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3dTotal: If you don’t have good loops or topology right from the start, what problems can an artist run into later on?
Antonio: Well, that’s a difficult question; normally you experience the problems when you’re shaping, and each person has a different way of working. That’s a personal choice. I believe the biggest problems that you can experience are related to triangles. When you subdivide the mesh, you can find peaks and tensions hard to solve, which can effect the final mesh aspect. Another common issue is to find that a mesh is too dense before being exported to ZBrush or Mudbox. Personally, I prefer to work with very simple mesh bases because they are much more handy, especially when you have to modify the pose of the model.
You can also encounter problems if your mesh has areas with a high density of polygons, while some other areas in the same object have little density. When subdividing, you are going to find zones where a greater concentration of polygons is going to be needed. And it’s likely that your machine is not going to be able to make a new subdivision; that makes it obvious that zones without definition exist, impoverishing the final result. Time to subdivide the mesh.
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3dTotal: We loved your “Mr.Quixote” image here in the studio. I remember when we had a meeting with our publisher for Digital Art Masters: Volume 2 and she was looking at it, saying “That would look amazing on the cover. But is it too scary!?” Can you tell us more about the ideas and development behind this image?
Antonio: Of course, it is scary... but that is the work’s intention. The references to El Quijote don’t imply any objective connection with Cervantes’ character. It is more a sort of a tribute, focusing on |
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fact that the character is a madman.
The static and central composition is slightly based on El Greco’s The Knight with His Hand on His Breast, but is inspired in general by the work of the great painters Caravaggio (tenebrist or murky illumination), and Velazquez (colour palette). Many key factors were used to achieve that “scary” feeling. For example, I made use of pictures of Dalí for the crazy look (he knew how to play with his face to get a madman look). The fact that his look, together with a light stoop of the head are the only dynamic elements in the composition, is not accidental.
I think those details help to give a general oppressive touch. The closed and poorly lit room, and the blocked-up windows generate (I hope!) a certain restlessness in the viewer
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Regarding the technical aspects, there is not much to say as they are mainly simple. For the model of the base mesh I used XSI and a plain mesh, not too dense. I focused on a right distribution of the loops, and generally used squared polygons. For the shaping, ZBrush 2 was used. There’s not much more to explain about this stage of the process, apart from the need for a lot of patience!
For the texturing, I used Photoshop as well as the direct painting of the mesh in ZBrush - through Projection Master.
I imported the second subdivision level of ZBrush for the render. I applied normal maps generated from ZMapper instead of displacement maps to avoid excessive render times. A HDRI was applied to the general atmosphere lighting, and a light’s triangle for the direct lighting.
3dTotal: What can we expect to see from you next, Antonio?
Antonio: Well, I am currently working on my modelling reel. The idea is to make some models based on urban characters: friends of mine, but also strangers. I want to make something different and satisfactory.
If you are interested in the details, I can tell you that right now I’m working on the modelling of a friend: the bass guitarist |
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of a Mexican punk group. A lot of tattoos and piercings and other stuff. Funny!
I want to start working towards a more naturalist line, intending to go one step beyond the present digital works, especially 3D ones.
3dTotal: That character sounds brilliant - I can’t wait to see your render. Are you aiming for realism or stylisation in any way?
Antonio: Realism, definitely. All my work presents a realistic constant; I’m not very interested in the more stylised trends right now. In fact, in the work I’m dealing with now, I’ve pulled together a thorough collection of references in order to achieve higher levels of accuracy within this realistic aspect. I’m also studying the motor of a render, so that I can get a wider photorealistic aspect.
3dTotal: One final quirky question: if your hand became disconnected from your brain and grew a mind of its own, what do you think it would do?
Antonio: I have no idea; it would be a different mind, thus it’s not my problem [Laughs].
Thank you very much and all the best!
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