Hello,
my name is Neil Blevins. I don't have a job in the CG field yet, but I
hope to
once I finish school.
Can you tell me a little bit about your background and what influenced you into getting into 3D in the first place?:
Well,
I've always been a SciFi fan. I was drawing highly detailed Star Wars
"Snow Walkers" since I was 4 years old. Star Trek, Star Wars, and all
that. I've been drawing and painting my own creations for most of my
life, and
happened on computer graphics by playing around with POV-Ray. I
discovered that
I could express with the computer all the ideas I had in a very
realistic
manner (much more realistic than with my drawings), so I was hooked.
What would you say some of your artistic strong points are? (modeling, texturing, animating, composition, lighting, etc.)
I haven't had much
experience with
animating yet, which is something I'm working on now. If I had to pick
one
strength, I'd have to say it would be a tie between concept (the
original
design of the scene) and lighting / texturing.
Where do you see yourself heading with your art and your abilities? (ie. where would you like to be in 5 years or so, etc.)
I'd
like to work in several studios making special effects and characters
for films
and video games, then a bit later on in my career I'd like to make a go
at
selling my freelance talents, as well as selling my art in the form of
posters,
books etc.
Can you talk a little bit about your work that's being showcased in the Artist's Spotlite? (Tools used to create it. What you had in mind when you were working on it? Things other might be interested to note about the work? Etc.)
Factory
was an image I made whose sole purpose was to be a modeling nightmare.
I really
like highly detailed work, stuff where you can stare at it for hours
and still
not see every detail. I used just about every free plugin I could find,
strong
volumetric lighting, and a very soft RLF lense flare. But mainly it was
a lot
of modeling and texturing.
Nightmare
II was an experiment to test out a new version of RealLensFlares. It's
also the
second in a series of Nightmare images I'm working on. I spent a lot of
time
tweaking the atmosphere of the image, which is volumetric fog with
opacity and
color maps. These images are based on a set of nightmares I had as a
kid.
Are there
any
reoccuring themes in your work?
Big,
scary, nasty monsters. When my life becomes happier I'll start
rendering big,
happy, fluffy bunnies.
Do you
work
outside of the digital medium as well?
Yes,
I draw and paint. I really couldn't make a living off of that stuff
though, but
it's still fun. I'm also a musician, which is also just a hobby. You
won't see
me on tour anytime soon.
Do you
have
any particular artistic goals you'd like to share?
Lots
of detail, lots of mood and atmosphere.
I
can't think of anything off hand, except I'm going to a university
where a
plate of puke or a blank canvas can be considered art. I've been there
for a
year and a half now, and they still haven't converted me, but I'm
having tons
of fun.
My
shoe size is 11, I listen to really fast and brutal music, and I can
recite the
script to just about every Simpsons episode there is.
What would your advice be to folks just starting out in 3D? (Any tips or pointers?)
Lots
of practice, have a firm vision in your head of what you want to do,
and do it.
Try and get as much of what's in your head into your image, compromise
as
little as possible. Go see lots of films, and study how they do things.
Life
drawing and other basic traditional drawings skills will help, but
don't feel
depressed if you have no formal art training. I haven't had any until
very
recently, I was a Computer Science major.
What would you do with 1 million dollars? (Silly question, I know...)
Lets
see, a new computer, a really nice guitar (Ibanez) and amp (Marshall),
then I'd
invest the rest in a reasonable house with a kick ass art studio in the
basement.
Thanks for
your time Neil!
No
problem. Hope you don't mind some of the silly answers, it wouldn't be
a real
Neil interview without them.