When Joachim Simon from Düsseldorf was 14 years old, Star Wars (1978's Star Wars) hit theaters....
"What a movie. A new era began for me. Since then, special effects have never let me go.
I met Thomas Herbrich a few years later, and assisted him for stretches. That's how I ended up doing some work on the special effects for Roland Emmerich's (Stargate, Day After Tomorrow) first film, "The Noah's Ark Principle". That was a time when spaceships were still being built as models."
Nevertheless, this is not the beginning of a career in film, but Joachim first played as a percussionist and drummer in various bands from Düsseldorf and the surrounding area. Later he composed for singers/bands like "Picard Project", " Manu" and "Kim Davis".
The way to matte painting has not been a big step, as he has always painted with oil on canvas and airbrush. Today, however, the VFX artist creates his works mainly with Photoshop, but also works for visual effects with Fusion, After Effects, Cinema 4D, and other software. The short film "Schleichweg" is his debut as a director.