Featured Pro Portfolio: Benjamin Bardou

We love that ArtStation Pro websites are being used by diverse artists from all around the world and working in all kinds of areas in the media and entertainment industry.  This week, the Featured Pro Portfolio interview is with Benjamin Bardou, a filmmaker and matte painter based in Paris, France.

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Having trained at Mikros Image Paris, his beginnings in the medium of post-production allowed him to acquire solid technical and artistic skills in matte painting. He has also created several short films, driven by his interest in the theories of montage. In his personal work, he often attempts to link this ideas of ​​photographic montage specific to matte painting to cinematographic montage.

Visit Benjamin’s ArtStation-powered website.

Read his interview for his tips and advice for aspiring artists:

What do you think makes a portfolio stand out?

For me, a portfolio stands out, of course, by the quality of the images but also by the way in which these are selected. You have to put yourself in the place of a prospective recruiter or by anyone who comes to see your site for a specific purpose. This is why your selection will have to show all your artistic and technical palette in a minimum of images. Navigation is also an essential point. It should be clear, precise and logical.

What are some common mistakes you see and how would you fix them?

A common error would be when I see confusing images with too many details to fill the space. The image must tell a story by forcing the eye to circulate. It is a matter of balance between the composition and the distribution of the color. The whole school of the Bauhaus has reflected on these problems and has theorized them. Stopping to take a look can solve quite a few things.  More generally, a few times I find that some images lack a bit of soul or look alike. However, it is also difficult to have a true originality among the contemporary flow. This is why we must be interested in anything that can feed your art (and not just in the field of the image).

Advice for aspiring artists:

My best advice is to visit the museums. It was in contact with the masters that I learned the most. For centuries,  paintings took into consideration the organization of the pictorial space in terms of composition and colors. Do not hesitate to copy and then draw inspiration from them to create your own images. Seeing real paintings is a real plus because the pictorial touch is important according to the scale. They can be inspiring for the matte painting art as well as for concept art. Some of the best teaching I had during my years of artistic studies was about the direction of gaze (in french ‘direction du regard’. How to organize the space of an image and direct the eye has been paramount in learning my art.

See more of Benjamin’s work on his ArtStation Pro website. To learn more about ArtStation Pro portfolio websites, click here.