Q: Hello Steffen can you give a short description to our French audience about your work as art direction and concept design artist ?
Steffen Reichstadt : I started designing at ASC in 2008, and in that time period I’ve worked on hundreds of films. Specifically as an art director at ASC, I’ve worked on big films like the recent Planet of the Apes series - for example, the upcoming War for the Planet of the Apes. Working on these great projects has been very challenging but a lot of fun as well. Most of my daily work consists of working with other artists, walking around the office and overseeing the art that they’re doing, and pushing them in the direction that the client is after while imparting my own taste onto it as well. I also do my own concepts and images for some clients.
Q: What can you say about your actual VFX process since you are the one overseeing this process in your studio?
Steffen Reichstadt : Being a design-heavy house, the VFX process always starts with a really strong concept. We start doing motion tests and animation tests to get the emotion of the creatures down before we start trying to finish anything or take it too far. We make sure the concepts and visuals are very strong and that we’re blending that with good animation and good storytelling in each shot. Usually we do a series of motion tests and show them to the client, which entails some kind of pre-vis where we’re doing animation tests for a specific shot. Once we’ve gotten into a good place, we do lighting tests and finished renders. We have to make sure all our lighting and texture passes are where they need to be to give us all the detail from the original concept and push it further.
Q: Which 3D software do you use and why do you prefer that software?
Steffen Reichstadt : We start all our concepts in ZBrush, then do all our animation tests in Maya, and render with V-Ray. We do all our simulation in Houdini. We use those packages because they’re so versatile and pliable. Because they’re almost out of the box it allows us to leave windows for ourselves later, should something need to change and we need to turn around new shots in a short period of time. This often happens in the hectic world of film making so knowing that we have all our tools in place means we can push forward without worrying about what’s around the bend.
Q: You have worked on some of my favorite movies like Sucker Punch (2011), X-Men First class (2011), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), X-Men Days of Future Past (2014). What was your inspiration behind your work on those movies?
Steffen Reichstadt : A lot of those films had to do with suit and costume work, which is generally how I started as a concept artist - doing concepts for costumes and armor. Sometimes that’s still what I enjoy doing most. Those specific projects were quite fun because they entailed so much of that - I got to do concepts for some of my favorite properties since I was a kid.
Q: What do you consider to be the main key to success in your work?
Steffen Reichstadt : Having a great, versatile team to work with is the primary answer. Without a good, well rounded team that can turn on a dime, nothing in design and VFX could be done. As for personal success: organization. Organize, organize, organize! It’s also about making sure that before you commit to anything too much, you do a lot of research to make sure the path forward is as good as it can be.
Q: What are the main difficulties that you have encountered while working on movies ?
Steffen Reichstadt : I think the biggest challenge with designing and doing VFX is maintaining the group mentality - making sure that everything you’re doing pushes the team and the project forward and trying to give the project a unique style. It’s tough because you have to make sure that you’re communicating with everyone and producing a product that works for the studio, the directors, the writers, producers, your internal team and the fans as a whole.
Q: What can you say about your work on Ghostbusters ?
Steffen Reichstadt : Really fun! The concepts we did for that were fun because it allowed us to touch a great property that we all enjoy. Especially, working on the Times Square ghosts and being able to take iconic caricatures from the old history of New York to present day allowed for some really fun and unique ghost concepts.
Q: We are huge Marvel comics and films fan, I saw that worked on Wolverine 3 ? Can you talk a little about your work on this Marvel character ?
Steffen Reichstadt : Unfortunately, they’re keeping that one under wraps. They’re being really tight-lipped, so there’s nothing we can say about it at the time.
Q: What are your favorite movies ?
Steffen Reichstadt : My favorites: Blade Runner, Princess Mononoke, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Predator, and I nearly hyperventilated from excitement during Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Q: What kind of advice could you give to someone who would like to work as a concept artist ?
Steffen Reichstadt : Don’t get too attached to your own work. Feel free to let it be experimental, and if someone gives you notes - whether a producer or director or your average fan - take it to heart and don’t get defensive. When working with directors and studios, you have to make sure that you remain pliable. In the end, it’s a group effort, not a singular artist. I had an art teacher once who at the end of each class had you rip up the work you did in the class that day to prove the point that no work should be too precious and I think that stuck with me. If you linger too much on the work you’ve done then can’t grow and make your self better.
With All our thanks to Steffen Reichstadt for answering to our questions and to Chase for his precious help.
Pics : Steffen Reichstadt
Special recognition' highlighting all the artists that worked on these amazing images & projects: Alex Mandra, Steffen Reichstadt, Joshua Min, Edvige Faini, Tsvetomir Georgiev
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