Meet Séverin Valran, facial and character modeler, our highlight of the week.
Séverin has always been driven by passion and has an unconventional education path.
After graduating from high school, Séverin wanted to pursue an artistic career and become a wood carver. He took a year of apprenticeship with a professional carver who taught him how to draw, carve wood and model clay. Unfortunately, he couldn’t enter the sculpture school he wanted to. After one year studying psychology at university, which was not conclusive because it was too far from the artistic world to his liking, he decided instead to enroll in an art school to study product design.
“I discovered 3D modeling by chance. 3D modeling is the digital alternative to carving. Whether it was wood carving or 3D modeling, I was lucky to meet people who taught me discipline, thoroughness and the love of a job well done.”
Séverin met Félix Ferrand at school. He was the one who taught him 3D modeling.
“In facial rigging, errors are cumulative. If the sculpt not done properly, if the shapes or the topology are bad, nothing will work at the end. Being a facial and character modeler requires very rigorous and meticulous work. And that’s something I’ve learned also thanks to my experience as a sculptor.”
Séverin has been working with Stim Studio for two years ago to work on three animated short films produced by the studio: A Kitchen Life, Witches and Squad. For him, it was a great opportunity to practice and to find out what he likes best.
“I was able to work on both cartoon and realistic projects. It was a great and enriching experience. I worked on the captain, one soldier and the old lady on Witches. On Squad, I was in charge of the character Roberto. For me, working on these projects and now being an employee at Stim Studio was an amazing opportunity.”
For the past year, Séverin has been working on the characters of the movie Garfield. It has been an interesting and rewarding experience to work on this project.
“I really enjoyed the prototyping part of the process. Modeling Garfield’s eyes was particularly challenging. I have a lot of responsibilities. It can be tough at times but it’s always rewarding when you see the final result. What I love about cartoons is that it allows more creative freedom. I find cartoons more fun to work on.”
Severin particularly appreciates the level of trust and responsibility he gets as a junior at Stim Studio.
“It’s just an incredible opportunity to be able to work on assets for huge cinema production in a human scale studio. Félix, Jordan and Thibaut really trust us and give us a lot of responsibilities. I respect them and they respect us. Therefore, it’s important to me to deliver the best work possible and to be committed to my job. At Stim Studio, I feel like I contribute to the studio’s success. It’s very rewarding and exciting to work in this atmosphere.”
“I always try to challenge myself and to step out of my comfort zone. That’s how I lead my career and my life. And I think that’s how one can keep on learning and growing as an artist.”