Meet Christian Wachter – AREA Artist of the Month

Every month, AREA shines the spotlight on an artist who has contributed to the gallery on Autodesk’s CG community site. The May Artist of the Month is Christian Wachter, a recent graduate from Pixl Visn Media Arts Academy in Cologne.

Always try to get closer to your goals, even if it’s a small step, every step in the right direction counts!

Share your work on AREA, and you could be featured, too! Here’s Christian’s story.

Hello, my name is Christian Wachter and I am a recently graduated student from Cologne, Germany, specializing in texturing, lighting, and look-dev. In the next few weeks, I will be moving to Montreal to start my first job as a Lighting Artist at MPC. My background is in cinematography and set lighting for film and television productions.

I have always had a passion for movies and the dream was to be a part of them at some point, especially after I saw the first Lord of the Rings movie. However, as a child, I never thought this day could be a reality since I had no idea how movies are made, where I should start or if I want to work in this industry. But I always believed in this dream and did not want to do anything else.

I want to stay focused and believe in my dreams. No matter how difficult this may appear

This led me to my first job at a theatre and that was the first moment at which I came into contact with the medium of light and from there it was all the way to the German TV and film industry. There I completed an apprenticeship as Media Designer for picture and sound and acquired a background in cinematography, set lighting, and traditional filmmaking.

In the end, though, I could never stop thinking about the mind-blowing VFX from Lord of the Rings and I it hit me that this is exactly what I want to do – work on the VFX for the biggest movies!
I started to study 3D Animation and VFX at Pixl Visn Media Arts Academy in Cologne, where I graduated last month.

I specialized in Texturing/Lookdev/Lighting, and my goal was to make my projects look as photorealistic, as possible. That’s what I have the most passion for – to make things look real.

I am very excited to start in the industry at this point, where the line between CG and reality is disappearing more and more. In May, I will start my first job as a Lighting Artist at MPC and think that I am taking a big step closer to my goals!

That’s what I want to try every day. I want to stay focused and believe in my dreams. No matter how difficult this may appear. Always try to get closer to your goals, even if it’s a small step, every step in the right direction counts!

Thank you, Christian, for sharing your story! Have a look at more of his work. And while you’re at it, get to know some of our other AREA Artists of the Month.