Today we’d like to introduce you to Rembert Montald.
Hi Rembert, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I got started fairly early in life. My grandmother had an art gallery in Leuven, Belgium. When I finished school, I would stay at the gallery until it closed in the evening. I was really bored sitting around there, so my mother gave me some pencils and paper and said, “If you’re bored, you can copy the artworks on the wall.” So I did—and the exhibiting artists who had their work in the gallery would come by, cheer me on, and say kind words. At the time, I thought I must be amazingly talented. In hindsight, they were probably just being nice to the gallery owner’s grandson. But that didn’t matter—it motivated me to keep going. I went to art school after that until I was 18. While at the school I stumbled upon a rough animation drawing. I had never seen such an energetic sketch. I always loved animation but I did not knew how they where created. The drawings always looked very clean, I did not draw this clean. But this rough animation drawing that was full of live, that I could do! I decided then and there to study animation. During the time in animation school we had to make short films all by our selves. I think there is a benefit in having to do that since you have to wear so many hats. And afterwards you can decide which hat you liked best. I lived and worked remote in a couple of countries. Since I knew that in Belgium I could not find the work I was looking for. I did get offered a very nice stable job at the a great company there, but it was not where I wanted to go with my life and decided to take a less paid temporary job in Zagreb croatia that was more in the spirit where I wanted to go as an animation assistant. After that I lived in Lisbon, Portugal and Berlin, Germany. In Portugal I met Ryan Woodward at an art event called Trojan horse was a unicorn, who was at Riot at the time. He offered me a job at the studio, and that’s how I ended up moving to LA.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I mean, there was never really another option for me—I was pretty hardcore with guitar, but in a genre I really liked (fusion jazz). In the end I decided to study animation, because with making films I could combine my two passions. With art I only started practicing seriously late in life, around the age of 20. Before that, it was all just doodling trying to create characters but very poorly with no grasp of the fundamentals. I’ve never been a big fan of practicing for the sake of it. Just tell stories, have fun, and draw or paint the things you love. That’s what keeps you motivated. It’s better to draw a lot at a steady pace that your having fun with, then to grind grind fundamentals and get a burn out.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I guess I’m mainly known for my sketch work—I did some videos for the Proko YouTube channel that went viral. I do love sketching, but my bigger passion is fine art and painting. I’m especially drawn to art that uses a lot of abstractions and that incorporates strong figurative work and expressive acting. That said, you can only get to that level through drawing. Drawing is the most important aspect of all art in my opinion, because trough drawing you can create your own lines and shapes and style. Drawing is everything except color to me.
What does success mean to you?
That’s a tricky one—success is very personal. I think success means doing what you love and being able to make a living from it. I’m not driven by money; I’m more motivated by people enjoying and emotionally responding to what I create. At least, that’s the goal.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rembertmontald.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rembertmontald/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rembert.montald
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rembert-montald-26828495/
- Twitter: https://x.com/MontaldRembert/status/1784983597801263155
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@rembertmontald524
Image Credits
All images are done by me
