school in 1996 and 1997. I did different type of jobs for the first 5 years after school, from storyboard artist, character animator, texture artist to finally end-up in matte painting field.
Q. For all those, who are new to the art of Digital Matte-Painting, can you briefly explain about this form of art?
Before computer graphics, matte paintings were made by artists on large sheets of glass. They were using oil painting, acrylics and sometimes pastels to do their background scenery painting that was blended with the live-action footage. The mattes was the little pieces of black paper sheet that people used to hide different part of the camera lens while they were shooting. It was the only way at this time to do compositing! Today, advancements in computer graphics domain allowed matte painters to work digitally, which give new tools and save a lot of time in a production schedule. The term matte painting mean many things and I think people don't know exactly how to use properly these words. But according to this new definition, I would say that today, matte painting mean any creation of images related to environment and backgrounds with a certain attention to realism. A real definition would be more complex but at least, I think this is what people think of, when they talk or read about this.
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Waterfall Church |
Q. Briefly describe, how does the matte painting department work in the post-production stage of a feature film?
Matte painting departments work differently from a place to another, depending on the company philosophy, the size and the type of projects. Matte painting departments can be sometimes, separated from the rest of the pipeline. They do concepts at beginning of the projects while they also execute both, technical camera move and still shots during the production. Shots can be done entirely by only person who do everything from concept arts, modeling, texturing, lighting, matte painting to compositing, especially for establishing hero shots.
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Talaros City |
Q. Which one do you prefer more, a landscape matte painting or a cityscape matte painting & why?
It depends on the type of landscape, what type of cityscape and from which camera angle. But generally, I prefer cityscape matte paintings because there is a lot of details and variety in shapes and colors. It's also easier to do since a city is made only by basic shapes such as cubes and rectangles. Forests, mountains, clouds and vegetations are organic shapes which is complex to reproduce when you want them very realistic.
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Castle of Valleyfield at dawn (this image is property of College de Valleyfield) |
Q. Very often it is observed that matte artists also work as concept artists, which I've seen in your case too. How much analogy is there between these two art departments?
Matte artists are usually called also multi disciplinary artists. They have both technical notions and strong artistic sense, so they can achieve different positions. Concept art and matte painting are never executed at the same time and they are the most artistic tasks. In order to save money by keeping few strong artists, companies ask them to do concepts and matte paintings. It's also interesting for an artist to have the chance to create every step in a shot from A to Z.
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Algonquin Project |
Q. What are the tools of your choice?
Around 80% of my work is in Photoshop. When I have matte paintings with camera moves, perspective issues or 3D geometry, I use Softimage XSI. Sometimes I can use small softwares specialized in stitching, degraining, pre-compositing and some bitmaps filters for sharpening or blurring.
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Drakensberg Castle |
Q. Can you briefly explain the general process you follow, while doing any matte painting?
Most of the time, the first step is getting an visual approval from the director by creating images that explain exactly what we will see and how. This part of the process is call concept art. As soon as everyone in the loop agree with these concepts, you can do the matte painting. You start usually by an intense search of images from books, internet and movies, looking for good references. And then, here comes the shooting session where you should get all the photos you need in order to create a high quality matte painting. Sometimes, it's possible to do some scouting locations to find the perfect point of view for your shots. It all depends on the time constraint and money issues for each shots. You can do small ones that take a day each and, on the other side, you can spend one month on a very important and complex matte painting.
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Matte-painting for the Burma Aid advertising |
Q. Your personal matte painting, "The Decline Of Babel Myth" has won several awards, & has been featured in the world's best Computer Graphics magazines. Can you briefly take us through the journey, from the initial concept to the final matte painting?
This matte painting came from a discussion with my friend Kami, who did a wonderful 3D spaceship in 3D Studio Max. He sent me a converted 3D model for Softimage XSI in order to do a futuristic matte painting. It was also an opportunity to create something inspired by the movie "Blade Runner" which I have a lot of admiration for this amazing film. I did not do sketches or concepts. I started with some photos I did from a summer trip in New York City. Once my photos were well blended together, I did some 2D extensions to the foreground buildings with the Photoshop tool call Clone Stamp (or rubber stamp). Then, I created 3D geometry like bridges, antennas, landing boards. Because of the perspective and complexity of these elements, it was easier to do them in 3D. I finished with the background cities, the sky and the spaceships.
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The Decline Of Babel Myth |
The decline of Babel Myth is also published in the first issue of CGTANTRA's latest art book - ARTT!. You can learn more about artt from the website - www.artt.in. CGTantra has published the making of the same in 2 parts. Click onthe links below to learn more.
'The Making of The Decline of Babel Myth – Jacobsen War Part I' and 'The Making of The Decline of Babel Myth – Jacobsen War Part II'
Q. I have heard, that you love traveling very much! Can you share some of your experiences with us?
Yes, traveling is one of my passions that I enjoy the most. I like to discover other countries, different way of thinking, different cultures. For me, it's so far, the best way to evolve personally, to grow up and learn about yourself and the planet earth as well. I went to many european countries when I was younger. I did some tropical destinations such as French Polynesia, Hawaii, Cuba. I went to Japan and China in 2008. I did also Trekking trips in North Africa and in United States.
Q. In 2008, you visited India! How was the experience?
It was an amazing and unforgettable experience. The first thought I have in mind when I remember my trip in India is the diversity. This country is so huge! You can find different cultures from the past that was mixed together. From snowcap mountains to beaches and jungles, almost everyone can find a particular interest. I went from New Dehli to, Kerala, Karnataka and Goa.
I really like this description from Lonely Planet: "Demystifying India is a perpetual work-in-progress and for many travellers that's precisely what makes her so deeply addictive. Ultimately, it's all about surrendering yourself to the unknown: this is the India that nothing can quite prepare you for because its very essence - its elusive soul - lies in its mystery. Love it or loathe it - and most visitors seesaw between the two - India will jostle your entire being and no matter where you go or what you do, it's a place you'll never forget."
Q. For all the aspiring matte painters out there, what suggestions do you have for them?
I think being a matte painter or concept artist should be a dream! A dream that you pursue until you reach your goal. This domain is very competitive. You have to be passionate and talented. You have to never stop drawing and practicing yourself. You have to learn and know well the proper softwares such as Photoshop, Maya, 3D Studio Max or Softimage XSI. You need also to be your own judge and know exactly where you are according to the other artists, you have to understand what are your weakness and what to do to improve them. You have to keep pushing and never give up if you know inside of you that you could do it.
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Rise of Niburu - The myth of planet X |
Q. What is your opinion about CG Tantra & it's community?
For me, CG Tantra is the best Computer Graphic website in India. Here, you will find fresh news, tutorials, interviews, job opportunity and a huge forum section where you can admire and get inspired by wide range of talented artists. You can take participation in discussion on the forum, subscribe to some challenging contests or just hanging around for interesting articles. This portal is constantly evolving and growing. I keep an eye on CG Tantra regularly from both, home and job.
Q. You are one of the jury members of the recently launched CG Tantra Digital Matte Painting Challenge; what is your opinion on this new initiative taken by CG Tantra, and according to you, how much helpful will it be for the contestants?
This matte painting challenge is a great opportunity for people who want to be challenged in their work. It's also an excellent way to get yourself improve and learn from other artists. Because everyone has the same constraints and the same subject, you can compare your work with others. I hope everyone will learn something new by this great challenge.
Thank you very much Frederic, for the interview. The whole community of CG Tantra wishes you best of luck for all your future projects!
Kaustav Sinha
CGTantra Forum Leader
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