Todor Vladev: Interview with 3D artist

Hi everyone! We continue a series of short interviews with the best artists from Hum3D competitions.

Todor Vladev, the winner of the special prize from HDR Light Studio team for the “Best Lighting”, will answer on six questions and give us a look behind the scenes of his work.

– Tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you do and how did you become a 3D artist?

I am originally from Bulgaria. I became interested in 3D in 1997 with a very basic 3D program for designing landscapes. Ever since then I became a self-thought 3D artist and with that in mind I went onto studying Interactive Digital Media in Games Design and that boosted my interest in 3D even more.

– What’s your favorite aspect of creating 3D art? Is there something you specialize in and enjoy the most?

I enjoy every aspect of creating 3D art from modeling to texturing, lighting and post-production. When I have a certain idea I can see the end result and know exactly what I need to do to achieve and bring my idea to life.

– What or who inspires you today? Are you a member of any art communities? Any favorite hashtags you check on a daily basis?

Interesting concept design inspires me the most – architectural visualization, concept art, artistic and moody visualizations also a bit of sci-fi and cyberpunk but not too futuristic. I am currently a member of Artstation.com.

– Please tell us your five short tips for creating 3D art.

1. – Gather a lot of reference images and do research, but one of the main things for me is observation – eg how would certain materials react under different lighting conditions.

2. – I try and model to precision and add a lot of detail to a 3D model.

3. – Block of the scene that I am working on to get an idea of how I’d like to compose the image – looking for interesting camera angles.

4. – Lighting tests – depending on what I am trying to achieve with an image.

5. – I try not to do too much post-production. Mainly I try and just balance an image with some render elements. I try to achieve a good balance in lighting and depth to an image.

– Could you please show us any images from the latest work process with a short description. Where did the idea come from? Did you learn something new?

This shows the proces of modeling the car and scene. The idea came from watching old sci-fi 80’s movies and I wanted to create a similar vibe with the image.

– Which of your designs/part of scene/model are you most like and why?

I like the overall moodiness of the image that gives you that feeling of a dystopian future as to how it would have been imagined in the late 80’s early 90’s.