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Character<br />
g<br />
h<br />
moving vertices until I get some kind of<br />
harmony. I try to get a nice looking shape<br />
even without advanced lighting, with default<br />
lights in the viewport. I don’t try to push my<br />
render further until I have an aesthetically<br />
interesting face. Obviously, nice lighting and<br />
shading will also help to achieve a nice<br />
looking character, but the modelling really<br />
remains essential in my opinion.<br />
Your characters are all highly unique,<br />
seeming to pull elements from a variety of<br />
cultures and stories. Where do you seek your<br />
inspiration and how important is storytelling<br />
in your work?<br />
OP: As I said earlier, I try to create somehow<br />
timeless illustrations. It sounds slightly<br />
pretentious but that’s really what I try to<br />
achieve. I mix many inspirations from<br />
different eras so that my characters do not<br />
look too contemporary. As I want to create<br />
something that is believable, I often use<br />
classical or traditional clothes from many<br />
cultures as bases. I usually get this<br />
inspiration from classical painting books<br />
or from history of dress books. I also get<br />
inspiration from contemporary <strong>art</strong>ists,<br />
from comic books, or simply from people I<br />
see in the street – everything can be a<br />
source of inspiration.<br />
Obviously, nice lighting and shading will<br />
also help to achieve a nice looking character,<br />
but the modelling really remains essential in<br />
my opinion<br />
Your portfolio also demonstrates great skill<br />
with environment creation, p<strong>art</strong>icularly in the<br />
context of sci-fi and fantasy. With such a<br />
strong and varied skill set, why do characters<br />
capture more of your attention?<br />
OP: There are many reasons for that. The<br />
first and the most important is personal<br />
taste: a portrait talks to me a lot more than<br />
an environment. Second, even when I<br />
create environments, I can’t do this<br />
without adding a character in the scene;<br />
I’m not interested in creating a picture<br />
without any characters. As I don’t have<br />
e The Fall<br />
“Qualëphantus are<br />
creatures that travel<br />
from one galaxy to<br />
another, feeding on every<br />
life form they find…”<br />
f Moon Key<br />
“Aiming for a charming<br />
and elegant portrait – not<br />
realistic – all of Moon<br />
Key’s textures were hand<br />
painted in Photoshop”<br />
much time to create my pictures, I prefer<br />
to focus on characters.<br />
Your conventionally beautiful characters are<br />
often portrayed with a gothic and macabre<br />
twist, with recent works having turned<br />
darker. What does this stem from,<br />
and where do you see future works going?<br />
OP: Well, I don’t know. I use classical<br />
paintings as an inspiration. I like the<br />
aesthetic look of classical works, like<br />
Tiziano Vecellio’s portraits work with their<br />
bright skins, dark clothes and black<br />
g Mr Bone<br />
“In contrast to my other<br />
works, Mr Bone st<strong>art</strong>ed as<br />
a simple ZBrush test. The<br />
result was rendered in<br />
<strong>3d</strong>s Max”<br />
h Pink Sugar<br />
“Pink Sugar was<br />
something quite different,<br />
purposely made using a<br />
different colour scheme<br />
and blonde hair”<br />
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