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3DTotal: Hey Loïc! Just been whiling away some time checking out an ‘Online Mess – Hot like a Nacho’, and I gotta say, I like it! Here’s the link for all the readers to click and have a look for themselves: www.e338.com, but before they jump into the world of Loïc... let’s hear what the man himself has to say about a little introduction to his life and online portfolio. Over to you, Loïc!
Loïc: Gosh, that’s a tricky way to introduce people! Okay, let’s go for it - the faster, the better. My name is Loïc Zimmermann, aka e338. I’m a 33 year old CG artist, working as a freelancer, although I have had many experiences inside companies. My heart is bouncing between 2D and 3D, and in the end I guess this is of no importance, as what matters is confusing the audience and getting them to focus on the result. I’ve been working in this field for the last 8 years, prior to which I was class instructor (my early beginnings), which is something I still do from time to time through workshops (open call). I
specialised in characters 5 years ago - my favourite subject, even when I was drawing as a kid (now I
just draw like a kid!), but I also enjoy working on some moody landscapes and urban pictures (photos/collage/painting). At the moment (and for quite a while), I’m working as a senior character
artist for a French videogame company, called Quantic Dream, on their up-coming project, Heavy Rain
on PS3. I find it very interesting, but apart from that I also work on some smaller projects, and, of course, personal activities such as illustrations, clothing, etc... When I don’t work, I flush my brain in front of
some series, or I go down town and drown in alcohol, which can surprise |
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people who definitely think I’m just a bear living in a cave. I’m Jack’s lack of relationships!
3DTotal: Do you find that drawing and painting all day at your job is good for your motivation and inspiration when it comes to doing your personal projects in your own time, or that your work life sucks a lot of the creativity out of you?
Loïc: Drawing is a minor part of my activity. I do illustrations from time to time for some clients, but most of my days are 3D driven, but your question still works. It can be hard sometimes to spend a day working on the modelling of a face, and work your night on… the modelling of a face! Hahaha! It can be worse when both schedules are fully synchronised and you have to fix UVs at day and the same at night. Now, regarding the creativity, I don’t expect this to happen at work. I had big expectations when I was younger, but I no longer do. The financers, the hierarchies in companies… all those guys have their word to say and in the end things end up washed-up. This is where personal works become necessary and help me in accepting those frustrations. Nowadays, I even prefer being a simple character artist with no specific creative things to do. For sure, the day I’ll have full control over the look of a film or a game it’ll be freaking insane. Any brave volunteers in the room…? Anyone…?! |
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3DTotal: Zmen are cool! I especially like Dangerine’s Stance and attitude, Gravito’s shopping bags and Tempest’s nakedness. What were your ideas behind this series, and what did you want to achieve?
Loïc: The whole series started with a script that a friend (soul mate) wrote for me, called the Z men, and which is supposed to be a comic book in the end. Since I had the opportunity to work on an exhibition last year, I decided to do portraits of the main characters. Bolino (the author) had some precise ideas about them, and I |
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simply took a particular aspect of each to do stills. It’s like the X men transposed into the Twilight Zone, keeping some dumb aspects of their personalities and creating a very realistic world around them, still with superpowers. Wolverine, here called Dangerine, is just a rough, tough Canadian motherf***** with similar powers to the original, but definitely a first degree guy. Magneto (Gravito) is obsessed by power and mutant revolution, but has to deal with ordinary life and an idiot crew. Tempest is one hot, black feminist babe who hates the entire world but belongs to the “good guys” and has to deal with it. So, you see, I simply had fun with them. It’s full of personal references. I must say the idea for Tempest was way harsher, but due to a lack of time preparing the exhibition, I decided to simplify things and do a hot chick pic, which was a good idea since all the other characters were, well… weirdoes!
3DTotal: Well it sounds like it would be a very entertaining comic to read! I noticed a couple of other superhero-based pictures in your portfolio, such as the Dare Devil fan art, and other characters definitely have comic book character traits. What is it you like best about creating this type of character images?
Loïc: The story written by my friend is really cool. Now it’ll be up to me to make it look good!
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Comic books characters? I was reading and enjoying comic books a lot. Being able to do some cool pictures with such characters is great. And I confess that I smile to the idea of a young fellow watching one of my pictures and thinking he wants to do this for a living. It’s a bit of a cliché, I know. |
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