Dales Quality Artists Links

1. Tell me a little bit about where you were brought up and the area you now reside at. Well, I grew up in a remote central area of France that looks very much like Ireland and famous for its Celtic/Roman shady past, its sorcery (still practiced nowadays), and its dark legends: for those of you who have seen the movie "The Brotherhood of the Wolf" last year, well, that's my region right there. And that story is the most famous legend of the area. Also, in "Interview with a Vampire", the main character -Lestat- comes from the same place: Auvergne. The area where I live now - North Hollywood (hopefully I won't spend the rest of my life there) is pretty different. It obviously doesn't have the same cultural background or History. But some aspects are likeable. 2. What are the basic steps to becoming such a wonderful Artist? Everyone is different, so everyone will take different steps to come to the same place. Here is how things happened for me: I attended Fine Arts school there for 1 year. Then I went to a University of History of Arts for 2 years. This introduced me to medieval architecture -which I used a lot later. I did illustration for homebuilders architects for a while and then had to do 2 years of civil service instead of the army. I started animation in 1989 -on "Ninja Turtles"- and worked my way through different studios in France. I finally ended in Paris where I entered the Disney studios in 1992. There, I became head of backgrounds on my first Disney feature animated film: "A Goofy movie". Following that, I worked on the 'featurette' "Runaway Brain" and "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" (the great thing was that the cathedral was 15 minutes from us, and I tell you: by now, I know every single statue on the front of this building!!). After that, I could negotiate my way to the US in 1996 and worked on movies such as "Hercules", "Dinosaur", "Fantasia 2000", "Tarzan", and "Treasure Planet". In parallel, I had started to develop my own work on the side. I entered the Los Angeles gallery Morpheus in '97, then Powell street gallery in San Francisco, and finally Kaleidoscope gallery in Mission Viejo -where I'm actually going to have a new one man show on the 4th of October 2003. In February 2002, I quit Disney to pursue a solo career full time. Quite a few people and publishers contact me now to do covers for books, CD's, magazines and videogames, and I like to do it once in a while, but I try to focus my work more on gallery art and free expression. 3. If you were stranded on a desert Island, what things would you want to have with you? My last girlfriend and an automatic Margarita refiller. Oh, and the island should have a Hawaii-like climate. 4. When did you develop the first piece of art that you were truly proud of? What was it? Most artists are actually proud of anything they do, even if they don't want to admit it. But if I had to pick pieces that I was satisfied with and I am still satisfied with, I would say the backgrounds I did on "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame." Because that is when my technique really started to evolve. 5. Your art has a very airy / spatial quality about it. What inspired you in this direction? I'm not sure exactly. One day, I started to have an urge to paint this, and it never left me Many things shaped the subject matter of my images, starting with the very surreal kind of light there is sometimes in my hometown area, and the mysterious Celtic/Roman environment. That mixed with music created some sorts of visions that wouldn't leave me. 6. What are your biggest inspirations? Well, like I said, music, and also travel, visiting different cultures, History, movies sometimes. 7. Do you listen to music when you paint? What kind? My range of music is quite wide. From Loreena Mc Kennitt to Dead can Dance, going through Enya, Metallica, U2 and a lot of movie soundtracks. 8. How many hours a week do you devote to Art? Well, if I count both the work I do for Dreamworks and the time I spend at home, I would probably say about 60 or 70 hours a week. 9. You seem to have a genuine love for nature reflected in your works. What does nature mean to you? I grew up close to nature, so it has a very important influence on my life. From the Beauty and Peace it inspires to the ultimate laws of survival it lives by, there is no Hollywood BS there, there are no social masks. Everything is raw and real. And even though we still don't understand its ways, I believe it is the closest thing we have to genuine Spirituality. 10. What is some sound advice you'd give to the up and coming young Artists out there? Persistence! History is full of ignored geniuses - because they didn't have focus and persistence. This generation has a lot of information tools (like internet) that I didn't have when I was in my late teens. Use them! Get interested in everything around you, learn, find your way, and be persistent! 11. How do you see Art changing for the future? It's not for me to be the judge of that. I see a lot of eclectic work out there, from abstract to figurative, and a lot of people from the younger generation are interested in classical technique again -which is good. So, it seems that the two ends of the Spectrum -Modern and Classical- might be able to co-exist together finally. Who knows 12. What's the story behind the picture 'The Giants'? "The Giants" was done more than a year before the first movie of "The lords of the Rings" came out. Since then, many people have asked me if I had worked on the movie or the posters for it. Well, unfortunately, I didn't. This piece was one that came listening to music. Along with several other pieces, it was supposed to be part of a story project that I had, that is now lost somewhere on the shelves of a videogame company. 13. Who are your favorite Artists? Besides the usual Frazzetta, NC Wyeth or Jeffrey Jones, I think people like Alma-Tadema, Sargent, John Waterhouse or Lord Leighton - to name just a few, also really helped shaping my style. But my European background also allowed me to have a different approach to my subject matters. 14. Anything that I may have missed that you'd care to comment on? Quite a few people have asked me about techniques and process, so, I can tell you a few things: When inspiration for a subject comes, I draw a quick sketch, to be able to remember the concept later when I need to paint the full image. From there, either the image is very clear in my mind and I don't need any other elements, or I try to find visual references: pictures for similar landscapes, color inspiration or models. Then, I conceive the sketch, carefully paying attention to composition, shapes and scale. I don't always paint on the same support, because I like variety, but most of the time, I paint on canvas. I cover it with 2 or 3 coats of Gesso and draw my sketch over when it' s dry. After that, sometimes, I paint an undercoat of Burnt Umber, defining the light and shadow. I will use this undercoat later when I paint colors over it, keeping colors more transparent in some areas to keep the warm tones showing through. Most of the time, I will paint an overall rough painting with all the colors, before I work in it again refining only the places that need to be refined. The final painting is varnished (glossy). 15. What's in the future for Christophe Vacher? Well, keep developing the artistic career I started, and on a more intimate level, find the right girl and maybe later buy a nice house in a quiet area and have a family. One thing for sure, though: LA is not the right place for neither of those, so I know I will probably have to move away soon. And I terribly miss the four seasons and really green springs and summers (LA is just a burnt toast after April).