Ben Tibbetts Studio Home Services Archive Students About Contact Now Store Subscribe
Interview with Ian Hubert
April 2, 2012
Ian Hubert is a filmmaker and a CG/VFX artist. To see some of his work, visit www.robotsoup.com.
Tibbetts: How long have you been in this field, and what made you decide to become a CG artist?
Hubert: 'The Field' specifically? If we're making a distinction between the hobby field and the professional field- it's hard to say. It was a very smooth transition. I think I made my first money off of CG when I was 16, but I wasn't able to completely support myself off it until 2009. I never really decided to become a CG artist, it's just a thing I started doing one day, and haven't stopped yet.
That said, I love visual storytelling, and CG is an incredible tool for that. I'm always excited about the possibilities. Last night, I realized I didn't have a certain shot I needed, and was able to completely manufacture it by combining a background image taken on set with a facebook photo of the actor (not the most legit method, but in this instance, it got the job done). I was even able to project the actor's image onto some super-basic 3d geometry, and animate it a bit. The end result isn't perfect, but I'd be surprised if folks who weren't looking for it noticed. A lot of times in CG there's the 'correct' way to do it, then there's a quick hacky way. The correct way looks better, but if you can make the hacks work, you can get a lot done really quickly. I call it CG 'doodling'. That sort of creative freedom can be a little addicting.
Tibbetts: What inspires you?
Hubert: Life-wise, I'd have to say I'm inspired by anything done passionately. Being able to tap into someone's enthusiasm and understand why they love what they do is a really recharging thing. Creatively, I'm inspired by anything that creates a mood/distinct experience. I really enjoy immersive art. Film-wise, I tend to appreciate any film that realized it's just images and audio and uses that to the best effect.
Tibbetts: Of all you have done, what do you consider your best work, and why?
Hubert: The next project! Always the next project! I'm joking, but it's also true. I'm always excited to use the things I learned on the last project to make something even better. While Project London is definitely the most ambitious project (full feature coming out of high school, 5+ years in the making, with about 800 VFX shots), I suspect Mango will have a bit more polish overall (much easier to do when your film is only 5 minutes!), and the webseries Dynamo I work on with friends is probably the closest to my personal drives these days.
Tibbetts: What is your 'typical day' like?
Hubert: These days? More fun than they were a few months ago! I wake up in my Amsterdam apartment, shove a bit of food in my mouth, and ride my bike along the canals, where I work at the Blender Foundation for the day, grab some dinner, and go home to put a couple hours into Project London or Dynamo. While most all of the editing work on Project London is finished, I'm still going through and making a few behind-the-scenes featurettes, and stuff like that. Then I try to go to bed early, so I can wake up refreshed the next morning, but instead lay there for two hours thinking about stuff. It's fun, but still a lot more emails and mouse clicking than I'd like.
Tibbetts: Do you have any words of wisdom to offer to aspiring CG artists?
Hubert: Words of encouragement! CG is a wonderfully broad medium, and one of the most quickly evolving. Every year introduces more and more powerful and intuitive tools. In the end, though, all the technology is just that; tools for realizing your idea. Don't fall into the trap of thinking, "if I only had that one thing, or a bit more money, then I could make my dream project!" Use your brain just a little bit more and figure out a new and (probably more rad) way of doing it with what you have. If a great story is your goal, an audience will often look past poor production values to hear you tell it.
Ben Tibbetts Studio Home Services Archive Students About Contact Now Store Subscribe
   |
Copyright © 2006-2023 Ben Tibbetts
change log