Stephan Martiniere is an acclaimed multi award winning science fiction and fantasy artist. In the past 25 years he has become known for his talent, versatility and imagination in every entertainment fields including feature films, animation, video games, theme parks, editorial, commercial and book covers.
His film clients include ILM, Disney, Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Dreamworks. As the director for the five animated musical adaptation shows Madeline Stephan Martiniere received the A.C.T Award, the Parent’s Choice Award, and the Humanitas Award and was nominated for an Emmy. Stephan Martiniere has worked on movies such as RIPD, Total Recall 2012, Tron: Legacy, Star Trek, Star Wars: Episodes 2-3, Knowing, I, Robot, The Fifth Element, Virus, Red Planet, The Astronaut’s Wife, Sphere, Titan A.E, and The Time Machine as well as the upcoming Avengers 2, The Guardians of the Galaxy and 300: Rise of an Empire, Stephan was the art director for the visually acclaimed ID Games Rage released in 2011, he was also the visual art director responsible for the games URU: Ages beyond Myst, URU: The Path of the Shell, and Myst 5., and worked several years at Midway Games as Visual Art Director for the game Stranglehold and later as Creative Visual Director of the concept department for several other Midway games including Blacksite: Area 51, Blitz, Ballers, Mortal Kombat vs. DC, Wheelman, and more.
Stephan Martiniere has received the Exposé Grand Master Award, thirteen Exposé Excellence Awards, five Exposé Master Awards, and two Chelsey Award for Best Book Cover, two silver and one gold Spectrum Award for Book Covers and editorial, The Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist, The Ennie Award for Best Cover Art, and The Bookgasm Award for Best Cover Artist. In 2009 Stephan was voted one of the 50 Most Inspirational Artists by Imagine FX Magazine.
We’ve the pleasure to speak with him about his latest work for 300: Rise of An Empire
IT’S ART : Can you speak on the creative freedom when it comes to depicting events taking place in ancient Greece?
Stephan Martiniere : 300 is visually very graphic and stylistic. From the monochromatic feel to the extravagant shots Its more about the look and how cool it can look than it is about accuracy or even logic. This allows allot of artistic freedom and the ability to not be 100 percent accurate to historical detail.
When I was trying to figure out the look of Persian fleet, I had done research so I could extract the key motifs that define the Persian style. Once I had a good understanding of all those elements along with the input of both the director and production designer, I was able to create a look that was first unique but with still enough Persian elements to feel recognizable.
IA : Can you talk about the challenges of working on a movie that’s based on a graphic novel?
SM : The film was very faithful to Frank Miller’s graphic novel but also brought an additional visual dimension and style. I remembered what made the original film so exciting visually and I had references to remind me of the graphic style. This made my job somehow easier since the look and feel of the film was clear. I was very interested in exploring a color palette that would still feel monochromatic but also mixed black, dark gray and greens to bring a stormy and ominous feel to the scenes.
IA : You worked a lot in mood and difficult situations like night scenes and stormy battles, explain the most important thing to focus on in such things?
SM : When trying to convey mood and depicting things like storms and battles, one important thing for me to focus on is the narrative. I have to think about what the scene trying to convey and what will the action feels and looks like. Once I am clear about the goals, it makes the concept process a lot easier. 300 being a stylistic film also helps me push the look and some of the ideas even further; the battle scene painting “storm” is a good example of that. I was bending the laws of nature and how the sea behaves to something almost unbelievable. This makes the shot even more dramatic.
