We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Thomas Hollier a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Thomas, appreciate you joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
The short answer is yes. I went to film school to learn both film theory and production. When I discovered computer graphics in 1989, I was immediately hooked by the medium and knew it was the future of filmmaking. My first job was as an assistant editor in San Francisco, syncing 35mm dailies for commercials. I moved to LA and opened up a small studio producing CG for commercials and corporate videos. I eventually got hired at Sony Pictures Imageworks where I worked for about 15 years on big VFX movies and animated features as an artist and supervisor. The shifting sands of the industry then led me to Walt Disney Imagineering to design media for immersive and interactive themed attractions. Since the pandemic, I’ve been working independently on smaller projects and producing digital art imagery. Throughout my career, I’ve maintained an open ended creative practice using digital and electronic media. While I am currently not working for the Walt Disney Company, I still consider myself an “Imagineer”. I think it’s a great term to encapsulate a spirit of open ended creativity using art and technology which I’ve always had.
I’ve always earned my living doing creative work but whether or not it was “MY” creative work is more ambiguous. Creative work is a dynamic process rather than the static output of that process. Sometimes it’s solitary and sometimes it’s as part of larger teams but it always requires the presence of some key attributes: complete absorption in the activity, the application and refinement of a craft, as well as a significant dose of exploration, learning and discovery. Its outcome has value for an audience within specific contexts, whether it be mainstream entertainment or fine art, but on a personal level, the real meaning for me is in the journey that produced whatever the outcome happens to be. I often feel uncomfortable calling it “my work” because all I’ve done is simply channel something that was already there. I don’t think artists “create” as much as they “manifest”.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I grew up in France steeped in a culture of art and filmmaking, and I can draw a direct line between the work I do today and what I was spending my time on when I was 5 years old. A few projects stand out in my professional career. The first was working on stage concept designs with Lighting Designer Marc Brickman on Pink Floyd’s 1994 Division Bell tour. Next is my work on Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers. This was the first big effects movie I worked on and, as a movie, it has stood the test of time more than most. It gets better with age. Phil Tippett’s work on the bugs was phenomenal. My work involved the creation of planets and backgrounds for some of the space battle scenes. Another project that holds significant meaning for me is the animated feature Open Season. My contribution was both creative and technical; As a look development artist, I experimented with various techniques to eventually arrive at a good 3D visual interpretation of the inherently 2D illustration style of Eyvan Earl that the film’s look was inspired by, and then went on to supervise a team of artists applying these techniques to various sequences of the movie.
At Walt Disney Imagineering, my work as a VFX supervisor on the “Pandora: Flight of Passage” ride based on the movie Avatar was an amazing experience. I worked with some amazingly creative people who really inspired me to go above and beyond, and to never settle for good enough. The evolution from the flat medium of movies to the dimensional immersion of location based entertainment really broadened my creative horizons. The digital integration of storytelling content in physical environments as well as the increased flexibility of hardware provided many new creative opportunities. Movie theaters used to be a unique destination for entertainment but nowadays, we are surrounded by screens, electronic signals and sensors. Media experiences are embedded in all the nooks and crannies of our daily lives and so immersive entertainment is much more relevant to our current means of communication. It’s now an overlay on our world rather than a projection on a flat surface.
What makes me unique:
I believe my strength as a creative lies in my interdisciplinary abilities. I am both a thinker and a tinkerer. My personal creative practice and my commercial work are both sides of the same coin. As an example, Neural Radiance Fields are a new rendering technique disrupting real time VFX production. While I now use them professionally, I’ve also been using them to create fine art images using processes that stem from a long interest in representing the world with non-traditional perspectives. Another tool I use is a computer vision library called openCV which I combine with traditional VFX match moving tools to create a type of imagery that also creates a multi perspective way to render the world. Another example where my personal and commercial practices overlap is in the interface of the physical environment with the digital world. The arduino platform offered me a friendly place to start tinkering with controlling LEDs, motors, and sensors with code. The kinetic sculpture and art pieces I’ve built have served as an experimental sandbox informing the design of a theme park’s immersive environments.
Despite my having been primarily involved with 3D and animation which reference traditional “pre-digital” visual aesthetics, I’ve always thought of the “data” itself as the raw clay with which a digital artist works. This means that I’ve never limited myself to a particular software tool. To me, working with game engines, modeling assets, using programming techniques to generate procedural imagery, or doing photoshop work are all in my toolbox. I can use a jackhammer, a chisel, or a kiln.
Ultimately, I decided to call my company “Relentless Play” because play and curiosity are at the root of all creative endeavors. It is how we learn to navigate our world, and how we discover its hidden structure. The relentless part references the passion and intensity I instinctively bring to the process.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I’ve had to pivot a few times. It’s never been easy but it always leads to unexpected growth. One transition in particular was around 2014. The VFX and animation industry which had been primarily located in Southern California started being lured to other places by tax incentive. Since moving was not an option for my family, I had to figure out what else I could do. After 15 years in the same company, it was challenging to think of yourself as operating in any other organization and I had to learn to see myself as more than just the roles I was assigned there. Ultimately, when I got to my next job at Imagineering, it opened up a new world of possibilities and I immediately felt a sense of excitement I hadn’t felt in a long time. Similarly, my post Covid experience has been very surprising in that it put me in completely new types of unplanned situations which I have benefited and learned a lot from. I won’t lie, though: it’s a difficult process.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The lesson I continue to learn is the importance of flexibility and discernment. I am very passionate about my work and while I generally consider it a good thing, this intensity sometimes makes it harder for me to integrate in team dynamics. Work is always collaborative, and more so in a professional setting. As an artist and introvert, my natural instinct is to rely solely on my internal convictions to guide me and so I’ve consciously had to learn to look around me and make room for the perspectives of others. Even when they are different from mine, it helps me further define and clarify my own ideas. The creative process requires that I bring my skills to help manifest an intent in the most harmonious way possible within the specific context. It sounds a bit rosey in the abstract but in reality, it’s a messy process that can be either very fulfilling or frustrating depending on how well I align to the direction of the flow. What can I bring to the process that will make a difference?
In order to feed both my body and soul, I try to cultivate discernment around the context of the work and clarity about my intent and expectations. Maintaining the proper balance between personal and professional work is a very important skill to develop in order to live as a fulfilled artist.
Contact Info:
- Email: thomashollier@relentlessplay.
com - Website: https://www.relentlessplayart.com/, https://www.relentlessplayvfx.com/
- Instagram: relentless_play
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thomas.hollli.larou
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-hollier-61785a1b9/
Image Credits
All images credit Thomas Hollier