How did you get into the industry?
After several years surviving in retail after finishing university, I ended up moving to Toronto, Canada and got my first job as a 3D scanning artist and modeller for SGSCO.
It was great fun using industry leading 3D scanning equipment after getting a small taster at university.
Where are you based now and who do you work for?
I am currently based in the city of Bath, Somerset and work as a CGI artist for the Bath based award winning studio The Table Creative.
If you weren’t in your current industry, what would you be doing?
Originally I wanted to be an engineer in Formula 1 and did one year of university towards it before switching to CGI, so probably that.
Can you explain your creative process? What makes it unique?
Definitely not unique but research, research, research! It's quite the cliché but it works. I often spend more time looking for inspiring images to base my own work on than actually creating the image itself.
Attention to detail is really important for me so the more reference I can find the more confident I am when creating my images.
How would you describe your style?
I wouldn't say I have a particular style for my work. More often than not, for architectural visualisation, realism is key, so that is what I mostly strive for. It's the small details that can that you don't notice straight away that make or break an image in terms of realism.
Which individuals do you gain inspiration from? Do you have any heroes in the industry?
I've always loved Norman Foster's architecture. I spent many hours growing up flicking through the pages of his book Catalogue. It's amazing to see architectural designs from 30+ years ago that wouldn't look out of place if they were presented today.
What tips would you give to aspiring creatives looking for work?
Keep posting your work online and on as many platforms as possible like Creativepool and Behance and keep posting regularly but be selective and only use your best work.
Also, get into the habit of engaging with other artists: if they've inspired you then let them know. There's no better feeling than getting a message saying someone loved your work or asking how you did it.
What tips would you give to other professionals to get more clients?
I've never done freelancing so I'm definitely not the person to ask on this one. I would definitely recommend not to burn any bridges. An old contact can sometimes turn up trumps.
What kind of tools/kit/software could you not do without?
Honestly, there's so many useful pieces of software, plugins and other tools it would be hard to list them all! My day to day must haves would be 3DS Max, Corona/VRay, Photoshop, Forest Pack & Railclone.
This core combination gets most of the heavy lifting done but I'm always looking for the next plugin, script or program that will save me a click or two. It all adds up.
What’s your secret to staying inspired and motivated?
It's always great to check out what other artists are up to on all the various platforms available. The ones I frequent most are CGArchitect, Reddit and Artstation.
What’s the work achievement you’re most proud of?
Working with a couple of team members, we completely reworked our workflow for a client from the ground up. The process from setup to outputting renders went from weeks to one, maybe two days depending on the volume of outputs required.
It's saved a lot of resources, electricity, manpower and not to mention frustration so we can spent more time on the creative stuff.
What is the one thing that you would change about the industry?
I've personally found the biggest barrier has been the high cost of software and the move to subscription based services. The industry leading software packages are out of reach for a lot of people and require significant and frequent financial commitment.
I'd love to learn more software packages but I can't justify the price. I spend most of the free trial period learning the software rather than creating anything meaningful!
Any websites, books or resources you would recommend?
Although they are quite old now, I really enjoyed reading Pete Draper's "Deconstructing the Elements for 3DS Max" books because they provided ways of creating great simulations and other cool effects without plugins.
I think they are still worth a read to see how some of the advanced features in 3DS Max like particle systems work and a lot of the information is still relevant in the newer versions of
