Chris Voellmann

Chris Voellmann is an American Technical Artist. Voellmann worked at Retro Studios as a Senior Cinematic Artist for the original Metroid Prime trilogy. He was also the Lead Artist for Retro's cancelled projects Raven Blade and Nintendo NFL 2002, also known as Retro NFL Football.Chris Voellmann on LinkedIn. Retrieved April 5, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-voellmann-3b076a10b/ Voellmann continued to work at Retro as a Technical Artist for Donkey Kong Country Returns and Mario Kart 7, before departing in 2013. He is currently the Principal Technical Artist at Bluepoint Games, which was founded by former colleagues at Retro Studios.
Outside of gaming, Voellmann was a graphics designer for the television special Extremely Weird.
==Metroid Prime series==
Voellmann modeled the Grapple Beam while Gene Kohler skinned it, and he may have conceived the visual effect where Samus Aran's face can be seen when exposed to certain light sources.Kiwi Talkz. "#116 - Jack Mathews Interview (Metroid Prime Trilogy, Prototypes, Business, Armature Studios etc.)". YouTube. November 26, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vkczsDyZp4 (starts at 31:17)
For Metroid Prime, Voellmann built and animated first-person elements for Samus Aran, including the Arm Cannon configurations and elements for her left arm. He animated and rigged enemies, created effects for the cinematics, and high resolution renders for E3 and marketing. He designed the Title Screen interface, representing the inside of a Metroid's nuclei, which was upscaled for reuse in the eventual Prime remaster.Chris Voellmann. "Some of my artwork from over twenty years ago stood the test of time! It's weird being on the other side of a remastered game :)" LinkedIn. February 20, 2023. Retrieved Apr. 5, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/chris-voellmann-3b076a10b_metroid-prime-front-end-video-backgrounds-activity-7033565898309341184-zMMi/ The concept was based on a Maya file that Danny Richardson had started and given to Voellmann to finish. He fleshed out the model details, refined the camera motion, and added particle effects and an X-ray shader, using Maya and After Effects.Chris Voellmann. "Metroid Prime Front End Video Backgrounds". ArtStation. February 20, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2024. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/bla00r For the sequels, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Voellmann created effects used in cinematics and was their technical director.
==Gallery==
Kohler_grapple_gun.jpg|Voellmann's Grapple Beam model.
Sam face.jpg|Samus's face, as seen in a reflection.
MPT Japan.png|This copy of Trilogy signed by numerous Retro Studios artists, Voellmann included, was auctioned off on Amazon, with all proceeds being donated to relief efforts for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
==External links==
*Voellmann on LinkedIn
*Voellmann on MobyGames
*Voellmann on ArtStation
*Voellmann on IMDb
==References==
Category:Retro Studios employees
Category:Artists and Designers