Meet Visual Development Artist Samuel Smith

He worked as a color artist on Klaus, the animated film that tells a different version of the legend of Santa Claus

Samuel Smith (@samuelsmith) is a French independent illustrator and visual development artist for animation. As a visual development artist, Samuel’s job is to translate the director’s vision into images, focusing specifically on light and color. He paints color keys–reference images that prioritize details such as lighting and material–that serve as guides for the lighting department so that they can work out how to light a certain scene. Color key artists have similar roles to background artists; however, they focus on these specific details.

After studying at a 3D Art School, Samuel’s big break came when he was hired by SPA Studios in Spain to work on their first movie, Klaus, as a color artist. He spent a year and a half painting more than 450 color keys, learning a lot about light, cinematography, and movie-making.

The resulting film was nominated for an Oscar, won 7 Annie Awards, and was awarded the Bafta Award for Best Animated Film. Watch the Netflix trailer for the film below:

Samuel’s very logical understanding of light was what had made his portfolio stand out. He has spent years studying how light behaves, enabling him to capture it in a way that is truthful and accurate. This journey began when, already working in digital painting, he started asking himself: “Why is the sky red at sunset? Why is it blue in the first place? Why do shadows sometimes look sharp and blue? Why are there sometimes no shadows at all?” His quest to answer such questions ran parallel to his evolution as a digital artist.

Since completing Klaus, he has gone on to work with Illumination Entertainment, Dreamworks TV, The Line, PsyOp, and Nexus. Here we share a selection of work from Samuel’s portfolio that demonstrates his unique understanding of light and color.

If you want to learn more about Samuel, check out his course, Lighting Principles for Digital Painting, and learn how to adapt your digital illustrations to a series of lighting conditions and textures on Photoshop.

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