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Craft your own style with Koen Koopman Part 2

3D generalist Koen Koopman has worked in 3D product visualization for over 12 years but has also developed a portfolio of vibrant and varied works. Discover how he established his style

3D generalist Koen Koopman has worked in 3D product visualization for over 12 years but has also developed a portfolio of vibrant and varied works. Discover how he established his style

Koen Koopman had been dabbling in 3D since the age of 15. After dropping out of graphic design school, he went onto study cartoons. After 12 years working in 3D visualizations Koen has now gone freelance, merging his professional 3D skills with his background in cartoons to create some awesome characters.

Koen credits his 3D capabilities to his creative mother and technical father, as well as the knowledge he inherited from his colleagues at INDG. Here he worked on a large range of different projects – from architecture, to interiors and exteriors, product visualization to animation and even some web design. As part of this projects he has experience in multiple disciplines such as modeling, art direction, rigging, animation and more!

Koen thrives this atmosphere where he is constantly challenged. However, it has its pros and cons: you become able to make informed decisions and you're not stuck in a medium, but you will probably never become a true master of any one skill. Although one pro outweighs these negatives: it is lots of fun!

One of Koen's long term goals is to insure that he never becomes ‘set in his ways'. He aims to stay dynamic and keep an open mind. We think his interesting and varied portfolio really reflects this…

Inspired by some new hominid fossil finds and a reconstruction website that does some amazing work Kennis and Kennis Reconstructions

Inspired by some new hominid fossil finds and a reconstruction website that does some amazing work Kennis and Kennis Reconstructions

Do you have any advice for other self-taught artists trying to make their way around 3D?

You don't have to know every detail of a tool or method. But just knowing something exists can help you tackle problems before they have been created. Keep filling your head with information even if you think it's too much and it won't stick.

Having a setback is never a negative thing. You learn the most from mistakes and even if you're not aware of it, eventually it will add up. You will never lose knowledge.

Approach your work as a painting in terms of color, contrast and composition. A pleasant color palette will make the image cohesive and prevent it from getting muddy. Having a good black and white balance is also important. You can accentuate your composition with these two concepts to make sure the subject is the primary focus. Use a thumbnail to keep track of the overall picture once you start working on the details.

A fictional dinosaur-lion hybrid that has just been feasting on a large herbivore

You have become known for your caricature-like 3D portraiture. What inspires these characters?

Faces are of course the center of attention for a social animal like us. A face is what can make an otherwise static image come to life with a little bit of help from your brain.

My inspiration mainly comes from playing around with different shapes inside Mudbox. I never start out with a drawn concept for these portraits. The main fun part for me is trying to find those unique shapes - usually a primitive shape like a square, triangle or cylinder to begin with. Once I've got an interesting shape I'll start to associate it with some real life heads or concept art I've seen or drawn in the past and refine it.

A caricature of the Japanese actor: Takeshi Kitano

Could you briefly describe how you create these portrait studies in Mudbox?

I have a small collection of head base meshes that I have collected over the years. They have some nice edge-flow. Sometimes when I feel like I need a quick fix I'll open one and start to block out some big shapes. Maybe start to imagine a fun back-story for the character so I can focus on some specific things.

Once I feel like I have something I'll throw it into 3ds Max and relax the UVs and maybe add some props. Then throw it back into Mudbox, start working on the details, making sure that I honor the big shapes I started out with and that everything flows nicely with those main shapes. Finally I'll put a great deal of asymmetry in there.

The texture work is quite simple. I'll add a hairline, fake sub-surface scattering (the reds), color the lips and add an Ambient Occlusion map on Multiply which I'll turn slightly red as well.

Finally I'll render it in a 3 point lighting setup with V-Ray and make sure I get some nice rim lights going that will sell the shape. I'll use a VrayFastSSS2 skin shader with a blueish falloff Diffuse map and Reflection in Additive (Shellac) mode on top to represent a fuzz coat and sub-dermal layer effect.

A 3D doodle of a futuristic black woman

A 3D doodle of a futuristic black woman

A 3D doodle of an Amish father figure

A 3D doodle of an Amish father figure

A 3D doodle of a UFC fighter

A 3D doodle of a UFC fighter

A 3D doodle entitled ‘Gangsta'

A 3D doodle entitled ‘Gangsta'

A 3D doodle of a priest

A 3D doodle of a priest

We also love your humorous creature images that are full of personality. How do you go about designing these imaginative scenes?

Once I have a basic concept that interests me, I spend a lot of time thinking about how I can make it unique and interesting. It might not be intentional but I can get a bit obsessed with a concept. Of course recreating is essential for learning and polishing your skills, but eventually my goal for 3D is to be a creative medium.

I usually spend a lot of time drawing over my basic concept to see what works and getting a feel for the color palette. I like to pin down a couple of complementary colors early on that work well together and keep the theme going throughout the process. Even the choice of props and setting will be influenced by this palette.

What I like to call ‘letting the paint dry' is also a good way to improve an image. If you are able to let your work sit for a month or more, you can revisit your image while getting some feedback from your peers. This will help you get a fresh feel for the image and refocus on what you want to achieve with it.

A little bit of artistic license on the Oviraptor, who was an egg-eating dinosaur

A little bit of artistic license on the Oviraptor, who was an egg-eating dinosaur

"Even when the Bee-29 dropped the salt-bomb during 'Operation: Neighbor's Garden', we always felt at home on the battlefield somehow" - General Shellshock

"Even when the Bee-29 dropped the salt-bomb during 'Operation: Neighbor's Garden', we always felt at home on the battlefield somehow" - General Shellshock

Your professional 3D work has given you the opportunity to experience various areas of 3D art, why is it that character and creature design has become the genre of choice in your personal work?

Well I've always been drawing characters from a very early age. Working professionally just broadened my horizon for different disciplines, but characters, cartoon and animation are still my greatest strengths.

It's only later in life that I became really interested science, science fiction and technology. I love to read about evolution and try to understand why the world works the way it does. I can watch endless documentaries and lectures from guys like Neil Degrasse Tyson, Stephen Hawking and Lawrence Krauss. I feel like I have a good grasp on how things work from particle physics to evolution to astrophysics. I'm not smart enough to be a scientist, but what I can do is keep forcing information into my brain and eventually things will stick.

An alien creature inspired by the ‘cuddly' Portia jumping spider and one of my favorite movies District 9

You've worked on some pretty cool projects in your role at INDG – do you have any favorites?

Definitely, Base-X is still one of my favorite projects. It was a large ARA/‘Koninklijke luchtmacht' production, (they hired INDG, as well as companies like Momkai, Little Chicken and 100% HALAL) for a website for The Royal Netherlands Air Force with a lot of mixed disciplines and moving parts. It was a beast and turned out very nicely, unfortunately there is no printable material but you can visit: luchtmachtbase-x.nl

Does the design process behind your professional and personal work differ?

Yes, creating work for a client is a lot more demanding. It's important that you try to figure out what the client wants to achieve, not just follow the client's instructions to a T. This is a fine balance that takes a lot of time to master. Pick your battles and make sure your decisions are sound, easily explainable and preferably reversible.

Also set up an appropriate amount of milestones to show the client - you want your client to have a strong voice, but you don't want the client to micromanage the project. The most important milestone is to get a feel for the project early on and see if there are any misalignments. It must be a very clear at this point to the client what he or she is going to get. Then set a milestone a couple of days or a week before the deadline to iron out details.

Where aliens go to drink

Where aliens go to drink

Are there any dream projects that you would like to work on as a 3D artist?

I fell in love with world creation and storytelling, and creating a consistent world with colorful characters each with their own back-story. Trying to create suspense and build it to a climax can be a very satisfying experience as this is the moment your characters become real and relatable.

Getting into the 3D movie scene would be fun but I've never lost my passion for gaming. I would love to be able to combine those two. The future is still a bit unclear but that's exactly how I like it at the moment. As for now, I'm keeping my options open.

A quick composition and color sketch - trying to get an interesting composition with a minimal amount of brush strokes

A quick composition and color sketch - trying to get an interesting composition with a minimal amount of brush strokes

Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to take part in our interview!

You're very welcome - thanks for having me. Special thanks to Kevin Beckers, Jelle C. Legters and Lefteris Apostolopoulos.

Related links

Visit Koen's website for more of his fantastic work
If you want to make your own cute characters, then explore our ZBrush Cartoon Critters
Check out our Maya training video on portraits

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