Interview with Frederic St-Arnaud - a Prominent Person in the World of Film Industry

For those who are not familiar yet, let us introduce a prominent person, a man of genius in the world of film industry - FREDERIC ST-ARNAUD. He is a visual effect artist with 10 years of experience, focusing mostly on high-end photo-realistic digital matte-paintings, set extensions and concept arts.

 

He created a huge amount of matte paintings and concept arts for our favorite movies such as: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Golden Compass (Best visual effects Award Winner 2008), The Legend of Secret Pass, Race to Mars, Silent Hill, Sin City, Babel, The Wind in the Willows, Racing Stripes, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Sharkboy and Lavagirl, The Last Sign, Legend of Sleepy Hollow and many others. He was a creator of the numerous Napoleon’s 3D army for the film Napoleon.

 

Frederic St-Arnaud is a master of digital visual effects: he designed and integrated muzzle flares of guns and explosions for the movie project Once upon a time in Mexico.
Artist’s credit in movie Spy Kids 2, 3 is also great: he did a lot of concept art, character animation of the spider-robot “Ralph”, texturing, lightning, animations of different gadgets and vehicles.

 

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Please, tell our readers about yourself a bit.

 

 

Frederic St-Arnaud: Hi, my name is Frederic St-Arnaud. I was born in the town of Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada. Interested in art from a young age, I started to draw before I reached my teens. After two years studying Fine Arts and one year of Communication Arts, I worked on many theatre plays and exhibited my paintings during this time. In 1997 I was admitted into a 3D animation School in Montreal for an 2D and 3D Animation program.

 

At the end of my studies I worked as a Storyboard artist for a time moving on to Character Animation for several TV Series and commercials. I’m a digital matte-painter since the last five years, which combines my three big passions: cinema, computers ans arts. Take a look at www.starno.net to know more.

 

As we know, you studied Fine Arts at College of Fine Arts at Cegep de Sainte-Foy and Communication Arts at Laval University, and then attended a 3D animation School in Montreal for a 2D and 3D Animation program. Does the education necessary to become a professional in the sphere of Arts, to your opinion?

 

Frederic St-Arnaud: It’s necessary to learn how to use the softwares. The 3D softwares such as Softimage XSI, Maya or 3D Max for instance are quite complicated. Of course, you can try to learn at home with tutorials and help guides you will not learn as fast as you would do it as a student of a 3D animation program. The artistic side can be stimulated by lessons and courses but usually, it’s something that you have from your birth and It’s difficult to improve.

 

“The Decline of Babel Myth” by Frederic St-Arnaud.

 

On your personal website I have read that you showed a keen interest in art and started to draw from an early age. Do you still have your first images? If yes, can you share them with us?

 

Frederic St-Arnaud: Here is the first real drawing I did in my life, my mother kept it for me. I was 3 years old when I drew this simple character and then, I never stop to draw. Everywhere I went, from my first school at 5 years old to University, people always recognize me as an excellent drawer and a good artist. I did my first serious illustration contract at 11 years old, creating a character for the logo of a high school.

First Drawing created by Frederic St-Arnaud in 1978.

 

You were involved into numerous famous projects (cooperation with Fly Studio, Hybride, Alpha-Vision, Digital Dimensions, etc.). What of these professional experiences did you enjoy the most? Is there the one you are proud of the most?

 

Frederic St-Arnaud: I would say that my experience at Rodeo FX where I work now, is so far, the one that I enjoy the most because of the philosophy of the company. They treat each employees with a lot of respect and you can feel clearly that everyone are important, not only the tasks but also the mood and the ambiance between departments. All the projects are related to matte-paintings, focusing on high-end photo-realistic digital matte-paintings, set extensions and concept arts, which is exactly what I prefer.

 

“College de Valleyfield MP” by Frederic St-Arnaud.

 

Can you please describe the process of matte painting creation by the example of your work for the movie “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”? What do you usually start with? What tools and software do you use? (If it’s possible please provide us with some sketches or matte paintings).

 

Frederic St-Arnaud: Unfortunately, I cannot provide images of the work I did on “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” but I can describe it. I did 2 matte-paintings on this movie, in the first one, you can see the army truck of Indiana Jones and his friends landing (after a jump) on a killer ants hill. This scene was shot at night with spotlights, I switched it into a day scene. I painted a new forest in the background, added the sun and lens flares and few details on the hill such as bones and branches. The other shot shows the same army truck, but this time the truck lands on a river. For this scene, I switched the the direction of the light from the left to the right by painting new cliffs and waterfall details in the background.

 

For both shots, the process is always the same. I received the footage from the client. They explain me what they want. I do a quick concept art over a still frame to show to the client a visual idea of what I would like to do. They give me comments until it’s finally get approved and then, I can do the real matte-painting with a photo-real look.

 

You did visual effects for the movie “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”. What did your job consist in? Maybe you could even provide us with some kind of screen shots?

 

Frederic St-Arnaud: Again, these images does not belong to me, which mean that I can’t show these images without permissions. I worked on “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” in 2002. At this moment, I was not a matte-painter but a texture artist. I did some 3D debris for few car explosions, but mostly, I did muzzle flares. Most of the guns in this movie didn’t have great muzzle flashes at the good timing. So, I painted new ones with different shapes and colors depending on the gun.

 

Drakensberg Castle Art by Frederic St-Arnaud.

 

You are a talented concept artist with a colossal experience. What are you usually guided by during creating concept art for the movies? By descriptions of scenario writers or taking photographs of facial expressions or anything else?

 

Frederic St-Arnaud: Usually, big productions have always many photos from the set, visual references such as maps and photos to explain clearly what they want. The scenario is important to read to know the general mood of the movie but I will do most of the concept arts according to these visual references instead. Sometimes you can start from scratch and creating a whole world and sometimes you have to create exactly what the director have in mind. Things like that change from a project to an other and I personally like it.

 

Two flyes Buzz and Scuzz created by Frederic St-Arnaud for Racing Stripes.

 

Old Town Hooker, Sin City concept by Frederic St-Arnaud.

 

You, together with Meats Meier, were involved into producing “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”. Did you enjoy working with him?

 

Frederic St-Arnaud: Meats Meier and me worked on “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” but not for the same company, which mean that I never saw him and I never spoke to him as well. Meats is a very talented artist, maybe we will work together in the future. Who knows! Hybride was the name of the company where I was when I worked on this movie. We had the environments of the whole ice cave sequence to do. This movie was shot completely on green screen, so the main task was to replace these green screen by CG backgrounds.

 

“The Last Wonder World of Humankind” by Frederic St-Arnaud.

 

Are there any people, or maybe artists, who influenced you and helped you become what you are now? And what people do you find true artists who are worth following his or her example?

 

Frederic St-Arnaud: I like many artists from the past like William Adolphe Bouguereau, George Seurat, Paul Cezanne but my main inspiration as a today artist is definitely Craig Mullins. Craig has worked on some of the highest profile films and video games in the last decade. His art studies are totally awesome. He can manage a complex images with only few brush strokes applied at the right place with the right color. Craig is also my principal influence concerning lighting effects, ambiance and mood.

 

“Squid Attack” by Frederic St-Arnaud.

 

As it is known, you adore traveling and for the last 15 years you have visited a great deal of countries and interesting places. What country would you like to come back again and what amazed you there? What place are you planning to visit in the nearest future?

 

Frederic St-Arnaud: I would like to come back again to French Polynesia for the incredible green mountains, pure transparent water and white sand

 

Photo made by Frederic St-Arnaud in Polynesia.

 

to Japan for the art of food

 

Photo made by Frederic St-Arnaud in Japan.

 

and finally, to San Blas (Panama) to meet again the amazing, truly and peaceful Kunas Indians.

 

Photo made by Frederic St-Arnaud in San Blas.

 

What things do you find inspiring in your daily work?

 

Frederic St-Arnaud: The concept art sessions are always very inspiring because of his creative aspect. You can express yourself and show your emotions and feelings more than any other tasks. Actually, you have no technical constraints. You can paint straight on a single layer in Photoshop without bothering you with questions. The only thing is to focus on the idea that the client gave you and play with it.

 

“Desnoyers Ville” by Frederic St-Arnaud.

 

What pieces of advice would you give to the beginning matte painters and concept artists? What mistakes should they avoid?

 

Frederic St-Arnaud: First, you have to always stay focus on your dream even if it takes many years to achieve it. It’s important to analyze how other artists achieve well certain aspects of their work. Try to give more importance on your artistic skills instead of your technical skills. And simply, go with your passion.

 

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We are really grateful to you, Frederic, for a captivating interview and wish you more pleasant moments in your life that would inspire you. Keep it up!

 

 

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 8:23 am and is filed under interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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