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Interview with Jeremy Love

Hi Jeremy and welcome to the world of 3DTotal! By the sounds of it you've had quite an interesting artistic career so far - from signwriter to concept artist in ten years! Could you tell us a bit more about this journey and your experiences along the way?

Wow, sign writing seems like so long ago now... but it turns out that it gave me a solid, traditional art foundation. I actually wanted to be a book illustrator from an early age. I was a fan of the "choose your own adventure" books and loved the cover art. Artists like Boris Vallejo and Frank Frazetta inspired me too. I could draw okay in school, but mostly failed in art as I lacked the discipline to follow instructions. I did, however, enjoy technical drawing and finished the subject with a distinction, so my father took me to a local architect firm. Up until that point, I was under the impression that the job was all about designing fancy buildings, but instead I was shown plans for toilet cubicles and concrete foundations. I wanted to do something a little more artistic so I set my sights on becoming a graphic artist. My first job was doing bromide paste ups and learning CAD graphics software.

I then went to work for a small company where I designed surf t-shirts and logos. After a while the boss introduced me to the airbrush and asked me to paint a robotic dragon on a shop sign. I ended up specializing in airbrushing and painted on pretty much everything. It turned out to be great learning curve as it taught me the discipline I needed. I had to work within tight deadlines and deal with difficult clients, plus if I made a mistake I pretty much had to start again. There's no undo when you make a mistake on a big bloke's bike tank so I learnt to be careful and think ahead. It's an interesting profession as it taught me to be a jack of all trades. I had to design, construct, paint and install the signage.

I ended up helping run a sign shop in Noosa, which was great, but I spent most of my time airbrushing waves, sharks and dolphins on every truck, boat and shop imaginable. One of the strangest experiences was having a rotten avocado thrown at my head while installing a huge artist's impression for a new high-rise development in Mooloolaba.

I remember thinking, "Surely my art isn't that bad?" although, I don't blame them as there used to be a good pub there.

Sign writing took me all over the world and I got to work on some great projects. I think the best job I got to work on was doing the vehicles for Chateau Elan, in Saint Andrew's Bay, where they put us up for two nights with an open tab and free golf. Anyway, while doing my day job, I was also freelancing for a production house doing graphics and animations for commercials and documentaries. This is where I found out about LightWave 3D. I was keen to make a change in career as the constant fumes from airbrushing had made me very ill.

It's interesting because in my experience, LightWave is one of the lesser-used software packages and doesn't quite have the same prominence as 3ds Max or Maya in today's industry - was it a conscious choice for you to use it, or was it just a case of LightWave being the first 3D software you stumbled across?

LightWave seems to have taken a back seat in games development especially. Although at the time it was used extensively in TV broadcast production. The production house I was working for had a copy of LightWave v5 so I gave it a go. If an advert


needed a flying logo or spinning object, I would just learn enough to do that. Eventually an animated character was needed and I was hooked from there. I really enjoyed doing everything from storyboarding to directing. I think I stopped using it at about v6.5

I was sorry to hear about the closure of the Australian arm of THQ last year - you were working there as a senior concept artist at the time, right? How did it come about? And what are you up to now?

Yeah, I'd been working at THQ for about a year when it closed. It was a shame to say goodbye to a great studio and all that work for sure. We were a year into production and the team was really happy to have created something that looked and played really well. We were all excited to be part of such a cool title and were close to alpha so it came as a shock. THQ Corp. and the client were pleased with what we were doing, but ultimately I think it was down to the Australian dollar. It's just not as viable for overseas publishers to invest here anymore given the current financial climate. There were no doubt other factors behind it, but that's just the way of the industry and it's not the first time I've experienced a studio closure. Some of my colleagues had been through the same situation four of five times before.

After THQ closed I built a small studio in the back yard which I worked in for about a year doing freelance. The variety of work was great and I got to work on some cool projects including 007 Legends and Sacred 3 which are both coming out soon I think. During this time I also did some pitch work for SEGA Studios Australia. The project got green lit and they offered me a full time gig, so that's where I am today. It's a small team of talented artists so I'm enjoying it. Being my own boss definitely had its advantages but there's nothing like being part of a team.

On your website you mention attending a seminar by Feng Zhu as a kind of turning point in your artistic career. He's an artist that a lot of people mention as being an inspiration for them and we've been lucky enough to feature his work on our website in the past. What was it about the seminar that so captured your attention? And if you hadn't attended, do you think you'd still have found your way to 2D?

Feng is an inspiration, for sure. My initial intention for attending the 3D festival was to learn more about 3D and do some networking. I had gone out the night before in Copenhagen and had a few too many local beers so was feeling a little rough. I was late for Feng's seminar and had to sit in the aisle. Up until that point I had never realized there were actually people designing this cool stuff for a living. I was blown away at the speed and talent of this guy... Something just clicked and I thought, "Yeah, this is for me" The thought of creating art for IPs such as Star Wars seemed too good to be true, but somehow attainable at the same time. I think that with the expansion of global media, it was only a matter of time before concept art appeared on my radar as a career option. But there's no denying that Feng's seminar had a huge impact on me. Within a week of returning home I had bought a tablet and was learning Painter. To my wife's dismay I spent hundreds of hours on that thing.

It seems behind every great artist there's a very understanding spouse! So how did you make the transition from 3D to 2D? Was it just a case of practice, practice, practice and then shopping your portfolio around?

(Laughs) That's true! I think technically I had a fairly solid art foundation through simply drawing from life and painting from photos. Signwriting helped me learn how color worked as I had to mix all my paints, but I had limited knowledge of anatomy or composition. Therefore my digital work started out more as illustrations which emulated photo references. But I soon realized there was more to being a concept artist than simply drawing well and copying from magazines. There was so much still to learn, so I started doing challenges online and small unpaid collaborations. I developed a faster working method and a library of shapes in my head that seemed to work. Eventually my portfolio started to

improve and attract more lucrative clients. It's an ongoing learning curve and I'm always striving for an image that I'm happy with for more than a week.

Onto the art! Which I could look at all day, by the way - I particularly love the landscapes as there's just something so beautifully peaceful about them. But landscapes aside, your work seems to lean towards the sci-fi and fantasy genres - is this a conscious decision on your part or something your work requires of you? It's definitely a popular subject within the industry and I often wonder what it is about sci-fi and fantasy that so attracts people. Perhaps just the sheer number of potential possibilities and the ability to push your imagination to the limit and beyond?

Thank you! It's funny you should mention the landscapes as they took the least amount of time. I wanted to explore a more traditional technique and use some different brushes so tried to get one finished each day in my lunch hour at work. I've always loved sci-fi though and I think films by the likes of Spielberg and Lucas captured my imagination early on. As a kid I used to dream about creating worlds for people to explore. Actually, I'd love to create a graphic novel set in a virtual world. Like you say, the possibilities are limitless and I think it's that opportunity to really use my imagination that interests me. Working in entertainment allows me to do this to a degree so it's a good match. With that said, the stuff I paint at home is quite contemporary so there's a love for that too.

What can I say; I'm a sucker for a beautiful landscape! I'm curious about this graphic novel you mentioned - do you have a plot worked out or is it still just floating around in your head as a vague idea?

I spent about a year developing a story in my spare time back in 2007. It was just a rough plot; a bunch of notes and doodles spread out over a stack of sketchbooks. Trouble is the story I was writing was very close to a movie that came out a few years


ago, so it's back to the drawing board. Writing is something I don't do all that often but when I do, I really enjoy it. There's something about watching a story unfold. Developing the characters is the fun part. Maybe I'll get around to it when I'm old and gray... damn that's now! (Laughs).

Coming from a 3D background, do you find yourself calling on your 3D skills in your work much nowadays? I know lots of 2D artists will mix elements of 3D into their pipeline and vice versa. Or is it Photoshop and a Wacom all the way?

I think it definitely helps having that background as you're used to seeing your objects from every angle and get a good idea of how perspective works. I think the texturing and lighting processes used in 3D can translate to 2D quite well too, especially with software like Photoshop where layers are used. As for my work, I haven't used a 3D application in over seven years, although it's common for me to be given a 3D mesh environment from design or an in-game capture to paint over. But definitely Wacom and Photoshop for me!

And one whimsical question to round things off: if you were stranded on a desert island, what would be the one thing you couldn't live without? Sketchbook? Surfboard? Internet connection?

Well that would have to be my lovely, intelligent wife! But then, the only sketching I'd be doing is SOS in the sand! (Laughs) Kidding, of course. Oh, there's surf? That's an easy one; no time for the internet as I'd be on the water all day.

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