Our Studio

Based in Quebec City, Canada, the home base of VOLTA is a dynamic and creative environment close to the downtown core of one of North America’s oldest European settlements. Our space is dedicated to producing high-quality art for all of the projects that we’re involved with, pushing boundaries of what the word exceptional means.

Made up of 200+ artists, art directors and managers, our creative and organized structure means that no project is too small and none too large for us to handle.

Our values

Passion

We are a passionate team who care more than anything about the art that we produce on the projects we are involved with.

Creativity

We are specialists in bringing your ideas to life, thinking outside the boundaries of what is possible to do creatively.

Excellence

Striving for the best of the best is at the forefront of everything we do, ensuring the work that we produce is at the highest level of quality.

Dedication

With our passion comes dedication to our craft, always striving to be the best of the best and constantly defining the industry standard.

Versatility

Our team has the ability to adapt to any type of art project request, ensuring that from one point of contact you can get all of the art services you need.

Integrity

With 100s of years of combined experience in our team, you can trust us to act with the highest level of integrity when involved on your project.

Our history

September 11th 2006 | VOLTA is Born

After a brainstorm on a Quebec city restaurant terrace, VOLTA was born! Sara – the first employee and still working here today as an Art Director – finds the name. The rest is history.

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2007 – 2009 | Becoming serious

The studio has steady growth, reaching 10 employees and the company starts to hire talent internationally, focusing primarily on Concept Art. In 2008 the studio moves out of Claude’s apartment into our current office building in Quebec City and a year later, the Singapore office is created.

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2010 - 2016 | A Start-up no more

VOLTA grows as one of the world’s leading concept art studios, working with some of the biggest names (Bioware, Activision, Capcom…) With now more than 40 employees, our 3D department is formed, providing end to end solutions. Clients are retaining our teams for years at a time, from early development to post-launch support.

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2016 – 2019 | A new chapter

VOLTA is acquired by the industry’s biggest outsourcing company: Keywords Studios. The office we were located in starts to feel a bit tight so the company expands its space and opens a new studio in Montreal. VOLTA now has 2D and 3D teams dedicated to AAA games, and assembles an additional team creating thousands of card illustrations for Spin Master and Magic: The Gathering.

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2020 - present day | Adapting to scale

VOLTA quickly adapted to the COVID reality, transforming challenges into opportunities. The company goes from 100 to 200+ employees within 2 years and opens another studio in Romania. With specialized teams around three departments, VOLTA provide now creative services for giants of the industry such as Blizzard, EA Games and others.

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volta today

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Stats

4

|

Studios

4

|

Executive directors

10

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Project Managers

15

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Art Directors

30+

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Lead Artists

200+

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Artists

6,000+

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Projects

1,500+

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Years of combined experience

30+

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Terabytes of art

5,348,761

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Cups of coffee drank

See our Studio's Portfolio of Work

Our direction team

Claude

Bordeleau

Founder and CEO

Claude is an entrepreneur who began his career as a freelance illustrator and concept artist in 1999. After gaining experience in the industry he founded VOLTA in 2006, starting in a spare room in his apartment. Led with his passion for business, art, and personal growth, VOLTA quickly became a leading creative service studio in the industry.

Claude sold his company to Keywords Studios in 2016 and he continued to grow the studio while being promoted to Director of Art Services in Americas and Europe for Keywords in 2021. He led the team to expand their services, adding more artists and increasing their capabilities, ensuring that they continued to deliver high-quality art services to clients.

In addition to his professional achievements, Claude is a distance runner, a dad of two, and still finds time to paint and sketch on his free time. He is also an avid reader, constantly seeking knowledge and inspiration to improve himself and his work. Claude is a true leader who leads with vision and passion, and his accomplishments in the industry are a testament to his dedication and hard work.

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Manuel "Manu"

Couture

Production Director

Manuel Couture is the Director of Production at VOLTA. He has a wide range of experience in various areas, including project management, accounting, purchasing, and importing. Manuel has a sharp sense of organization and coordination and is a very versatile resource that can work under pressure. He is a dedicated, meticulous, and efficient person, with strong skills in planning, risk management and negotiation.

Manu earned his Diploma of Collegial Studies in Administration: International Trade from Collège François-Xavier-Garneau and he began his career as an Accounts Payable Manager and Importer before joining Frima Studio as a Project Manager in September 2007. In this role Manuel was responsible for production schedules, budgets and final project deliveries, managing the workload of team members while maintaining communications with clients to ensure success for all of the projects he was involved in.

In May 2013, Manuel joined VOLTA as a Project Manager before moving to the role of Production Director where he is now responsible for the production schedules, budgets, and final project deliveries for his Management team. He oversees the workload of team members, supervising and supporting to ensure that production guidelines for each project are constantly being hit.

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Guilherme "Gui"

Guimaraes

Studio Art Director

Gui is the Studio Art Director at VOLTA and responsible for overseeing the creative development and direction of all of the studio’s projects. A highly skilled and experienced creative professional, Gui has a strong vision and the ability to lead a team towards creating effective and visually compelling work. This includes managing a team of Art Directors and Lead Artists, who in turn direct the visual style of projects at VOLTA, ensuring that all creative work exceeds the client’s goals and expectations.

Gui earned his degree in Graphic Design from Universidade FUMEC in 2005 before being a partner at the animation studio Animassauro in June 2006, where he worked for five years. In April 2013, Gui joined VOLTA as a Concept Artist and later became an Art Director in 2013 before being promoted to Studio Art Director, a position he has held for over six years.

With over a decade of experience in the industry, Gui is a skilled professional in the field of art direction and concept art, continuing to make significant contributions to the studio’s success.

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ELLIOT

STEVENS

Director of Business Development

Elliot is an experienced professional with over a decade of experience in the tech and gaming industries. He joined VOLTA in 2016 as a Project Manager and is now the Director of Business Development for the studio, a position he has held since 2020, playing a crucial role in driving revenue growth, expanding the company’s client base and managing key accounts.

In 2007 he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of Central Lancashire and his previous roles include those in Project Management, Quality Assurance and Team Leadership. He always demonstrates an expertise in management, creative problem-solving, client relations, sales processes, budgeting and leadership, driving year on year growth since joining VOLTA.

Outside of his professional work Elliot has strong passion for anything outdoors regularly enjoying games of soccer (football!), skiing, mountain biking, tennis, golf and hiking. Elliot is also a skilled instructor, having taught and guided hundreds of clients as a Ski Instructor at the Lake Louise and Sunshine Village Ski Areas.

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Claude

BORDELEAU

Founder and CEO

Claude is an entrepreneur who began his career as a freelance illustrator and concept artist in 1999. After gaining experience in the industry he founded VOLTA in 2006, starting in a spare room in his apartment. Led with his passion for business, art, and personal growth, VOLTA quickly became a leading creative service studio in the industry.

Claude sold his company to Keywords Studios in 2016 and he continued to grow the studio while being promoted to Director of Art Services in Americas and Europe for Keywords in 2021. He led the team to expand their services, adding more artists and increasing their capabilities, ensuring that they continued to deliver high-quality art services to clients.

In addition to his professional achievements, Claude is a distance runner, a dad of two, and still finds time to paint and sketch on his free time. He is also an avid reader, constantly seeking knowledge and inspiration to improve himself and his work. Claude is a true leader who leads with vision and passion, and his accomplishments in the industry are a testament to his dedication and hard work.

Linkedin
read more

Our Leadership Team

At VOLTA our experienced team of Art Directors ensures that the quality of the work we produce will always exceed your expectations. They are responsible for assigning the best resources from our team based on your project’s needs, making sure that the quality is at its best throughout the production process. All of our Art Direction team were artists at VOLTA in the past and with over 200+ years of art experience working on the biggest titles in the industry, our team has a proven track record for consistently delivering our clients the best of the best.

As the studio’s leadership team grew, so did the supporting group of Lead artist’s who will help to guide and maintain the vision and quality set by the Art Director. Dealing with the day to day of your project, these artists bring both experience and seniority to any project, identifying risk and troubleshooting with the artists to ensure everything remains stable once production begins.

Working hand in hand with the Art Directors and Lead Artists, our experienced Management team will ensure that communication remains tight, budgets are met and deliveries are always made on schedule. Our team members are organized, communicative and always available to make sure that everything runs as efficiently as possible from the moment a project starts to the very end when everything is being wrapped up.

In addition to providing you with a high quality Artistic and Management service, we also have around the clock, professional support for all the administrative aspects for the studio. Our in-house Legal, Administrative and Finance teams are there to support you from the moment you communicate with us, to the conclusion of your project.

What is it like to work at VOLTA ?

Art Director
Artist
Lead Artist
Project Manager

Ashlea

  • Project Manager

“Working at Volta is great because you get to collaborate with people all over the world on so many interesting projects. Every week is different, and the routine is never boring.”

Marika

  • Lead Artist

“I like working at Volta because it’s a very human company and the work environment is inclusive. It’s a perfect place to flourish as an artist thanks to the resources that are available to us.”

Mathieu

  • Art Director

“Working at VOLTA allows me to learn and grow as an artist alongside wonderful people with strikingly impressive skills. The values we all share and the culture we nurture makes it a place that is genuinely unique – a place where we can each discover our own potential and feel accomplished.”

Sandy

  • Artist

“I love working for Volta because it’s incredibly Shocking! Volta recharges my creative potential through electrifying collaboration with the best artists in the field and delivering amazing high voltage projects.”

Marianne

  • Art Director

“VOLTA allows me to work on a wide range of projects with amazingly competent people in all disciplines, and in a context that encourages learning and working as a team to accomplish our goals. Every year we can see the results of VOLTA’s studio culture in tangible ways.”

Harpreet

  • Artist

“I enjoy problem solving in the art field which gives the impressive ability to seamlessly merge creativity with technology. I am very proud to be part of VOLTA, its a fun and dynamic place to work. Everyone in the studio is always willing to lend a helping hand, Their positive attitude and infectious enthusiasm for their work is commendable.”

Miguel

  • Artist

“Volta it’s such a cool place to work, not only for the excellent work environment, but you also have the possibility to work on a lot of projects with different clients alongside really talented colleagues. They really see your value not only as an artist but also as a person.”

more about us

Portfolio

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Looking to see the past work we have produced ? Check out our portfolio where you can view a diverse range of projects that we have brought to life for our clients.

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services

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Whether you’re in need of guidance, support, or solutions, our team is dedicated to providing you with exceptional service. From start to finish, we are committed to delivering results that exceed your expectations.

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Careers

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Our company is constantly growing, and we are looking for talented individuals to join our team. Don’t miss out on the chance to advance your career and reach your full potential.

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