Russian
Name: Gerard Fernandez
Age: 36
Job: Nuke compositor / 3d artist
Country: Spain
Web site: www.gerard-fernandez.com
3DA: How did you start working in 3D field? How much time has been passed and what kind of studies did you do?
GF: I got in touch with the 3d world because I needed a tool to help me visualize my ideas, as I wanted to enter some design contests and I had been a bit frustrating before trying to involve other people into understanding what I wanted to achieve. Finally I decided to give it a try and during Christmas holidays 2005 / 2006 I started studying by myself. I remember the exact date as I had the 3ds Max Bible as a present that Christmas, so it´s going to be seven years since I started. I got hooked so hard that I decided to focus only in 3d art. I´ve got no formal education on 3d techniques or design, as many other artists in this field.
3DA: Which are your favourite software and plugins for your daily projects?
GF: I use 3ds Max as 3d package and I render with VRay and sometimes with Mental Ray as well. For postproduction I mainly use Nuke this days and keep trying with Composite every now and then as I used Combustion back in the days. I have a brief knowledge of Flame too. For stills bigger than 5k I use Photoshop. Plugin wise I use the common freebies around like Soulburn and the likes, sometimes Multiscatter if the project requires it. For the most, I try to keep it simple.
3DA: Tell us something about a project that gave you great satisfactions
GF: One of the projects I am more proud of is “The Mermaids” which I did for dutch luxury design brand Moooi while working at Marcel Wanders Studio in Amsterdam. The images are full cgi and I initially worked in 3ds Max and Combustion for the concept as I love Combustion´s color correction, grain, etc. Later on when I started to work hi res I switched to Photoshop and basically what I did was to mimic Combustion´s nodal tree / layers blending modes, opacities, effects, etc into a photoshop file so I could work faster on the smaller details at such high resolutions It was a very special project as I had total freedom from concept to postproduction, the only input being to create something fairytalish and consistent to Marcel´s fantasy world… After the first concept images we decided to focus on the ´little mermaid character´ as the underwater look was working quite well. I think that the sense of ingravity, the inclusion of the design elements as if they were underwater living beings and their interaction with the ´mermaid´ make this images pretty unique. I would like to thank Marcel for providing the right environment and input, the proper timing and the creative freedom, I think that it is what it takes to create something like this. The images were exhibited during the London Design Week 2011 and in Amsterdam as well.
3DA: From where do you take ispiration for your artworks?
GF: I mainly look for inspiration on everyday life´s objects and light which I think is essential in our profession. Art, mainly film and photography are of course huge sources of inspiration. I like artists like Gregory Credwson and Jeff Wall, for their ability to create single-frame movies, Andreas Gursky for how he understands perspective, action artist Gordon Matta-Clark, Dan Flavin, Christo+Jean Claude, Maya Lin, Anthony Gormley… are all of them great artists that I like for how they interact with built environments and/or nature. The impressionists and pre-impresionist lanscape painters are also great sources of inspiration for how they rendered light.
Regarding other 3d artists, in my early days I discovered Aksel Grob´s (electricgobo) work and found it (and still do) very inspirational. Later on in my career I had the tremendous luck to work beside great artists like Alex Martin ´Proebius´ (one of the spanish pioneers) and also with chinese artist Tiany Zhu.
3DA: How do you live this period of economic crisis? How is it in your country?
GF: As you probably now Spain is in the sink and the market is non existent, except for those who previously had a big client portfolio and have flexible structures. I think the only way to make our ways through it is by holding tight and being fair to each other by not lowering budgets below reasonable market prices. I personally get most assignments from abroad and if “there´s not much money” just participate in projects that I find interesting and with loose deadlines.
3DA: What would you suggest to people that are approaching to 3D and architecture?
GF: Observe, observe and observe more. Don´t use other renders as reference, get inspired by everyday stuff. You better love what you do because you are going to spend many hours in front of the computer and go for it until you kill your idols!. Also very important… Keep it simple and render fast!!
