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3DTotal: Hi Jeremy, can we have a brief introduction please - a bit about your history, current location and employment?
Jeremy: I’ve been working as a digital artist for almost ten years now. My first gig was working at a studio in Toronto, then I went on to freelance as a colourist/digital painter. I got to work with some of my idols, like Chris Sotomayor and JD Smith. I’ve worked for nearly every major comic book publisher, including Marvel, DC, Image, Darkhorse, Devil’s Due, Moonstone books, MV Creations, and Games Workshop. I’ve been working in 3D for about the last six or seven years now, and most of my work is done with 3DS Max, ZBrush and Photoshop. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of 3D illustration work, some concept art, matte painting, and a lot of cover work. I was also one of |
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the very lucky artists that got to be on the ZBrush 3 Beta team!
3DTotal: When you sum it up like that it sounds really intensive! Do you miss your old 2D days or do you look forward to the more technical 3D days ahead?
Jeremy: There is something about that intensive 3D workflow that really appeals to me; I like that it gives me complete control over every detail in the image. But, I don’t know if I’ll ever switch to just one or the other, because I love doing 2D work as well. Hopefully I’ll be lucky enough in my career to be able to do both! I think the recent advances in the technology, and the astounding quality of work that is coming out of the film and videogame industries, clearly shows that 3D will be the way of the future - I just hope there will always be a place for 2D art. |
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3DTotal: I notice you use the popular Deviantart.com website to present your portfolio: http://jprart.deviantart.com/gallery. Do you find this has advantages/disadvantages over having a personal website of your own?
Jeremy: Deviantart is fantastic! It’s perfect for any artist, because the page looks very professional and it’s easy to post your work. They also have an incredible community, and the fan interaction is great. |
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3DTotal: Most of your 3D works state that you used 3DS Max, ZBrush and Photoshop. Can you tell us a bit about your working pipeline and how these packages work together?
Jeremy: Because most of my work is for illustration, I always begin with a sketch. I start by scribbling out a few rough ideas in Photoshop; as soon as I have the image I am looking for, I’ll do a quick colour test to finalize exactly what I want the finished image to look like. Then, I trace over it with the pen tool and export that as an .ai file which can be imported into 3DS Max. I line up that vector image in the perspective viewport, lock the camera into position, and start assembling the scene. I’ve created several base models that serve as the starting point for most of my 3D work. The models are very low resolution, and have a simplistic edge flow that is easy to modify. If I’m creating a posed character, the first thing I will do is break apart the body at each of the joints, then position the limbs to match the sketch, and using the bridge tool I re-connect all of the joints and export that mesh to be refined in ZBrush. The first thing I work on in ZBrush is the structure, and I make sure the anatomy is right before moving on to the detail pass. Once the high resolution details are finished I export a medium resolution .obj file with normal maps for the high res detail. With everything back in 3DS Max, I start adding the finishing touches like lighting and texturing. I usually texture my scene using camera mapping. I will paint specific texture maps for important things like skin and eyes, but for most other parts of the scene camera mapping works just fine. Now that all the technical work is out of the way, I render out a few passes and start putting everything together in Photoshop. After a little bit of tweaking I have a finished image that very closely resembles what I had drawn in the initial sketch. |
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