Meet Gary Christian: Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gary Christian and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gary, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I’ve been a pretty imaginative kid from the very beginning. That aspect of my personality just really took off when it came to art, music or any other creative endeavor and eventually became the way I found easiest to express myself. Had a bad day? I would draw how I felt. Had a creative idea? Paint it. I kept at it and managed to find a career that paid me to do something creative in the visual field. I’ve been doing VFX now for over ten years and am currently at Blur Studio working on some really great projects like Love Death and Robots and cinematics for some of the most popular video game franchises. I’m still cautious about letting that define me entirely since my original passion was for traditional art that really spoke to me. Szukalski, Dali, DaVinci et. al still hold a special place in my imagination and that really drives me to keep creating – I can’t stop really even if I wanted to. Images and places are just constantly popping up in my mind that I feel desperate to capture. It’s only recently that I’ve discovered how difficult it is to turn those creative ideas in to something tangible, after practicing for so long I still feel I can barely touch the surface of the original ideas I had that seemed so grand. I digress, the point is to say I fill my free time with oil painting, photography and music. I enjoy the personal expression that comes without the confines of having to please a client and occasionally show paintings at The Hive Gallery in DTLA and do some photography work for groups around the neighborhood like iHeartDTLA.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve always been drawn to strange art, but I think I’ve found what it really is about the strangeness is just that it’s a new way of looking at something. It’s important for whatever type of art you’re doing, whether it be VFX, comic books or whatever else, that it present something unique or new. Being generic won’t get you very far, and your audience most likely won’t be as interested either. But getting to something original is a challenge in itself, and getting it out on paper is even harder. That’s been my challenge lately, My paintings are inspired by surrealism, classical art and cubism among many other things, but hopefully always injected with a unique bit of personality. While my VFX work is often set to guidelines by the clients, I like to leave a little personality in that work as well.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’ve been living in DTLA for about 8 years now and it’s probably one of my favorite places that I’ve lived (which includes Prague, Dallas, Spokane etc.). It’s not the bustling urban NYC vibe people expect, but I’d say it’s somewhere between a quaint European village vibe, Tokyo and Seattle; sometimes a quiet little community in an urban setting. It’s growing more quickly than anything I’ve seen, and the people that live here love it, but it’s sadly plagued with a lot of intentional neglect. The online tours aren’t so great either, it really takes an expert to guide people away from the seedier parts. I’d start with Grand Park, check out The Cathedral of Angels, The Disney Concert Hall garden, Angel’s Flight, G.C. Market, Bradbury Bldg, and then get over to the newer side of town West of 7th where you have The Ace Hotel, Zinque, Hoxton, Freehand Hotel and The Bloc. You could spend days here and not get in all the “musts” like The Last Bookstore, Spring Arcade etc., so it’s hard to be selective. Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Blur Studio

Website: https://www.artstation.com/gvc

Instagram: @gvcart / @luxchroma

Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3868610/ https://vimeo.com/gvc3d

Image Credits
Elder Scrolls: Dark Heart of Skyrim (last image) produced under Blur Studio