Ask An Artist

Luke talks with Chris LeDoux in episode nine of Ask An Artist! Chris is the founder of Crafty Apes VFX, a widely successful FX studio producing high-quality FX. We talked not only about how you can scale in the FX business but also about the healthy culture while scaling. Chris shared his experiences working with different people from different fields, as well as the importance of taking care of your people, and a sneak peek of what’s next for him and the Crafty Apes.

Highlights

• How does Chris stay creative? How is it possible to balance creativity between all of his roles? - 3:44
• There should be a balance in the relationship between producers and artists. They need to understand more about each other. - 8:13
• Making a creative call. - 10:58
• Where he is sitting now, is it where his headspace was 10 years ago? - 20:08
• The one who gets on the mat the most wins in the end. - 21:58
• Having an innovative mindset and starting to move things around: Who we are isn’t going to take us to where we want to go. Our systems and processes that got us here aren’t going to get us to where we need to go. - 25:23
• To get to the next level, you have to try new things. - 35:49
• Movies and TVs have so much budget and corporate power behind them that they can’t afford to take a risk. Because if they fail, then there is massive punishment in financial loss. 36:54
• It’s such a level of healthy curiosity that leads to all the other discoveries of recognizing something. - 40:00
• We’re problem solvers. We’re finding new ways to do things. - 44:48
• The question might change people’s view of him for the rest of his life. - 50:00
• What’s next for Chris and the Crafty Apes. - 52:52

Episode Resources

• Connect with Luke Thompson
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-thompson-97281555/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukethompsonfilm/?hl=en
• ActionVFX Instagram:
• https://www.instagram.com/actionvfxofficial/?hl=en
• https://www.actionvfx.com/blog?category=podcast
• https://www.actionvfx.com/
• Connect with Chris LeDoux
• https://www.craftyapes.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/crafty-apes-llc
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craftyapesvfx/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/craftyapesvfx/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CraftyApesVFX 

Luke interviews Chris Clements. Chris is well-known for his works with the Reimagine series and Scene 38 of Star Wars. He has been working as a Visual Effects Artist for eleven years, bringing creative visions from storyboard to the screen. Luke and Chris talk not only about Chris’ experiences as an FX Artist, but also the struggles of working as one. He also shared the importance of revisiting and keeping an asset library, and how essential it is to stick to the previous looks, to satisfy fans and viewers, and also to save money and time.

Highlights

• What are Chris' notable works? 0:06
• What are the factors which cause Chris to want to revisit Scene 38, specifically? - 1:32
• The idea was always to try and recreate something. Trying to reconnect what we saw as kids, to what the reality is. - 4:03
• Did Chris face any backlash or internal issues working with big studios? - 8:41
• Are there any pushbacks in recreating famous works, especially from fans? - 11:00
• Where did your love for the effects and stunts intersect and combine? - 14:05
• As far as asset libraries go, are they very helpful for the project? Do they cut down turnaround time? - 18:36
• Having high-quality assets… means I need to do a lot less work for them to look good which makes the whole process so much more refined. - 23:38
• Each revision is a sales pitch. 23:58
• Time is money. You can’t replace it. You can’t change it. It’s just constantly flowing. - 27:44
• The experience that let Chris get a chance to play, try some new things, and develop some skills and knowledge from the tools which are already available for him - 28:16
• What’s coming up for Chris? - 30:09
• Inside scoops that Chris and Luke were not able to talk much about, publicly. - 32:09
  
  
  Episode Resources
• Scene 38 of Star Wars
• Connect with Luke Thompson
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-thompson-97281555/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukethompsonfilm/?hl=en
• ActionVFX Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/actionvfxofficial/?hl=en
• https://www.actionvfx.com/blog?category=podcast
• https://www.actionvfx.com/
• Connect with Christopher Clements
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnHn3SzWLLimBjA79vDNTgQ
• https://www.instagram.com/fxitinpost/
• https://fxitinpost.com 

Luke talks with Jordy Vandeput. In 2012, Jordy Vandeput graduated from the film school of Brussels, right after he started as an independent freelancer for various video productions. One of his clients at the time was Envato, for whom he took online courses about various aspects of filmmaking and video editing. On the 20th of March 2014, Jordy founded Cinecom Belgium with the goal of creating educational content for filmmakers and video editors around the world.

Highlights

• Cinecom’s goal - 1:06
• The primary question for this episode - 2:33
• It can be difficult to come up with good ideas - 4:23
• You have to market yourself - 8:53
• What are his projects for the future - 15:03
• Spending time producing a lot of good courses - 18:34
• Being passionate about what he does - 19:41
  
  
  Episode Resources
• Connect with Luke Thompson
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-thompson-97281555/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukethompsonfilm/?hl=en
• ActionVFX Instagram:
• https://www.instagram.com/actionvfxofficial/?hl=en
• https://www.actionvfx.com/blog?category=podcast
• https://www.actionvfx.com/
• Connect with Jordy Vandeput and Cinecom
• https://www.cinecom.net/
• https://www.cinecom.net/about/
• https://twitter.com/jordyvandeput?lang=en
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpLfM1_MIcIQ3jweRT19LVw 

On this episode of Ask An Artist, Luke and Rodolphe are joined by long-time friend of ActionVFX, Joshua Davies. Josh is the founder and CEO of FXhome. Over the years, Josh and his team have brought a multitude of accessible tools to the creative market, and have greatly impacted the creative industry.

Highlights

• Making a good product - 6:15
• The amount of care they have for their community - 7:12
• People want to be creative - 12:00
• Being creative on your own terms - 12:57
• Being really lucky to have support - 29:37
• Projects that they’re working on - 32:07
• Their work on the charity side - 39:03
  
  
  Episode Resources
• Connect with Luke Thompson
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-thompson-97281555/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukethompsonfilm/?hl=en
• ActionVFX Instagram:
• https://www.instagram.com/actionvfxofficial/?hl=en
• https://www.actionvfx.com/blog?category=podcast
• https://www.actionvfx.com/
• Connect with Josh Davies
• https://fxhome.com/
• https://uk.linkedin.com/in/fxhome
• https://twitter.com/iamjoshuadavies?lang=en 

Hasraf 'HaZ' Dulull started his career in Visual Effects for Film and TV, before transitioning to directing and producing with his breakout sci-fi indie feature film - The Beyond, which was released by Gravitas Ventures, and premiered at #2 on the iTunes charts before trending on Netflix. His second feature film 2036: Origin Unknown, which starred Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, Another Life) earned a limited theatrical release in the US before landing on Netflix.

He was later hired to direct the pilot for Disney's action-comedy mini series - Fast Layne, and was also credited as creative consultant on the entire series and directed three additional episodes when he wowed Disney channel executives with his vision for the 8 part series. Other credits include directing the short bridge film - Descendants - Under the sea for Disney, and directing a segment in the sci-fi horror anthology Portals released by Screen Media.

Highlights

• How to balance tech and story - 2:04
• Showing more and saying less - 4:44
• Working in visual effects - 7:42
• Making a movie for the audience - 9:20
• Virtual production is the future - 18:57
• Growing as an artist as time moves forward - 28:02
• About the automation style - 41:56
  
  
  Episode Resources
• Connect with Luke Thompson
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-thompson-97281555/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukethompsonfilm/?hl=en
• ActionVFX Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/actionvfxofficial/?hl=en
• https://www.actionvfx.com/blog?category=podcast
• https://www.actionvfx.com/
• Connect with Hasraf "HaZ" Dulull
• https://hazfilm.com/  

Hugo is a Director & VFX Supervisor working in both the VFX and the Videogames industry for the past 20 years. After working as a freelancer in Portugal, Sweden, and the UK, he became the Head of Nuke and VFX Supervisor at The Mill London. Most recently, Hugo worked as a Director for Fire Without Smoke, as a VFX Supervisor for Sony Playstation, and is currently working as a Film Director for Rebellion Games. He is also a VES Jury member, teaches VFX in several universities, and runs the largest YouTube channel about Nuke compositing called Hugo’s Desk.

Highlights

• “Artist empowerment” at the core of his content - 1:52
• The worst content in his channel - 5:52
• Caring for people - 6:47
• Working on a lot of projects in a year - 9:25
• Resting and sleeping more - 13:46
• Loving video games and being a gamer - 17:04
• The industry is used to the “shiny” things - 37:44
• A huge project that was canceled - 42:01
• It takes weeks to make a video - 47:09
  
  
  
  Episode Resources
• Connect with Luke Thompson
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-thompson-97281555/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukethompsonfilm/?hl=en
• ActionVFX Instagram:
• https://www.instagram.com/actionvfxofficial/?hl=en
• https://www.actionvfx.com/blog?category=podcast
• https://www.actionvfx.com/
• Twitter: @HugoCGuerra
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/HugosDesk 

On this episode of Ask An Artist, we have the man of the myth and the legend himself, Mr. Ryan Connolly. Many of us know Ryan because of his interest in film making and his work over the years with more than 1 million subscribers on Youtube.

Highlights

• Thinking longterm - 2:56
• Being a filmmaker - 4:44
• What was the long term idea? - 5:44
• People coming and supporting - 8:54
• Starting freelance at 15 years old - 10:40
• What can be stressful - 17:15
• Listening to a song over and over again - 25:28
• The technical side of things - 27:04
• Ryan’s projects in the pipeline - 42:59
• Having a Plan B - 44:50
• Get in touch with Ryan - 46:29
  
  
  
  Episode Resources
• Connect with Luke Thompson
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-thompson-97281555/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukethompsonfilm/?hl=en
• ActionVFX Instagram:
• https://www.instagram.com/actionvfxofficial/?hl=en
• https://www.actionvfx.com/blog?category=podcast
• https://www.actionvfx.com/
• Connect with Ryan Connolly
• https://www.filmriot.com/connect/ryan-connolly/
• https://www.youtube.com/user/filmriot
• https://twitter.com/filmriot
• https://www.facebook.com/filmriot/
• https://www.instagram.com/thefilmriot 

Today we have the godfather of visual effects: Allan McKay. If you’re interested in high-level visual effects, you have probably heard this name once or twice. Allan has worked on a lot of films such as Star Trek, Transformers, and more.

Highlights

• Why visual effects? - 1:20
• Communication is the number one skill that every person should have - 8:42
• Learning to be more patient - 11:12
• Stop being intimidated by freelancers - 14:05
• The Avengers poster - 17:30
• Everyone struggles with fear and failure - 32:42
• Enjoy the process along the way - 34:00
• There’s a difference between being a consumer and being a creative - 40:27
• Everything is sales - 48:40
• Teaching people how to build a successful career - 50:00
  
  
  Episode Resources
• Connect with Luke Thompson
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-thompson-97281555/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukethompsonfilm/?hl=en 
• ActionVFX Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/actionvfxofficial/?hl=en
• https://www.actionvfx.com/
• https://www.actionvfx.com/blog?category=podcast 
• Connect with Allan McKay
• [email protected]
• https://www.allanmckay.com/ 

Luke will be interviewing CEO and Founder of ActionVFX, Rodolphe Pierre-Louis, about Rodolphe’s story, kick starter, and what’s next for ActionVFX.

Highlights

• Why ActionVFX? - 2:21
• Getting into ActionVFX - 3:48
• Loving the idea of doing something yourself - 8:05
• What ActionVFX is now - 9:17
• The importance of making a good first impression - 16:09
• It’s possible to make a kick starter campaign - 22:47
• Emphasizing quality over quantity - 34:52
• Establishing the foundation - 40:42
• Providing more options for people and artists - 43:38
• What’s next for ActionVFX - 46:16
• How to help compositors - 48:00
  
  
  Episode Resources
• Connect with Luke Thompson
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukethompsonfilm/?hl=en 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-thompson-97281555/
• ActionVFX Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/actionvfxofficial/?hl=en
• https://www.actionvfx.com/
• https://www.actionvfx.com/blog?category=podcast 
• Connect with Rodolphe Pierre-Louis
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodolphe-pierre-louis-3349b956 

Welcome to “Ask an Artist”, a show that talks about everything VFX related. Join VFX artists and industry innovators as they talk about projects, discuss the process behind creating effects, and debate what's next in emerging technologies. Check out new episodes each week with host Luke Thompson and the ActionVFX team.