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3DTotal: Hey Jan! You’re a bit of a mystery because the “about” section on your website just contains one picture of yourself, so could you please tell us a little bit about your background and what you are doing now?
Jan: Ha yes! I see what you mean. My website is under reconstruction and there are some things that have yet to be updated. Well, I trained as a production designer at the Danish Design School, and have been working as a concept artist for a game company called Deadline Games for more than a year now. It is a great place, situated in Copenhagen next to an old military harbour. It has been amazing (and a surprise!) to see how much influence concept artists actually have in the production of computer games. Since I was a kid I’ve always loved to draw and paint. My father was really good with a pencil and my older brother wasn’t half bad. My brother and I always used to challenge each other to see who the best drawer was and it was here - I believe - that I found some kind of foundation for my drawing skills. |
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3DTotal: Which artists have influenced you the most?
Jan: There are a lot! But there are a couple of artists that stand out. Traditional painters such as P.S. Krøyer and Rembrandt have really impressed me and have had a big influence on how I see colours and light. The first time I saw Craig Mullins and John Wallin I was blown away, and I realised that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
3DTotal: You appear to pay particular attention to weather elements in your scenes - there’s many a stormy sky in your galleries. Is there any particular reason for this or is it something you just enjoy?
Jan: It is funny, but I didn’t used to pay much attention to the sky in my paintings. Now it is something that I spend a long time trying to get right. It really is a common mistake to neglect the sky in paintings. It is here that the light source that will help determine our colour palette is found. |
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3DTotal: Do you rely heavily on references for the skies? Or do you use them less and less the more you work?
Jan: It varies from painting to painting, and also depends on what mood I am in. Sometimes I find that it is best to simply drag a photo of a sky into my canvas and paint on top. But most of the time I do paint my own skies. |
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3DTotal: When creating your art, do you have a set process that you follow each time?
Jan: Yes! I mostly spend some time thinking of about a subject that I would like to paint. At work I am normally given certain guidelines as to what is needed. Then I research the subject by looking at photos or taking a walk with my camera. Before I start I always do a series of thumbnail sketches and from there choose the one I think will work the best. When creating the final painting, I always begin by establishing my horizontal eye level. To do this, I make a sky and then insert a ground. This could be painted or it could come from photos that have been fitted to my horizontal line. If I haven’t done this on top of my original sketch, I would then paint my thumbnail back in. This is where I block in shapes and basically make a more detailed thumbnail. It is also here that I make my perspective guidelines so I know that I am painting using proper perspectives. Photo textures and photos are transformed into perspective and overlaid with a “High Pass”, set to 28,0. (Filters>Others>High Pass). Now I can paint underneath my overlaid texture without adding a darker tone as overlay normally tends to do. From here on it’s a constant flipping of canvas and refinements which can go on for days before I sit with a final piece that I’m satisfied with. |
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