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Challenges

"In the coming years I would undergo major surgery, have a vertebrae removed (yes it’s possible), learn to walk again and experience the extreme difficulties of high dose chemotherapy also known as a Stem Cell Transplant."

"This treatment takes you to the brink of death, killing everything in your body that will hopefully grow back without the cancer of course. It’s so potent that even your immune system dies and has to be brought back with your own stem cells.

Even though the treatment was very tough, Chris' drive to keep his mind off cancer and to work on 'Star Wars' was greater. He went back to work for short periods.

"Jonathan Harb, my Supervisor and good friend worked with me to allow me to do what I could. I was nearing the last of my High-Dose Chemo treatment and there was a few months left to go on 'Episode III'. My passion for matte paintings allowed me to focus and start to get work done again when another opportunity came along."

Ballistic
"Then Ballistic Publishing contacted me and asked if I wanted to be part of their 'd’artiste' series on the Matte Painting book. It was a chance to publish my work and more importantly and quite grimly, it was a chance for me to bring in royalties that might help my wife if my health didn’t hold up. These may seem like strange thoughts, but they are simply what goes through your mind every day when you’re in these situations."

"So, I added one more thing to my plate and co-wrote the Matte Painting book with Dylan Cole and Alp Altiner while I was finishing 'Star Wars' with overtime at ILM and counting down the days to my last chemo treatment that would put me in the hospital and seriously out of commission for months to come. All the while hoping that this added stress wasn’t making my health worse!

The book was a great experience and was very good exposure. It got me thinking of doing more things like this and eventually lead to doing some Gnomon Matte Painting DVDs through my friend Eric Hanson and the Gnomon Workshop and even to another publication of my own."

"Well, I wouldn’t have made it through those years without my dear wife and mother to nurse me through. As time went on I got back to work and my first film back at ILM was Pirates of the Caribbean 2 with Susumu Yukuhiro as the Matte Painting Supervisor. I learned a great deal from him and about leading a team and in February of the following year we had both won the VES Award for Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Film for Pirates II! It was the icing on the cake to a fun project and returning from 'doing time' at the hospital."

"Stoski took the next summer off and finished the Gnomon DVDs and when returned in September to start his first Matte Painting Supervisor role at ILM. "ILM was going to allow me to try my hand at leading a crew on 'Pirates III', a huge movie with a large matte painting crew and tons of great shots to work on! From there I went on to Supervise on ‘Lions for Lambs’, ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Star Trek’ (2009 release)."

Chris had 17 Matte Artists on his 'Star Trek' crew at ILM and another five or six over in Singapore with DAG (our Digital Artist Group). It was a huge effects show with matte paintings in a few hundred shots. "I really had a top team on that show," Chris tells. "We completed every type of matte painting or CG environment you can imagine. It was as you can guess, a lot to manage with that many people. I found the time to do a few concepts for the film as always and a few matte paintings but most of my time was spent supervising and I was starting to feel the need for a change after two years of Supervising."

By the end of 'Star Trek', Stoski's matte painting crew had a part in an estimated 350 shots for the film. "All in all you can imagine I had some pretty busy days," says Stoski, "however, I somehow squeezed in some time for concept paintings for a few environments as well as a handful of matte paintings. I also had my first opportunity to work with Alex Jaeger the ILM Art Director on ‘Star Trek’. I learned a great deal from him and watched him through the entire process of designing other things in the show, not just environment related subject matter."

Moving
In the coming months Chris was faced with what he calls 'one of the hardest decisions in his life! This from a guy who’s had cancer twice is something! Through the summer of 2008, Chris started talking with David 'Nak' Nakabayashi in the ILM Art Department and worked things out to start as a Co-Art Director on an upcoming ILM film. "I am so thankful and appreciative to him and the others at ILM who helped work out that deal," he says. "It was a huge opportunity for me! At that same time another grand career opportunity came up and that was to start working with the talented Doug Chiang at the new Image Movers Digital (IMD) facility in Novato. I had always looked up to Doug and had studied his work especially his Star Wars illustrations and paintings and this would be my first chance to work with him."

Wishes, Wants and Wizardry
"Things are going great at IMD," says Chris. "I’ve been able to relax the management side of my brain a bit and focus more on artwork. I’m learning a great deal from people like Doug and my good friend Brian Flora. We’re having a fun time getting some seriously cool work done. Although we’re growing the Art Department, creating amazing imagery and setting up new tools at IMD, my free time is set once again on a new project of my own. In my evenings and weekends I’ve been ramping up my own production of my intellectual property entitled 'Wishes, Wants and Wizardry'. 'Wishes, Wants' as I call it for short was loosely started a year and a half ago on a train trip down the beautiful California coast with my wife. It has steadily gathered momentum and evolved ever since. It’s a novel length story I’m writing accompanied with loads of character concepts, environment designs and interesting tale about our heroes and their journey. It’s what you might get if you fused the Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter stories, an older era and a fantastic world full of magic. The goal is to hire on some supplemental artists in which I’ll Art Direct and have it published into a few books - full color for the artwork of course. I’m showing much of this imagery here for the first time and much of it is still a work in progress."

“With this project I’m taking on a creative approach I learned from Doug Chiang," he continues. "For the designs I’m attacking it with many mediums, not only the standard sketching and painting for concepts, but sculpture and model making as well. 'Playing' with clay can allow for some happy 'accidents' that can help the creative process and find new ideas, not to mention staying away from the computer for a few hours a day. I find sculpting very meditative. It’s a good de-stressing tool for me. After all, we all need to stay healthy and happy and have fun while we work!"

'Wishes, Wants and Wizardry' is currently in production at the Stoski Studio where they’ll soon be looking for Artists (Illustrators, Painters and Sculptors) and Writers to come on board and help create this fantastic new world.

Related links:
Chris Stoski
Wishes, Wants and Wizardry
Ballistic Publishing – d’artiste: Matte Painting
The Gnomon Workshop: 3 DVDs on Matte Painting and Set Extensions for Film
Chris Stoski CGPortfolio

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