‘We are surrounded by magic’

Joe Ceballos contemplates final changes to one of his paintings.

STUDIO VISIT | JOE CEBALLOS

When did you first begin to draw?

I have early memories of drawing and getting encouragement to make art in fifth grade. We would draw portraits of composers while listening to their music. It was in Mr. Bucy’s class at Madison Elementary School in San Gabriel.

Was it a big decision to pursue art in college?

It was certainly one that took a few years to arrive at. After high school, I worked in customer service jobs while I hopped around to several community colleges in the L.A. area, taking the maximum number of figure drawing classes allowed at each school. Typically that meant I would stay for two or three semesters before moving on. The portfolio I built in these classes led to my getting a job teaching drawing and painting at a private group of art schools in L.A. and Orange County. Outside of teaching, I continued to develop my own drawing and painting skills. By the time I made the decision to go back to school to get my degree, it was clear my career would be in art. I decided to apply to ArtCenter in Pasadena.

How did you end up going to ArtCenter?

I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, east of L.A., and ArtCenter was a very well known and respected local school with an international reputation. A close friend of my brother studied there and highly recommended it. In addition to teaching after community college, I was taking figure drawing workshops and courses with instructors who were ArtCenter alumni, so I got a real sense of what my future could look like after graduating. 

And you were recruited by Lucasfilm upon graduation?

In my senior year, George Lucas’s Industrial Light and Magic came to ArtCenter to review portfolios. I didn’t have a whole lot of technical work to show — meaning computer graphics — but I had tons of drawings and paintings that focused on realism. I honestly didn’t think I had a chance. I just wasn’t sure how my traditional skills would be useful in their digital world. A couple of months later, they reached out and made arrangements for me to fly up for an interview. I was told they were interested in my “painter’s eye” — and that I could learn the software involved. I moved to San Francisco and started the job about a month after that meeting.

And what was the job?

As a matte painter, my job was to digitally create realistic environments for film. A matte painting serves as an artistic backdrop, or set. Whether depicting a landscape, structure or interior, its purpose is to seamlessly blend with the footage. As technology advanced, digital painting and 3D modeling have revolutionized matte painting, enabling the creation of fantastical, or futuristic, or historically accurate locales. I worked on “Pirates of the Carribean,” “Mission Impossible” and two Harry Potter films at ILM, among others.

And you were slipping out of the office at lunch to sneak in a few minutes of painting.

Yes! It was a great way to break up all the time we spent making digital art in front of the computer. Our offices were in the Presidio in San Francisco, so I was surrounded by the wonders of the natural world. Painting was a good way to study and understand the real world — a key factor in creating believable places for feature films.  

Has there been conflict between your day job and your artistic desires?

Not artistically, although finding time to paint was initially tough. The day job fed my personal art and vice versa. For me, the fundamentals — art and design, as well as storytelling — are much the same. The only difference is the tools being used.

The work I do in film and gaming relies heavily on technology. The images and moving pictures I create have to tell a very direct story, which demands special attention to how things are designed: how a composition is framed, where the viewer’s eye lands, the lighting and color — they all play major roles in communicating the mood and feeling of the story being told. Even the abstract shapes of things can influence our perception. These are all things I’ve learned through my years of working as a visual artist in the entertainment industry that have spilled over to my own personal fine art. My traditional painting has informed my ability to create a believable image on screen. Painting from life and outdoors has helped me learn how light, color and atmosphere all play out in nature. Studying the nuances of our world through the practice of painting has been a crucial part of my ability to bring computer-generated graphics to life.

At some point you left Lucasfilm, which seemed to be a dream job.

Yes, I left Lucasfilm and joined a startup company. The idea of starting something new and being a part of that from day one was an exciting and challenging opportunity. The type of work we set out to do was also going to be a chance to expand beyond the film work I was already doing. Projects like designing an opening video for a Kenny Chesney, illustrating a book cover for the “Ready Player One” concert tour and contributing to a Winter Olympics commercial are just a few examples of the types of projects we worked on. This was all in addition to continuing our work on blockbuster films such as “Thor,” “Iron Man,” “The Revenant” and “Elysium,” among many others. It was a nice creative buffet. After nearly 15 years at the startup and 40 film credits, I was ready to take on new challenges and broaden my skills, so I made the shift into interactive media two years ago.

And how do you describe your day job now?

The kind of work I’m doing now involves the latest technology in spatial computing and augmented reality. This enables an artist to bring what was once only visible on a screen into the real world. It’s a place where pixels and atoms can interact. This is all due to advancements in machine learning and computer vision. It’s a very interesting and pioneering space to be a part of.

Are you finding time to paint?

Yes, I’m painting more now than ever. My current work has afforded me a greater work-life balance, which gives me more time to paint. It’s almost a daily practice. This has allowed me to be more intentional with my subject matter and visual language. On the days I don’t paint, I’m most likely sketching and working on studies for new work. I’m also able to spend more time with my family. My wife is an artist as well — we met when we were both teaching art in Southern California. We have an almost 10-year-old boy who has a bottomless well of imagination and produces more art than anyone I’ve ever met! A perfect vacation for me is spending time at home with them in our Eichler in Marin County and making art all day. 

How does your family background influence your art?

Growing up on the east side of Los Angeles, I was exposed to a lot of great Latino artists making work that really hits home and tells the story of our community. My parents migrated to the U.S. in their early 20s. Not really knowing the language, they were brave enough to come to this country for the opportunity to create a better life for themselves and their family. I am a first generation Mexican-American who had parents willing to work hard for their dreams. Because of them, I was born in California and have had the privilege of living in two beautiful and diverse cities. My father has always said that California welcomed him, and for that I will forever be grateful. I’m not sure that my work is saying anything that’s a direct commentary about the Latino experience. To me it’s more about living in the moment and trying to capture a small sliver of my time.

So you’ve lived in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and you paint both. Do you have a preference?

Tough one. L.A. will always be home, but the Bay Area has been a really nice place to settle into. Both cities offer their own stories and history, but also have many things in common. To me, the Bay Area sometimes feels like a condensed L.A. They both offer such a variety in terms of culture and art. They both are welcoming to people from around the world. San Francisco, with its innovations in tech, and Los Angeles, with its history in film and music, offer an artist so much inspiration.

I like to think that the two cities are closer to each other than some might think. To me, it’s all California. Having the privilege of living in these two places has been a major influence on my art.

What do Northern California and Southern California bring to your art that’s the same? And what’s different?

The atmosphere is certainly different, which influences the palette to a degree. I look for patterns that I find interesting. Both places have their own geography and architectural identity. I would describe S.F. as more vertical and stacking vs. L.A.’s more horizontal and sprawling environment. 

The vistas I select to paint are snapshots of moments that encompass familiar qualities of L.A. or S.F. A certain time of day or weather pattern, a particular vanishing point, or an unusual angle that captures the essence of the location and triggers a memory or mood is what I’m after. I like to draw the viewer in with a first impression based on a strong composition of shapes and color. I hope that first read then compels them to connect with their own experiences of a place. One of the things I enjoy most is hearing the stories people tell me about how they personally relate to the paintings I create. 

I look for beauty in our everyday existence — not just in those iconic S.F./L.A. panoramas, but also on a street corner or while stuck in freeway traffic. We are surrounded by magic in both cities.

VIEW THE SF/LA: JOE CEBALLOS EXHIBITION