Interview with 3D artist Alessio Santino

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

Alessio Santino, the author of great work « Desert Gas Station », which got LightWave team choice on Car Render Challenge 2018, will answer on six questions and give us a look behind the scenes of his winning entry.

– Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you become a 3D artist?

My name is Alessio Santino, I am 29 years old and I live in Italy. I started studying CGI on my own and then continued my education in academy.

My life was a race against time, I have been passionate about CGI since I was a child, but I approached this amazing world too late. I still study day after day in order to improve my skills, waiting for an opportunity to prove myself.

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

There is nothing I do not like about 3D art, it is a wonderful world and indefinitely diverse. Every aspect of this field stimulates me, from modelling a car to adjusting animation curves, it is impossible to get bored. I love challenges, testing myself, I like to stimulate my mind every day and I am sure I have finally found the right way to do it.

I mainly deal with modelling and texturing, but I also do rigging and animation.

– What or who inspires you today?

My main source of inspiration is Artstation, I spend a lot of time observing the work of artists who have been working in this sector for years. Raf Grassetti, Tomas Kral, Sergey Tyapkin and Gennaro Esposito are only a few of a long list of professionals I admire.

– Please tell us your five short tips for creating realistic renders?

1. – It is necessary to immediately have idea about what we want to realize, a concept and reference images are essential.

2. – Studying the light of the scene is the most important thing in order to have a good render.

3. – It is relevant to have a basic knowledge of photography in order to have confidence with the concepts of prospective and depth of field.

4. – Details and imperfections are crucial, there is nothing perfect in this world and we really understand this only if we patiently observe any object.

5. – Haste is a poor advisor, we must not rush to complete the job. Patience, observation and a feedback from third parties are useful.

– Could you please show us any images from the work process with a short description.

The car was modeled in lightwave, using reference images and curves.

Later I converted the curves into polygons.

The textures Substance Painter.

After modeling and texturing other objects on scene, I rendered in Arnorld.

– Which of your designs are you most proud of and why?

All my works that I think are best on my profile, but if I have to choose someone here are these.