CGW China Interview
March 2009 Issue 85
www.cgchina.com

1) Could you introduce yourself first please?

I am a self-taught artist living in Carlsbad , California . I currently work at the video game studio Bottlerocket Entertainment as an environment artist.

2 )On your website, you said you had started doing CG as just a hobby, but it soon turned into a passion and now you are doing it for a living, could you say something about how did you get into CG field?

It was something I stumbled upon really. I tried out a couple of CG programs and thought it would be cool to do it for a living. With lots of practice, patience, and persistence I was able to get a job in the industry just based on the work I had been doing in my spare time. I was pretty lucky considering I didn't study 3D in school.

3) All of your works on your site are environments and they're pretty amazing. Have you ever done any character or other design?

Thanks! I tried out characters, but it just wasn't for me. I just prefer making environments. It's funny because in the industry it seems like everyone wants to be the lead character guy, but for me it's the opposite.

4 )Your style is very particular and brilliant. People can easily identify your work, but I can't use one word exactly to describe it. What do you think about your style? What is your favorite art style?

I never really thought about what I would classify my style as. I've been told on occasion that there always seems to be an element of hope in my images. So, if hope can be used to describe my style that might be one way to look at it. In a way, that's what my work is all about these days. There's always a message in my images and even in the images that are dark there's always some redeeming quality to those pieces. Ideas on redemption and liberation are themes I keep coming back to.

I like works by Rembrandt and Vermeer. Their use of color and light were phenomenal. Rembrandt's use of light and dark is a good example. In a lot of his work you see a vast contrast between light and dark areas which brings about a more dramatic mood and adds more impact to whatever he was trying to convey.

  5 )Personally I like your pictures' impression very much, especially the lighting. Do you have any secrets you can share and can you use your image  'Invisible' as an example tell us how do you control the light and rendering?

I don't have a secret really. I guess if there is some kind of advice I could give is that I don't overanalyze when it comes to any part of my artwork. I go with my intuition and what I feel it should look like. I think in order to be a good artist you have to trust your instincts and follow your intuition no matter how crazy an idea seems. You never know where it will lead and usually those crazy ideas lead to better ideas. In regards to technique, I try to keep things simple. One directional light for the sun and maybe fill lights in the areas that are too dark. My images are hardly ever the way I want them to look right after rendering so all of my images go through Photoshop where I usually add more contrast and use color correction to give the image a more dramatic feel.

6 ) There are a lot of plants in your images. Do you make them in an original way and could you say something about how you portray them?

A lot of plants in my scenes are Xfrog models. Plants and trees tend to be very high poly, but they add so much life to the scene. I've been told that my scenes look very much alive and I think it has to do with adding plants and trees. There's a bit of psychology behind this too. Research has found that being around greenery can reduce stress, enhance a person's mood, and even enhance creativity too.

7 )Where do you get your ideas from? A real life environment? Photos? Or are they purely imagined?

  I used to get a lot of specific ideas from photos and things I saw in magazines like The National Geographic, but now most of my ideas are just imagined. The thing that inspires me the most is the world around me. Whatever I see and experience gets projected into my artwork in someway or another.

8 ) Are the works on your website commercial or personal?

Everything on my website are things I did in my spare time. What I do professionally is totally different than what I do in my spare time. I usually work on my personal projects in the evenings for about an hour or so. I don't rush my work, I just let my ideas come and fall together as they will.

  9) Do you have any hobbies and if so do you find that they are part of your inspiration?

  Yes, I play guitar and I'm currently in a band with some of my fellow artists at the company I work for. I also read books on psychology, sociology, and philosophy. My hobbies definitely inspire me too. I find a lot of the things I write about in the essays that go with my images are greatly influenced by the things I read.

 10) Where are you working now and what is your position there?

  I'm currently working for the video game studio Bottlerocket Entertainment. I really enjoy doing environments so I feel I'm in a good place right now. Lighting is something I really enjoy also so being a full-time lighter would be cool too.

11) What are your plans in the future? Would you consider doing matte-paintings in a movie?

The future is full of possibilities and I'm open to pretty much anything. Who knows? Maybe I'll work on matte-paintings or be a lighting artist for a film someday.

12) Any final advice for our readers?

If I were to give any advice to those just starting out in this field it would be patience, practice, and persistence. It can be overwhelming when first getting into 3D since there's so much to learn and the field is big, but if you're patient in getting over the learning curve, constantly practice your craft, and are persistent in going after what you want you'll eventually end up in a really good place.