Hi all! I am Enver. As far as I can remember, I have always been interested in Art. All started with traditional 2D art for me. In high school and university, I have continued studying fine arts and animation.
Till the last years of my education life, I thought my career was going to be on 2D arts but a last-minute 3D shift has happened. After my graduation in 2015, I started working with Anima-Istanbul. Which is a company that does mostly 3D animated TV commercials and one animated feature film called `The Bad Cat`.
It was my first opportunity to be a part of something professional for the first time. After about a year I started working for a motion graphics studio as a lead 3D Artist. My time there was not so long because I've got a job with Digic Pictures shortly after.
Right now I am working for Digic Pictures as a Shading/Surfacing Artist and doing models for characters time to time for game cinematics. Since my time at Digic Pictures, I have had the chance to be a part of some great cinematics for `Assassin`s Creed Origins, Call of Duty WW2, League of Legends, Destiny and more…
| Till the last years of my education life I thought my career was going to be on 2D arts but a last minute 3D shift has happened. |
What is your personal approach to digital arts, and how are you connected to texturing?
My everyday job is to create believable characters and shaders for CGI industry. Especially chasing realistic results in a digital platform is one of my passions. Shading and texturing is sort of siblings in that case and texturing is a really important step of the whole process which gives me the freedom for detailing, adding story elements and giving life to my subjects…
I collect my references first, especially when it comes to texturing. That is a necessary process to know which direction I should be going for. I prefer using photograph based textures for projection and then do additional paintovers to complete the base of my texture in most cases
Once I get a nice base it comes to add story elements like scratches, dirts, damages, special patterns, tileables, freckles for skin and etc. procedural method works really good. Also, fine tuning the final texture in PS at the end is really important when you can see your texture as a whole in the square image. Correcting the general hue, saturation and contrast make a big difference in the shading step.
| Renders of a personal project, 'Modern Goblin' |
On your artistic journey, from the start until today, did you find other artists that inspired you, or still provide you the will to keep looking over the horizon?
Since the starting point of everything was traditional 2D arts in my artistic journey, toons were the entrance for this world for me, I would imitate, draw and live with them all the time.
High school has added so much and let me see about the art environment, also practices and classes on various styles and techniques of art was extremely beneficial for me to grow my skills and knowledge, plus that I was a huge fan of comics and followed artists such as Adam Hughes, Cary Nord, Yildiray Cinar and many more for years...
They helped me understand the human anatomy in a fun way I would say. So many artists have been really inspiring for me to build my career especially on CGI, such as Kris Kosta, Rafael Grasseti, Alessandro Baldasseroni, Arda Koyuncu, Marco Di Lucca, Mathieu Aerni
And I`m still a huge fan of each by the way. Besides, there are many VFX / Animation companies that bring the motivation all the way with their works. Animated movies, game cinematics, especially fantastic movies that present CG characters in them have been always so inspiring and motivating elements.
Do you have personal or professional projects you would like to show off (presentation/breakdown, intentions, researches, workflows, process, what it taught you, etc), that are either important or insightful in your eyes?
I am best known for "Violet" lately. It sort of feels like sharing her is an overdose, but also it`s the one that I am most proud to show off yet. She has become so important. The feedback and attention it has received are quite charming and I am so thankful for the people who supported it all this time. It is a huge motivation source. Happily, I can say that there is more to come.
Are there still challenges you face in your art today?
Yes, there are. Actually, I can never predict what is going to come out as challenging most of the time. It can be an impasse about aesthetics or technical issues. But a big challenge to me is to wait till the end of a personal piece. An example, If I am making a face, I usually have pretty high expectations from myself and it is not possible for me to finish it before I arrive or get close to the point I plan in my head.
So I need to spend a good amount of time personally. And if there is so much excitement of seeing the final image that is not helping much. :) Unlikely previous one, having zero excitement or motivation to make something is another big challenge sometimes, and my solution is to that would be giving some time for myself, It does not mean anything to push harshly and fail real quick just not to break the productivity habit.
It is always good to get away a little bit and refresh the mind on other things then come back. The other challenges related to art or technique is really good to have, they must occur because they are the reason if an artist could improve. Yes, the feeling maybe is not so nice in a big challenging situation but at the end of the day I would feel good if I could accomplish, and it always pays off against hard work.
What is a typical/representative day for you?
It would start with being/working at the office. If there is any task-free time I spend it on my personal projects and R&D mostly. And I should not forget about chilling or having recreational activities after all the working hours. It is pretty important for the continuity of productivity.
How did you first learned about TexturingXYZ? Did you have any specific reaction to it?
I was studying at university when I first learned about TexturingXYZ. It was exciting to see lifelike details on CG subjects. Also, the artworks that have been created with them made me quite passionate about exploring further. But, to be honest I did not have the chance to work with them for a good while. You know, student budget does not help sometimes :).
What is the place of TexturingXYZ maps in your usual workflows? Which software do you use? Any tips for aspiring or professional artists?
I use TexturingXYZ both on my personal projects and on the assets we create for productions. It has started playing a huge role in many ways. Especially in the production side, it is a fast method with accurate looking surface details, which is the main need most of the times.
I do the projection by using Mari. Once I got my projected texture I create a shader to see and set the strengths of each RGB channels. Then I do the adjustments before I export. also even though all 3 channels are adjustable in Mari, sometimes I rather apply my maps onto my geometry in Zbrush. By using individual sculpting layers I can keep them separate and go along with tweaks as I need. That is related to the preferences on the artwork and both ways work perfectly for me.
How do you picture the industry in 5 years? Do you feel any tendencies or boundaries that could exist?
Well, that is sort of hard to answer. There are so many updates and new methods related to CGI and technology every day. It is difficult for me to predict or assume some certain things for the future yet. I can say that many things we struggle or spend so much time on today will be a lot faster and easier. Some techniques will become useless which is sad to say sometimes, but this is something I have experienced during my career. Meanwhile, it is exciting to observe and see all the potential innovations.
Would you like to add anything to this interview?
I would like to thank you for giving me a place on your blog! Many thanks to everyone who supports me and my art. I can not end this without mentioning about my teammates, I work with so many talented people and getting so much inspiration and experience from them through my journey. And whoever allowed time to read this, thank you very much to you as well :)
| We would like to thank Enver for his work and helpful contribution. If you're also interested to be featured here on a topic that might interest the community, feel free to contact us! |