Doing Digital Design

Robert Stromberg was understandably emotional for a variety of reasons when he won an Academy Award for Art Direction, along with co-production designer Rick Carter and set designer Kim Sinclair, for their work on “Avatar.” He alluded in his acceptance speech to a serious illness several years ago that almost robbed him of the bright future he is now enjoying. Stromberg has chosen not to detail the illness, but surmounting it has permitted him to continue a decidedly unique career path all the way to Oscar glory. And that path started when he was just a youngster. He grew up learning how to do matte paintings from his father’s friend—a young Phil Tippett—while making little films in his garage. He later became a successful matte painter, working with industry notables like Albert Whitlock and Syd Dutton, among others. But eventually, his professional career moved him toward the world of digital effects for features, and he became a visual effects’ supervisor with his own company, called Digital Backlot. Then, in 2004, Stromberg earned an Academy Award nomination in the visual effects’ category (along with three others) as the visual effects’ designer on Peter Weir’s “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.” Still, Stromberg says he “never had production design in mind” all those years, while progressing through the visual effects’ world. And, yet, production design is exactly where he now finds himself.

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