Dark Angel 2

FREDERIC ST-ARNAUD

This website provides a comprehensive glimpse into the illustrious career of Frederic St-Arnaud, who is also renowned under the name of Starno. The name "Starno" originally served as Frederic's artist pseudonym and nickname, and was subsequently used as the name for his VFX studio STARNO.net founded in 2015. This decision was driven in part by the fact that the name "Starno" was already highly recognized and respected within the global VFX community, thereby helping to establish a strong reputation for the studio right from the start. Initially established in 2002, at a time when the field of Digital Matte Painting was still in its infancy, the site has since evolved into a condensed and smaller portfolio of Frederic's professional and personal creations spanning several decades. Alongside a showcase of notable artworks, the website also presents an extensive work experience and a thoughtfully crafted resume presentation.

WORK

The section below presents a collection of notable still image artworks, curated from a period spanning two decades, between 2000 and the present. The artwork featured includes both personal and professional illustrations, concept art, and mesmerizing matte paintings. Each piece is a testament to the artist's skill, imagination, and attention to detail. While the images displayed on this page are presented in small resolution, I invite you to explore a complete portfolio on Art Station.com by following the link provided below. There you will find a broader selection of artworks, along with more detailed information and higher-resolution imagery.

artstation

REELS

The upcoming section boasts a selection of videos, each showcasing reels and an in-depth breakdown of the intricate visual effects. These videos are not only entertaining but also serve as excellent tutorials to learn the artistry and techniques behind the creation of these stunning visuals. It is my sincere hope that you will find both enjoyment and educational value in these offerings. Should you desire additional video content beyond what is presented on this webpage, we kindly invite you to visit Frederic's YouTube and Vimeo pages. There, you will find a wider selection of videos and reels to explore at your leisure.

PROJECTS

This section offers a visual assortment of posters from a range of noteworthy film, advertising, and game projects that I have been involved with throughout my career. Each of these posters is a testament to the passion, creativity, and dedication that I have brought to my work, and serves as a reflection of my artistic vision and expertise.


ABOUT ME

Frederic St-Arnaud is a visual effects artist and a business entrepreneur, with over 25 years of experience. His career has been primarily focused on digital Matte Painting (also known as Matte Art or Digimatte), set extension, and concept art mainly for the film industry. Since 1998, Frederic has built a stellar reputation in the VFX community, and his remarkable talents have garnered him immense success.


Frederic's career began during a time when there were only a few Digital Matte Painting artists in the world, inspired by some of these pioneers who paved the way for new methods and approaches during the monumental transition from traditional matte painting to the world of digital computer graphics imagery. This was a time before the arrival of powerful computers and advanced 3D software, where Matte Painting was virtually the only method or so for creating photorealistic and believable high-end environments in visual effects. It was a time of great challenge and innovation, where Frederic and his peers were lucky enough to blazed a trail that would change the industry.


In 2015, Frederic founded a VFX boutique company, STARNO (www.starno.net), which quickly became a renowned industry leader. After six incredibly successful years, Frederic made the decision to sell STARNO to Rodeo FX (www.rodeofx.com) in 2021. This was a powerful merger of two highly talented teams, coming together at a crucial juncture in the industry's evolution. Prior to the merger, STARNO.net had just completed a project with a major Montreal film studio and had several virtual production projects in progress. Following the merger, Frederic St-Arnaud now leads the matte painting department at Rodeo FX, and STARNO's employees and current projects were seamlessly integrated into the new team.

Frederic's impressive filmography includes over 100 feature films, including blockbusters such as The Amazing Spiderman, Sin City, Elysium, The Lone Ranger, Pacific Rim, Resident Evil, Terminator Salvation, Babel, and Silent Hill. To learn more about Frederic's incredible achievements and expertise: [IMDB Frederic Profile] and [Linkedin Frederic Profile]

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

STARNO headquaters in Montreal, Canada in 2021

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

STARNO headquaters in Montreal, Canada in 2021

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

Photoshoot for a gaming project in 2015 at STARNO Joseph on the right was disapointed to get the smaller gun props!

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

Some STARNO team parties and gatherings between 2018 and 2021


RESUME



rodeofx Head of Matte Painting

Rodeo FX (Privately Held; 1-800 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
April 2021 to present - Montreal, Canada Area


starno Owner

Starno.net (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
April 2014 to 2021 - Montreal, Canada Area


mels Art Director

MELS (Privately Held; 500 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
May 2013 to February 2014 - Montreal, Canada Area


ilm Digimatte Artist

ILM - Industrial Light and Magic / Lucas Arts (Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
September 2012 to April 2013 - Vancouver, Canada Area


rodeofx Matte Painting Supervisor

Rodeo FX (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
January 2010 to March 2012 (2 years 3 months) Montreal, Canada Area


nad Concept Art Teacher - Environment Design Teacher

Centre NAD - UQAC (Educational Institution; 11-50 employees; Animation industry)
January 2011 - Present (11 months) Montreal, Canada Area


rodeofx Digital Matte Painter

Rodeo FX (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
July 2007 to December 2009 (2 years 6 months) Montreal, Canada Area


uqat Matte Painting Teacher

UQAT University (Educational Institution; 1-10 employees; Education Management industry)
November 2009 to December 2009 (2 months)


Digital Matte Painter

Mokko Studio (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)
March 2007 to December 2007 (10 months)


Digital Matte Painter

Meteor Studios (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
July 2007 to August 2007 (2 months)


Matte Painting Supervisor

Digital Dimension (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
November 2005 to July 2007 (1 year 9 months)


Artistic Director / Teacher / Matte Painter Consultant

Alpha-Vision(Public Company; 51-200 employees; Animation industry)
June 2005 to October 2006 (1 year 5 months)


Digital Matte Painter

FX Cartel (Public Company; 1-20 employees; Animation industry)
August 2006 to September 2006 (2 months)


Digital Matte Painter

Intelligent Creatures (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
March 2006 to April 2006 (2 months)


uqat Digital Matte Painter / Concept Artist / Texture artist

Hybride Technologies (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
December 2001 to May 2005 (3 years 6 months)


fly Character Animator

Fly Studio (Privately Held; 15-40 employees; TV Commercial Industry) September 1999 to December 2001 (2 years 4 months)


Character Animator / Concept Artist / 3D Generalist

Enzyme (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Management Consulting industry)
September 1999 to September 1999 (1 month)


Character Animator / Concept Artist

Klik Animation (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
August 1998 to August 1999 (1 year 1 month)


Character Animator / 3D Artist

Tube Image (Privately Held; 20-100 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
July 1998 to August 1998 (2 months)


Storyboard Artist

Jules Verne Production
August 1997 to December 1997 (5 months)


Storyboard Artist / Layout / Posing Artist

Cinar Animation (Privately Held; 250-500 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
January 1997 to February 1997 (2 months)


EDUCATION

2006: Matte painting Master Class by Yanick Dusseault (NAD Center - UQAC, Montreal, Canada)
1997: Cartoon Animation and 3D intensive program at ICARI (Montreal, Canada)
1996: One year of Communication Arts at Universite Laval (Quebec City, Canada)
1995: College of Fine Arts at Cegep de Sainte-Foy (Quebec City, Canada)
1992-94: Polyvalente Le Boise (Victoriaville, Canada)


HONORS AND AWARDS

2012:   The movie Rango won the VES Awards 2012 for Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Motion Picture in which I participated
2011: Keynote Speaker at NSCC Nova Scotia Animedia Festival April 2011
2009:   Silver Honour at Campaign's Big Awards 2009 for the illustration Finantial Times -St-Bernard
2009:   Silver Honour at The Creative Circle 2009 for the illustration Finantial Times -St-Bernard
2009: Conference Speaker at School Design of UQAM University for the program Graphic Design and Culture
2008:  the movie The Golden Compass won an Academy Award in 2008 for Best Visual Effects in which I participated
2008:   BAFTA 2008 Award (British Academy Film Awards) for Special Visual Effects in the movie The Golden Compass
2008: Speaker at the ADAPT Montreal Conference 2008
2008: Coverpage artist of the book D'artiste Matte Painting II from Ballistic Publishing
2007: Award Winner at Pixel Theory 3D with the artworks "Decline of Babel myth" and "bear vs. hiker"
2007: Excellence Award at 3Dtotal with the artwork "Decline of Babel myth"
2006: Excellence Nomination Award for the book EXPOSE 4 with the artworks "Tourism on Venus" and "Time Square"
2005: CG Elite on www.CGchannel.com
2005: Award Winner in the book EXPOSE 3
2003: Award Winner at CGsociety with the artwork "Waterfall Castle"
2002: Award Winner of the Graphika Awards Contest 2002 with the Fly Studio team
1997: Canada's Teletoon Animation Scholarship Award Finalist

PUBLICATIONS

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

Advanced PSD Magazine

(United Kingdom)

Tout Faire avec Photoshop

Tout Faire avec Photoshop

Les Editions Oracom, September 2011 (France)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

STARNO Art Booklet

Self publication (Canada)

Akzonobel Mgazine

AkzoNobel Magazine

Issue #8 2010 (Netherlands)

Zupi Magazine

Zupi Magazine

Issue 01, April 2010 (Brazil)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

Imagine FX

March 2010 (United Kingdom)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

PSD Magazine

April 2009 (France)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

Die Worte der Schopfung

(Germany)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

3D FX Magazine

November 2008 (Canada)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

D'artiste Matte Painting

(Australia)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

Journal Voir Montreal

August 2008 (Canada)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

2D Artist Magazine

Issue 32 (UK)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

Photoshop Digital Matte Painting

Learning Book by youngjin.com inc. 2008 (South Korea)

Journal La nouvelle

Journal La Nouvelle

Article Interview and Cover. Janvier 2009 (Canada)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

Digital Painting Volume 2

(Australia)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

Photoshop Magazine

2008 (France)

X fun magazine

X Fun Magazine

Magazine number 32, 2007 (Taiwan)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

3D World Exhibition

August 2007 (UK)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

CG Chosen

August 2007 (United States)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

Expose 5

(Australia)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

2D Artist Magazine

January 2006 (United Kingdom)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

60 Unite for Children

APAG Editions (France)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

2D Artist Magazine

Issue 26 (United States)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

Expose 3

(Australia)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

Mark Brandis

Delta VII (Germany)

Frederic St-Arnaud photo

National Geographic Magazine

August 2000 (United States)

Contact me

How to reach me


If you would like to connect with me, I kindly request that you utilize the private messaging feature on LinkedIn.com. Here is the link to my Linkedin profile. This ensures the highest level of privacy and professionalism in all communications. I appreciate your consideration and look forward to hearing from you.