3d art

i
j
70
backgrounds. Maybe as I’m getting older,
I also like more sober colours… I don’t know.
I just try to make things that I like. And as
I don’t know how I’ll evolve as time goes on,
I can’t really say where my future artwork
is going. But I think that’s what makes the
journey more interesting.
Giving life to lifeless digital content
is a skill all in itself. How do you give your
characters the souls that we can clearly see
in any of your illustrations?
OP: To give them life, I first try to make
them believable. That’s why I pay a lot of
attention to clothing design, anatomical
details, rendering and so on. When I have
this base, two areas need more attention:
the eyes and the mouth. Those parts are
not that difficult to produce – I mean from
a technical point of view. You just have to
be careful about topology in these areas, but
it’s not that hard. The hardest part is to get
something beautiful and natural. It’s a very
subtle process and one of the most
interesting parts of the creation – especially
in the eye area, where you have to find the
perfect balance between eyebrow shape,
the eyes’ curvature, the position of the
eyelids and so on, in order to create that
lively and expressive look.
With constant advancements in technology
helping more people than ever create realistic
looking characters, how do you keep an edge
over them?
OP: Well, I’m not sure. Maybe it’s just
experience and practice. I mean, yes, it’s
easier to create realistic looking characters
technically, but it’s always difficult to create
original and unique characters. My aim is
not exactly to create realistic characters; I
try to give them something more. I don’t try
to reproduce what you could actually shoot
with a camera.
How different is your professional
work to your personal portfolio and how
does this balance out?
OP: My personal portfolio is completely
different from my professional work. My
personal portfolio is mainly composed
of portraits – simply because that’s what
I like to make best. My professional work
includes level building, environment
creation and, more recently, real-time
character creation. This is very different
from my personal creations and how I find
motivation to create CG after a day’s work.
Can you tell us what you are currently
working on at the moment, and if possible
where the inspiration for the project originally
came from?
OP: I’m working on an underwater scene –
a kind of mermaid portrait. However, I don’t
want to create a happy mermaid with shiny
scales and a shell bikini. I’d like to make
something closer to the original mermaids,
something more elegant but also darker.
How about your future plans; what
can we look forward to seeing next, and what
projects would you most like to work on?
OP: I really don’t know. I barely have time
to create personal work, so I’d just like to
finish my work on the mermaid, then think
about what’s next. It will most likely be
another portrait. I could do portraits for the
rest of my life and not get tired of them. I
may also try to create some 2D illustrations.
I might not always know what the next
project will be, but one thing that is for
certain is that I won’t ever stop creating.
i Inaë
Made initially as a SSS
test in 3ds Max, Inaë was
continued and rendered
in mental ray
j Red Opium
“A vision of a female
vampire, created in 3ds
Max 8, with all maps
hand painted”