Overview
Ben is a matte painter currently working at MPC London. He has previously worked at Animal Logic and The People’s Republic of Animation and attended the Australia Film, Television and Radio School in 2007.
His feature film credits include Skyfall (2012), Prometheus (2012), Happy Feet 2 (2011), Sucker Punch (2010), Legend of the Guardians (2010), Knowing (2008) and Australia (2008).
He has previously worked on television, video games and commercials both at Animal Logic and the People’s Republic of Animation.
In 2010 he was part of the matte painting team that was the recipient of the VES award for best matte paintings in commercial or broadcast in the Animal Logic TVC ‘Emerald Cities’ (2009)
His strengths lie in projection-based matte paintings and photography.
Specialties
- Matte painting
- Environment T.D.
- Strong interest in photography and photographic techniques
- Technical background with strong understanding of compositing and 3D packages (Maya/Nuke)
Credit List
| Year/Company | Projects | Role | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-2012 | |||
| The Moving Picture Co. | Skyfall | Matte Painter / Environment TD | |
| Godzilla Comicon Trailer | Matte Painter / Environment TD | ||
| Prometheus | Matte Painter / Environment TD | ||
| 2008-2011 | |||
| Animal Logic | |||
| Happy Feet 2 | Matte Painter / Environment TD | ||
| Lego Star Wars TV Special | Matte Painter (Uncredited) | ||
| Sucker Punch | Matte Painter / Environment TD | ||
| Legend of the Guardians | Matte Painter / Environment TD | ||
| Emerald Cities TVC | Matte Painter | VES Award | |
| Knowing | Matte Painter | ||
| Australia | Matte Painter | ||
| 2008 | |||
| The PRA | |||
| Motor Accident Commission “Drug Driving” TVC | Live action & Animation Compositor | ||
| De Blob (Cutscenes) | Compositor | ||
| Rundle Mall “4 Seasons” TVC | Texture Artist & Compositor | ||
| 2007 | |||
| AFTRS | The Red Kite (short) | Lead Environmental Artist | |
| Plastic (short) | VFX Assistant Supervisor | VES Award | |
| “Lipsmackers in Space”, “Bedknobs”, “Yummy” – TVC | VFX Artist | ||
| ABC2 “Monkey” and “Cloud” TVC | Director, Animator, Compositor | ||
| Cup of Heaven | Title Design |
Recommendations
“Ben possesses a great balance of technical and artistic skills making him an ideal candidate to tackle today’s all around matte painting demands. With a solid and broad understanding of the process, he makes sure his time on a shot is well spent. He is strict with is deadlines and manages himself well thus requiring minimal direction from his supervisors. Ben is a strong asset. A guy you want on your team.”
August 22, 2011
Yanick Bourgie, Lead Digital Matte Painter / Environment TD, Animal Logic
“I have worked with Ben Walker at Animal logic on the film Knowing, where I was the matte painting lead, and Guardians of Ga’Hoole, where my role is as a senior matte painter.
During this time Ben has shown himself to be an intelligent, capable, and dedicated Matte Painter. Ben has always had very strong technical skills and has managed to developed his matte painting skills to a very high level. Ben did many shots on Knowing where he had to take a loose brief and run with it. Ben managed to deliver a high level of matte painting in a very efficient time frame, always keeping the director happy.
Ben’ s technical skills on Guardians have really helped to wrangle a very complicated pipeline and technical set up process. Since working on Guardians Bens matte painting skills have improved to an even higher standard. He has a good eye for composition, colour and detail.
As an added “string to his bow’, Ben has a good level of photographic skill which greatly complement his matte painting skills.
I can highly recommend Ben for any further Matte Painting projects.”
February 16, 2010
David Woodland, Senior Matte Painter, Animal Logic
“Ben was valued member of the matte painting crew on Australia. His positive attitude, diligence and commitment to high quality work made him some one I knew I could count on to deliver. Ben frequently exceeded my expectations. It was a pleasure to work with him and I hope to work with him again in the future.”
November 22, 2008
Tim Warnock, Lead Matte Painter “Australia”, Animal Logic
“I had the pleasure of working with Ben during my time on Sucker Punch at Animal Logic.
His thorough understanding of the technical side of things, as well as a great artistic eye, helped tremendously in getting high quality work delivered quickly.
I think that Ben would be a perfect addition to any strong matte painting team, because not only does his love for the job show in his artistic and technical strengths, but also in his interpersonal skills. His unreserved willingness to share knowledge with the other matte painters helped the whole team tremendously in getting up to speed with the show pipeline on this project.
I certainly am looking forward to working with him again in the future.”
October 10, 2011
Christian Kesler, Matte Painter, Animal Logic