Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marie-Soleil Chabot. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Marie-Soleil, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I must have been 13 or 14 years old. For school, we had been given the opportunity to exchange messages via email with people of different professions. Back then, I was a big fan of video games (especially the ones on Nintendo 64), and animated TV shows and movies. When I saw that I could get in contact with people working at Pixar, I jumped on the occasion and started asking them questions about their life, what had brought them there, if they enjoyed their work. Upon receiving their lovely and motivating answers, my mind was set. I knew I wanted to do that! What a chance it was to be able to do art for a living. Making people happy via their work, and creating entertaining ideas became my goal.

Marie-Soleil, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi! My name is Marie-Soleil Chabot. I’m a CG artist from Montreal, Canada. I specialize in 3D crowd simulations, which summarized, mean any character in the background of a shot in a TV production or in a movie, which couldn’t be a live extra on set. In simple terms, I prepare characters by giving them a behavior that works in the setting of the production, and I make them do everything that we need in order to support the story. I bring life to cities, natural environments, fictional spaces and more. All of my work is made with 3D tools. I use animations made by animators to bring the characters to life, and I ensure that their placement and behavior is what we need, and is in a pleasing composition.

I got into the industry via a part-time job in a 2D department, when I was still a student in college. Once my studies were completed, I was lucky to already have a foot in the industry, and was quickly able to switch to the 3D department to help out a colleague on the Game of Thrones (Season 6) crowds. Although I had not learned that particular skill in college, I was given some time to train myself and I was quickly given my first shot. I loved it immediately. It combined the perfect ratio of art and tech.

I think what sets me apart from other artists in my field is my many skills which I have developed over the years. I have had the opportunity to help out different teams throughout the years, such as the Creature Effects team, the Rigging team, Layout team and the Roto-paint team as well. It has helped me to have a more well rounded vision of the 3D production pipeline, and allows me to avoid potential issues and to do efficient problem solving.

I am very proud of all the work that I have done, but I have a soft spot for the last 5 years that I have spent at DreamWorks Animation, in the Los Angeles area. To be able to contribute to such amazingly beautiful and moving productions was a goal of mine, and I will treasure these memories. Unfortunate circumstances at the company forced them to let go of a large proportion of their team, and I am now forced to move back to my home country. That being said, I am hoping to one day be back in some way, or to have another challenge of the same scope. No other work environment has ever made me feel more accomplished.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think that society should look very closely at how entertainment is financed. I have noticed (anecdotally, that is) that we are seeing a lot of instability in the entertainment industry throughout the Western World (I can’t speak for outside of that). Right now, it seems like major corporations, which answer to their shareholders, are the only players, and it creates a very fragile ecosystem. Artists are barely able to negotiate acceptable conditions because there is little options for jobs. As a society, we should support the arts as a way to allow people to express their creativity as well as allowing people of all social groups to enjoy. The cost of living is going up, and usually, entertainment is one of the things that people cut, when their are in a precarious situation. Societies should encourage the arts in a way that offers more options for all.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My one goal is to motivate people to explore all the options that they have, as careers, for their creative journeys. I never expected to do what I do as I didn’t even know it existed, back when I was in school. Since then, I’ve seen so many ways to express creativity and the options are endless! I think that having many options open to us allows us to be more stable and have different ways to earn a living. Being creative doesn’t always have to be about making a living, but in order to make more art, it really helps to be in a stable situation. It’s easy to feel like we don’t have many choices, but the range of ways we can make art and contribute to art is very wide. From artists to support teams, as a freelance artist, a small business owner or as a part of a larger company, people have so many ways to contribute. I sometimes guide students who don’t achieve their dream careers right out of school by helping them create a clearer path to the success they envision for themselves. Sometimes, they need some experience before applying to the big studios, and sometimes they need a bit of redirection.

Contact Info:

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-soleil-chabot-4a218b40/
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/5WA250pJvFI?si=QsETE5qva77g8zvJ

Image Credits

Jim Hagarty