3DTotal: Hi, can you tell us about yourself please and why you chose to become a 3d character artist?
Pär: Hi, my name is Pär Tingström and I was born and raised in Sundsvall Sweden. I realized quite early on that I wanted to work with something creative like drawing comics, painting fantasy art covers or to work with animation. Even though 3D is my strongest medium today I could never imagine doing cg art for games or movies back then, it seemed like pure science to me and I had this stupid idea that it was cheating anyway. Back in 1997 I came in contact with 3D through more or less a coincident, a friend of a friend who was starting up a game company needed 3d artists, but with no money he had to take what he could get; me and a bunch other crazy enthusiasts. Overwhelmed by the graphics the game engine could draw, I started to work day and night to learn 3D, it was literally learning by doing and the fact that my version of 3Ds Max 2.0 had no help files, didn't exactly help. Eventually after a lot of hard work and visions of being filthy rich we got a project signed and Starbreeze was born. Sometimes I think that we were the last generation who was able to do that, it might be more or less impossible to set up a team of 9 people today and think that you are going to be signed by a big publisher.

  
    3DTotal: You’re currently working as a modeller at Framestore in London, could you tell us how this job came about and what is a typical day like there?
Pär: When my work on Quake Wars was coming to an end I felt like doing something else then games.
I put a reel together and applied to Framestore CFC and got a job as a modeller at the feature animation department. When I get in to the office in the morning I usually have some breakfast while I'm watching the latest renders of the movie before I start to work. Then it's like any other day in a business like this I guess, you have your concept a deadline and you do your models, in my case environments. The concept team is massive and the drawings very detailed which makes the modelling process easy and pretty smooth. When your model is done and approved you send it of to the surfacing department and the next time you see it (if your uv layout isn't shit that is, then it comes back to haunt you) it's in a sweet looking render with nice textures and materials. It may not sound to exciting but I really enjoy it and every Friday the team gets together in the Framestore cinema and watches the progress of
the movie followed by a few pints or more at the
local pub on the corner, that's usually a good day.
3DTotal: You have worked on many game titles such as ‘The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay’, ‘The Darkness’ and ‘Quake Wars: Enemy Territory’ could you tell is what projects are you currently working on and can you tell us a little a bit about them?
Pär: At the moment I'm working on an animated feature called "The tale of Despereaux". The movie is based on a pretty dark children's book written by Kate DiCamillo, it's about a heroic little mouse with exceptionally big ears, who falls in love with a princess. It's honestly a really exciting project and I think it differs itself from the rest of the Cg movies out there when it comes to the conceptual design and atmosphere, and it's looking pretty damn awesome too.
   
 
3DTotal: What software do you use, are you happy with your workflow and why?
Pär: At work I mainly use Maya but I try to implement Mudbox and Zbrush3 as much as possible in my workflow. You can use those "clay" programs to make more than just small wrinkles and pores; it's great for to sketching and sculpting basic forms. For me that means more freedom since they are superior modelling tools, you can always clean up the topology in Maya later. Maya is of course an essential software in the industry but sometimes it feels like you are trying to tie your shoe laces with boxing glows in comparison.
   
 
 
 
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