Margot Brun

Artstation

Meet Margot Brun, a French artist who’s passionate about computer graphics and art in general. She graduated from ESMA, class of 2024, and is currently working at a studio in France. She’s also the winner of the RenderMan “SciTech” Art Challenge! And we’re excited to hear her perspective on her challenge entry, creativity, and more.

What’s your creative background and how did you get started in animation?

I've always drawn, and it helped me express my emotions. I loved escaping into stories that I created by illustrating them. I quickly developed a liking for narrative arts like cinema and comics.

After a scientific baccalaureate with a focus on visual arts, I joined ESMA Lyon in the first year of animation cinema. I discovered 3D and its narrative power, and this new form of expression quickly became essential to me!

Here is a work realized in concept art class then created in 3d afterwards, it's a shot I did in collaboration with my friends Frederic Dewit and Romain Paillet.

To learn more about the project >

How was your experience in the RenderMan art challenge and the RenderMan community?

My experience with the Renderman community was great! People help each other, and there’s a good atmosphere. What I particularly loved about the art challenge was the kindness that came from it. It was very instructive.

What inspired your Art Challenge entry? Tell us about your creative process.

What inspired me for this challenge was its theme. It lent itself well to what I love: robots and hard surfaces. So, I didn’t need much motivation to begin creating the image! I asked myself what I would want to tell, and immediately the current debates around artificial intelligence came to mind.

I started with the idea that a robot could one day be an artist. This implies that it feels emotions. And what would happen if that were the case? With this in mind, I created Bill, a highly-developed robot capable of feeling emotions and gifted for art. He finds his inspiration in the cables connected to computers and draws like Jackson Pollock.

The Jackson Pollock connection was super interesting. Tell us more…

For me, Pollock's dripping is the very expression of art. It represents ephemerality and chance. It's a palpable, organic technique. Everything an AI can't do. It can't get out of our computer and project paint in this or that color, simply because it decided to do so.

Bill is a paroxysm between human and AI. He is the very demonstration that a robot can feel and express itself through art.

The lighting is very striking, what were your inspirations?

The chiaroscuro lighting brings a dramatic atmosphere to the image. I was inspired by film noir and Caravaggio's paintings for my lighting. And from series and films like Stranger Things and Blade Runner.

Color was also an important choice. The blue adds a dramatic aspect to the image and represents the coldness of technology and its hostile side. But at the center of the image, the painting is saturated with primary colors like red, blue, and yellow. The colors play a very narrative role here. The painting represents the character's success and the emotion that Pollock put into his art.

I've always loved Jackson Pollock, both for his approach to art and his works. It's the art of the ephemeral and movement, it's palpable, which AI is not. This is a thought I had when I asked myself what this robot would actually paint? And try to reproduce it as best as possible.

How Does Cinema Inspire You?

My main sources of inspiration are horror cinema and thrillers. I really like James Gray, David Fincher, Andy Muschietti, and Guillermo del Toro. I appreciate artists who have a very unique way of telling stories, whether it's through music, photography, or other mediums. Film scores also help me a lot to create, Alexandre Desplat is one of my favorite composers. I often like to associate a render with a sound, a piece of music that could help with the narration.

I believe that artistic culture is essential in our profession, whether it's painting, cinema, literature, or simply intellectual curiosity. To nourish our ideas and make them a reality, we need good references. This feeds our subconscious. Personally, I really enjoy films with strong artistic direction or a powerful atmosphere.

Movies like Seven by David Fincher or It by Andy Muschietti are great examples. These are films with a real DNA. They nourish me with the coldness of the storyline and the semi-fantastical approach to the cinematography. Seeing such accomplished images motivates me to do the same!

What are you currently working on and how do you keep a healthy work-life balance?

Right now, I’m working on a short film project with friends, and I continue to develop my website, Render Factory CGI with Frederic Dewit.

To maintain a good work-life balance between studio, personal projects, and health, I would say the best way is to listen to your body and properly balance your days. Having time for each thing is important. I often make a to-do list each week and day to keep a good rhythm and not lose track of my goals.

How was your experience with RenderMan?

RenderMan is, for me, the best rendering engine. I’ve tried several, but I’ve never had such a good experience as with RenderMan.
I think it's a good renderer, especially in terms of realism and flexibility in settings, but sometimes RIS can be a little slow depending on the project, so I’m looking forward to the speedups XPU might offer.

Do you have any advice for artists to stay inspired?

To stay inspired, I would say you have to be open to everything, all the time. Inspiration never leaves us, unless we stop feeding it!