3DTotal: Hi Simon! It’s nice to speak to you again; the last time was when we did an article on the Moutons, that collaborative short you did with Viven Cabrol and Arnaud Valette. So to kick start things off this time, could you introduce yourself and tell us how you ended up doing 3D?
Simon: I’m Simon Blanc, a little frenchie who comes from the south of France. I grew up there and studied economy until I was 19 ... but that was never a passion for me. Since childhood, I’d spent my time drawing on the back of my class papers and waiting for the chance to do artistic studies, and so after general school, I tried to enter into a visual communication school and somehow I made it! Here was

where my love of pictures, animation and colours really began. I was doing flash animations, websites, and melding a lot of different techniques and medias together - artistically, it was a great time for me! 

  I first discovered 3D during these years. I remember that some motion graphic clip I was watching contained stylised 3D and I was amazed by the possibilities that 3D was giving to these animations. So I decided to try it myself!

3DTotal: From Supinfocom to Blur Studios in California in a matter of two years is quite impressive. Could you tell us what your position is there and what you’re currently working on?
Simon: Yes, I’m still impressed by being a part of the Blur studio crew so quickly! I had a lot of luck; right after Supinfocom, I tried to do freelance work, but I was really too young and it was so hard to find serious clients. So I went to Spain to work in a little studio, doing lighting on TV adds, and also a series for Disney.

Working in a different country was a good test to see if I felt good far away from my home and my family, and it was also gave me plenty of time to prepare my visa papers, which were very difficult to get my hands on!

Falling into Blur one year after school was really a great luck, but it was also a giant challenge for me. I’m actually a scene assembler here at Blur; the job consists of doing a bit of everything in the 3D pipeline, except animation, rigging, and FX (even if I do it for my personal projects). So basically I’m in charge of environment modelling, texturing/shaders, lighting, passes to the final post production. It’s a very interesting job because I’m still doing a lot of different things, and I learn in a lot of ways. I always wanted to be able to do everything by myself in a production, and here I learn to push my knowledge of every aspects of making a movie farther!

We are mainly working on games cinematics at Blur, but we are also working on short films, adds, rides (I began my work here working on The Simpsons ride for the Universal Studios parks in Florida and Los Angeles!) and we are also preparing features movies ... but I can’t really talk about that!

3DTotal: So what’s an average day like for you at Blur?
Simon: First, waking up without thinking “God, I don’t want to go to work today” [Laughs]. People at Blur are so talented and willing to share their knowledge, it’s always great to come into that giant room where everybody works together. They really care about the employees and that makes you feel at home - which is good when you’re fighting to meet deadlines and you have to spend whole days in the studio!

A normal day here... sharing and learning, not only technically, but also humanly! We all come from a lot of different countries here - I think all the parts of the earth are represented - so it’s a lot of fun to work together, especially on the projects we get here!

3DTotal: So what’s the best and most useful thing that you have learnt from your time at Blur? Has there been a time where you’ve had to share your knowledge with anyone and if so who?
Simon: The most useful thing I have learned here at Blur is how to be professional. We have a short amount of time to do a huge amount of work, so I’ve quickly learned to do the essential jobs first and put the hard work into the right places. I think it’s a great way to learn and to improve your skills.

I’ve learned a lot from sharing with the other guys - everybody shares their knowledge, their points of view about the works we get in the studio. Artistically it’s absolutely great, because no one’s got the same style or the same tastes, so when you gather all that together it’s amazing the talent you can grow in here.