Christian Robert de Massy is a master concept artist and illustrator and the man behind impressive environment designs featured in acclaimed films such as X-Men: Apocalypse and X-Men: Days of Future Past, Mirror Mirror, Night at the Museum and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, among others. He is considered one of the film industry’s best kept secrets, having worked in the industry for close to a decade without ever having posted any of his work online! In addition to creating stunning concept art for celluloid and stage, Christian also teaches Environment Design at Syn Studio, Montreal. This article features several of his never seen before artwork and information about his career.
© Christian Robert de Massy, Night at the Museum
© Christian Robert de Massy, Night at the Museum
Beginnings and Working Style
Initially a biologist, Christian’s art career took an unexpected turn when his drawings caught the attention of a co worker. He then took a course in 3D animation and started creating illustrations for people he knew. Word of his impressive skills quickly spread to the right people and before he knew it, he was designing environments for Hollywood movies!
© Christian Robert de Massy, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
© Christian Robert de Massy, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Known for his speed at creating concept art, Christian follows a simple workflow process which involves defining planes in SketchUp as an initial step. He then moves into Photoshop and defines the lighting of the space before adding texture and polish to provide a more finished and organic feel to his designs.
© Christian Robert de Massy, Night at the Museum
© Christian Robert de Massy, Night at the Museum
© Christian Robert de Massy, Night at the Museum
Christian’s work in movies
Christian has created interior and exterior environments for a long line of successful movies in his decade long career. Here are some more examples of his feature film concept art:
© Christian Robert de Massy, Night at the Museum
© Christian Robert de Massy, Night at the Museum
© Christian Robert de Massy, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
© Christian Robert de Massy, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
© Christian Robert de Massy, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
© Christian Robert de Massy, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
While working at Mels Studios in Montreal, Christian got the chance to work on many of the environments for the X-Men Days of Future Past and Apocalypse movies.
© Christian Robert de Massy, X-Men: Apocalypse
© Christian Robert de Massy, X-Men: Days of Future Past
© Christian Robert de Massy, X-Men: Days of Future Past
© Christian Robert de Massy, X-Men: Days of Future Past
© Christian Robert de Massy, X-Men: Days of Future Past
© Christian Robert de Massy,X-Men: Days of Future Past
© Christian Robert de Massy, Journey to the Center of the Earth
© Christian Robert de Massy, Film Concept
© Christian Robert de Massy, Film Concept
© Christian Robert de Massy, Film Concept
© Christian Robert de Massy, Film Concept
During the upcoming Spring Term at Syn Studio, Canada’s top concept art school, Christian will be teaching the Environment Design class. In this class, he will be guiding aspiring concept artists on how to design stunning, production-ready environment concepts. If you wish to learn more about the class and learn from the master himself, click HERE!!
