|
Alex Kaiser, GW Username: AlexKaiser
Image Challenge Contests Awards GW: How did you hear about the Gnomon contest? AK: I bought the Ryan Church DVDs, so I came back pretty often to see what upcoming titles there were and one day saw the challenge pop up and ran at the chance!GW: When you won the challenge, were you a student, professional or hobbyist? AK: I was a 4th year architecture student studying at the Architectural Association in London.GW: Has your status changed since, and if so what influence did the DVDs have? Where do you study/work and what do you do? AK: I am now finished with my five year architecture course and currently working at Moxon architects - based in London. I paint/design/draw a lot on the side, currently trying to expand my skills into the areas of concept art and design for film and games, along with developing a couple of personal projects that combine architectural theories and ideas with painting/ drawing/ storyboarding etc. The DVDs have had a huge influence on me in terms of helping my technical skills. From Feng Zhu's perspective sketches to Dylan Cole's matte painting techniques, I have picked up a lot of information that sped up my techniques and helped me realise ideas very quickly on paper through to Photoshop painting or 3D modeling. GW: Of the titles you won, which do you feel had the biggest impact? AK: Lately I've found the Dylan Cole DVDs to be technically the most impactful. For sketching and the visualisation of projects it has given me a greater understanding of how to use Photoshop to create and merge photographic elements with 3D elements and painting. For sketching I have also found David Levy's "From Speedpainting to Conceptart" a great eye opener into the area of speedpainting. I also find the Scott Robertson DVDs invaluable in terms of technical knowledge into rendering and drawing methods. GW: How important do you feel communities, like the Gnomon Workshop Forum, are to your growth as an artist? AK: I find communities very important to help my growth as an artist. Communities like gnomonworkshop, conceptart, cgtalk and gfx artist just to name a few are great sources for inspiration, motivation and methods to improve ones abilities. You pick up and develop techniques that may have taken a long time to figure out on your own, and you constantly thrive to be better within these communities. There always seems to be someone out there who can answer your question very specifically. This is great, whether it be just a technical question on a method or a critique on the most recent piece of work you have done. For those that have never gone to art or illustration school this is an invaluable way of getting feedback on work you have created. And because it is a community there have been many questions before, and I generally find myself trawling through old posts on forums picking up little snippets of information here and there. GW: After viewing the DVDs has your career path changed in a direction you didn't expect? For example, new interest in design, rendering, matte painting, dynamics, etc? AK: I have studied architecture, but always been interested in concept art, and the creation of ideas for movies/games. The DVDs have given me a great insight into the techniques of the industry professionals that work in these fields. This is encouraging as you get a a good impression of the speed you need to work at and the skill level you must obtain to suceed in these fields. GW: Any other feedback regarding The Gnomon Workshop or individual DVDs? Are there any specific areas you would like us to cover more? AK: I would love to see more dvds covering digital painting (even though there are quite a few! I can't get enought of them!). Also some more advanced 3D Studio Max modeling/ texturing/ rendering would be great, perhaps in a more architectual or vehicle orientated direction would be fantastic.
| ||||||||||||
