Interview With Marc Brunet, Senior Character Artist at Blizzard Entertainment (2024)

Can you tell us something about yourself, current job,artistic background and how you got into this artisticbranch?

Before anything, I want to take a second to thank you for theinterest you show in my art and artchannel, I'm super honored!

Like most of the artists I work with, I've always been drawn todrawing and painting. It's almost as if I never grew up and justkept doing what I loved so much as a kid. I had a vague idea, atbest, of the possible ways I could turn my passion into a careergrowing up, but one thing I knew for sure was that there was noother field of work I could see myself fit into. It was all ornothing.Â

IÂjust had the feeling that if I tried to make art at the samequality as the artists working in those big companies, I couldeventually take their jobs. Combining this with a desire to get asmuch exposure as possible on the internet, I think is what madethings happen for me. Fast forward a couple years ahead and I wasgetting my first gig at a game company in Montreal, Canada, myhometown. Soon to follow was my current position as a seniorcharacter artist at BlizzardÂEntertainment hereÂin Irvine,California.

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Marc Brunet, Senior Character Artist atBlizzardÂEntertainment

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What was that first job in a games company youmentioned, and what’s your current position atBlizzard?

My first gig in the industry was at what is now called Behaviour Interactive, a studio located in Montreal. Iwas on a very small team whose goal was to create next-gen gameprototypes. We were basically working on game pitches after gamepitches, trying to push the engine we were developing from scratchat the same time. There was only a handful of us so at that time Iwas a hybrid doing concepts and 3D models, whatever was needed.

Currently, I'm a 3D character artist on the Starcraft II and Heroesof the Storm development team. I get to do concepts oncein a while, but the job is primarily 3D.

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Which are usually your tools of the trade, andwhy?

I use the same tools both at work and at home, and those consistof a Wacom Cintiq 21UX on the hardware side and Photoshop, Maya,ZBrush, and a bunch of other less important 3D programs on thesoftware side. I've used less expensive Wacom tablets in the past,but the Cintiqs are just way more fun to work on, if nothing else.Program-wise, I simply use the most commonly used in the business,there is no going around Photoshop for sure, and as for Maya, I'vejust been using it for so long that I could never make the switchto 3ds Max, the main alternative. Old habits die hard!

I know you are a self-taught artist, but I was wonderingif you had pursued any formal education at some point, or did youjump straight into the professional field?

There was one and a half year of college that I spent studying3D animation. It was the closest course to 3D video game art Icould find in my hometown at the time, so I went for it. At thattime, I was really into 3D modeling and I was able to learn Mayapretty quickly thanks to that course. When I received the first joboffer though, it was after they had seen my personal work online soit was initially for a 2D position; nothing to do with what IwasÂstudyingÂin my animation classes.

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What is usually your workflow when starting a newproject, from initial concept (such as defining a style, an overalllook, etc.) to the finished piece?

I'm sure everybody has had a song stuck in their head at somepoint, and for me the process always starts like this. In the sameway, I'll have this image in my head and it'll keep coming backuntil I paint it. This is usually how most of my paintings start,it's a way to actually "get that image out of my head." Iwish I found a solution for the catchy songs too...

That initial idea is always pretty limited, though, after I havethe rough blockout on canvas, I start to create the backgroundstory for it and it helps me come up with pretty much everythingelse. First on the list is the color palette, then the lighting forthe scene, which is then followed with the final composition basedon the initial idea. At that point if you squinted, you would get avery good representation of the final image.Â

The final steps are always the longest and theleastÂimpactful,Âbut they consist of rendering all the materials,cleaning up all the messy brushstrokes andÂdoingÂthe final colorcorrection to get the desired result. The style always kind of just"happens" if I follow those steps; I never reallyactively think about it.

When working on your own projects, do you have anyspecific visual style that inspires you the most, like sci-fi ormedieval, and why?

Sci-fi is definitely my biggest crush. I've always loved robotsgrowing up and I think the contrasting mix between organic partsand very designed and logical mechanical pieces is what drives meto it constantly. It has a veryÂdifficultÂaspect to it in thesense that you have to think a little more to make sure the partscould somehow work together in real life. Most of the designelements are constantly taken from existing machines, so peoplehave something to compare it to, just like anatomy: onemisplacedÂmuscleÂand people will instantly notice. ÂIt takes alittle bit more studying, in my opinion, but this is the part Ilike. With fantasy art, anything can be explained with magic!Â

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If you meet someone who's obviously talented enough, butlacks the "courage" to pursue a professional career as acharacter artist, how would you encourage that person?

That's an interesting question... On the 3D side of things, Idon't think that would ever happen because of the sheer amount oftechnical skills you need to acquire to just get you running up todate. It would be very strange to have the courage to do all that,but chicken out at the finishing line.Â

I could see this happening for concept art, though, and I thinkthe best way to go about it is to get as much exposure as you canon the internet and see what happens. It doesn't stop you fromdoing anything else meanwhile, and if you're really good at it, thejobs will actually come to you once you get enough eyes on yourwork.Â

To be honest, I didn't have the courage either when I wasoffered a job back when I was 19 year old. I practiced doing what Iliked to do, put it up for the whole world to see and theopportunities came to me. It didn't require any courage on mypart!

Are there any words you would like to tell to ourreaders?

Thank you so much for having me and I hope I was able to sharemy passion for art with some of you. If you have a similar dream asI had back then, then I urge you go for it at a 110%. Life is tooshort to have regrets, grab that pencil and get to work!

We invite you to check out Marc's incredible tutorialchannel, MB Workshops, on YouTube:

MB Workshops is a YouTube channel where I provideweekly art tutorials and share my experiences working as aprofessional artist. Teaching is a passion of mine and I’vefound that using this platform could help me reach and potentiallyhelp many people who don’t necessarily have the money or thehelp to get started on the right path. It feels incrediblyrewarding and I hope you check It out!

MB Workshops Digital Art Tutorials

All supporting images are copyright and usedby permission of Marc Brunet
Images cannot be copied or printed without permission.

SergioAris Rosa [nemirc], is Sr. Staff Writer for the Renderosity Front PageNews. Sergio discusses on computer graphics software,animation techniques, and technology. He also hosts interviews withprofessionals in the animation and cinematography fields. You canfollowhim on Twitter, and if you want to see what he's up to you canvisit hisblog.

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March 10, 2014

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