Rocket
05-08-2011, 04:31 AM
Interview #5:
Jason Smith!!
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/19062_272838260681_716515681_3351844_394985_n.jpg
1. First name? Jason
2. Location? Austin, Texas
3. Age Old enough to have some grey hairs
4. Martial\Family status? living in sin for a looong time, no rug rats
5. Pets? 3 dogs that are fully awesome
6. Nickname? buddy in college called me "Mace" all the time, so everyone else started doing it too, not sure why.
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/27752_394119805681_716515681_3979737_3585090_n.jpg
7. Could you give a brief outline of how you got to where you are in your career? Well I've always drawn and painted, then in the 90's I really started to try to break into video game development, someone at a game studio saw my artwork online and they gave me my first industry job. It was at that studio in 1999-2000 that I first started 3d modeling and it clicked with me, been pushing polygons ever since. Then when the sculpting packages like Mudbox and Zbrush came out those were a huge game changer for me because they were genuine art tools. Then in early 2009 when I finished the zbrush central action hero contest I started looking around at 3d printing and began to understand what was possible. I'd been a huge Bowen fan for years and had a large collection of his statues already, so I contacted him, showed him my work and we started talking about doing some pieces digitally and Ant Man was the first of those.
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/18462_264665370681_716515681_3320377_6248530_n.jpg
8. Primary field? Video game character artist
9. Who have you done work for in the industry? Bowen Designs, DC Direct
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/38731_421732330681_716515681_4649347_3578173_n.jpg
10. Favorite property? Marvel of course, but DC has really grown on me.
11. Do you read comics? Often, not as often as I'd like but whenever I find time, I'm big into digital comics right now.
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/18462_264657295681_716515681_3320349_1393573_n.jpg
12. Favorite comic? The Ultimates, first run with Millar and Hitch...friggin' bad ass!
13. Character? Tough one, but I'd probably have to go with Captain America if I'm pressed to pick one.
14. Favorite comic related movie? Batman Begins and Dark Knight it's a tie
15. Favorite sculptor who isnt you? Randy Bowen
16. What got you into sculpting? I was really inspired by Randy's FS Daredevil statue that I saw in the local comic shop in 2000, I hadn't thought that superhero statues were a possibility, they weren't toys they were works of fine art treated with respect. I knew right then that I wanted to sculpt superheroes someday.
17. What was your big break? Randy rolling the dice on me 2 years ago.
18. Favorite sculpt of your own? I see things I'd like to change on all of them, but I'd have to go with Gladiator for sheer size and presence.
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/19062_279547770681_716515681_3376097_8227819_n.jpg
19. Favorite sculpt by someone else? Randy's recent Captain America FS
20. Any sculpting horror stories? Not really, other than zbrush crashing and corrupting my files on occasion (I've learned to save many backups)
21. What tools did you use to make you a better sculptor? I really cut my teeth on the Burne Hogarth series of anatomy books, and I had some great classes in college, particularly anatomy for artists where the instructor sculpted a human figure from skeletal structure and then built up all of the muscle groups and we had live models every day...great class that I learned a ton in. As far as Zbrush training, I really like the Eat3d series of training videos.
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/19062_274727210681_716515681_3359542_7534781_n.jpg
22. Who do you most admire in the industry? I hate to keep saying it but Randy Bowen, he basically created a genre of pop culture and he really gets the visual style of the comics better than anyone in the industry I think.
23. Is there anyone out there you wish you could sculpt like? Lots, Randy, Tim Miller, Erick Sosa, The Shifletts, Keith Kopinski, Mark Newman, Adam Ross, the list goes on and on.
24. Do you have\had a mentor? My art director at Raven Software, Dan Hay, really believed in me and pushed me to try things I wasn't sure I could do...I made a big leap in quality working under him. Also working with Jim Lee on DC Universe Online for three and a half years was a great learning experience.
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/193789_10150156662985682_716515681_6690617_5745470_o.jpg
25. Do you listen to music\watch tv while working? Rarely music, I usually have a Netflix documentary streaming on my second monitor that I half pay attention to.
26. Whats your favorite scale to work in? To the digital artist scale is irrelevant, but I like seeing my work at 1/6 scale it holds the detail well enough without being a space hog.
27. Dream job? I'm pretty much doing it
28. Dream character to sculpt? For Marvel any version of Cap, outside of Marvel I'd love to re-create some Frazetta Conan paintings in 3d.
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/beta-ray-bill-bowen-statue-figure-200_390268689138.jpg
29. What are you working on now? Just wrapped up modern Wasp, starting on the classic version
30. Other hobbies? [/B]you mean there's other things I could be doing?
31. Favorite movie? Lord of the Rings trilogy is still my number 1
32. Favorite album\artist? I love the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack, Anvil of Crom is pretty much the most bad ass tune of all time.
33. Favorite book? Blackhawk Down
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/FS_48723001.jpg
34. Where do you see yourself in ten years? man...old. Hopefully still making cool stuff somewhere.
35. Have you ever travelled? Not extensively outside the US, this is the coolest country on the planet, why leave? ;-)
36. Favorite place to holiday? I don't vacation often but I like to get home to Oregon now and then to see the family.
37. What country would you love to visit? New Zealand looks amazing
38. Any hints on what you're working on currently? yeah I'm starting on classic Wasp
Jason Smith!!
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/19062_272838260681_716515681_3351844_394985_n.jpg
1. First name? Jason
2. Location? Austin, Texas
3. Age Old enough to have some grey hairs
4. Martial\Family status? living in sin for a looong time, no rug rats
5. Pets? 3 dogs that are fully awesome
6. Nickname? buddy in college called me "Mace" all the time, so everyone else started doing it too, not sure why.
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/27752_394119805681_716515681_3979737_3585090_n.jpg
7. Could you give a brief outline of how you got to where you are in your career? Well I've always drawn and painted, then in the 90's I really started to try to break into video game development, someone at a game studio saw my artwork online and they gave me my first industry job. It was at that studio in 1999-2000 that I first started 3d modeling and it clicked with me, been pushing polygons ever since. Then when the sculpting packages like Mudbox and Zbrush came out those were a huge game changer for me because they were genuine art tools. Then in early 2009 when I finished the zbrush central action hero contest I started looking around at 3d printing and began to understand what was possible. I'd been a huge Bowen fan for years and had a large collection of his statues already, so I contacted him, showed him my work and we started talking about doing some pieces digitally and Ant Man was the first of those.
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/18462_264665370681_716515681_3320377_6248530_n.jpg
8. Primary field? Video game character artist
9. Who have you done work for in the industry? Bowen Designs, DC Direct
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/38731_421732330681_716515681_4649347_3578173_n.jpg
10. Favorite property? Marvel of course, but DC has really grown on me.
11. Do you read comics? Often, not as often as I'd like but whenever I find time, I'm big into digital comics right now.
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/18462_264657295681_716515681_3320349_1393573_n.jpg
12. Favorite comic? The Ultimates, first run with Millar and Hitch...friggin' bad ass!
13. Character? Tough one, but I'd probably have to go with Captain America if I'm pressed to pick one.
14. Favorite comic related movie? Batman Begins and Dark Knight it's a tie
15. Favorite sculptor who isnt you? Randy Bowen
16. What got you into sculpting? I was really inspired by Randy's FS Daredevil statue that I saw in the local comic shop in 2000, I hadn't thought that superhero statues were a possibility, they weren't toys they were works of fine art treated with respect. I knew right then that I wanted to sculpt superheroes someday.
17. What was your big break? Randy rolling the dice on me 2 years ago.
18. Favorite sculpt of your own? I see things I'd like to change on all of them, but I'd have to go with Gladiator for sheer size and presence.
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/19062_279547770681_716515681_3376097_8227819_n.jpg
19. Favorite sculpt by someone else? Randy's recent Captain America FS
20. Any sculpting horror stories? Not really, other than zbrush crashing and corrupting my files on occasion (I've learned to save many backups)
21. What tools did you use to make you a better sculptor? I really cut my teeth on the Burne Hogarth series of anatomy books, and I had some great classes in college, particularly anatomy for artists where the instructor sculpted a human figure from skeletal structure and then built up all of the muscle groups and we had live models every day...great class that I learned a ton in. As far as Zbrush training, I really like the Eat3d series of training videos.
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/19062_274727210681_716515681_3359542_7534781_n.jpg
22. Who do you most admire in the industry? I hate to keep saying it but Randy Bowen, he basically created a genre of pop culture and he really gets the visual style of the comics better than anyone in the industry I think.
23. Is there anyone out there you wish you could sculpt like? Lots, Randy, Tim Miller, Erick Sosa, The Shifletts, Keith Kopinski, Mark Newman, Adam Ross, the list goes on and on.
24. Do you have\had a mentor? My art director at Raven Software, Dan Hay, really believed in me and pushed me to try things I wasn't sure I could do...I made a big leap in quality working under him. Also working with Jim Lee on DC Universe Online for three and a half years was a great learning experience.
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/193789_10150156662985682_716515681_6690617_5745470_o.jpg
25. Do you listen to music\watch tv while working? Rarely music, I usually have a Netflix documentary streaming on my second monitor that I half pay attention to.
26. Whats your favorite scale to work in? To the digital artist scale is irrelevant, but I like seeing my work at 1/6 scale it holds the detail well enough without being a space hog.
27. Dream job? I'm pretty much doing it
28. Dream character to sculpt? For Marvel any version of Cap, outside of Marvel I'd love to re-create some Frazetta Conan paintings in 3d.
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/beta-ray-bill-bowen-statue-figure-200_390268689138.jpg
29. What are you working on now? Just wrapped up modern Wasp, starting on the classic version
30. Other hobbies? [/B]you mean there's other things I could be doing?
31. Favorite movie? Lord of the Rings trilogy is still my number 1
32. Favorite album\artist? I love the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack, Anvil of Crom is pretty much the most bad ass tune of all time.
33. Favorite book? Blackhawk Down
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa380/stephrod1/FS_48723001.jpg
34. Where do you see yourself in ten years? man...old. Hopefully still making cool stuff somewhere.
35. Have you ever travelled? Not extensively outside the US, this is the coolest country on the planet, why leave? ;-)
36. Favorite place to holiday? I don't vacation often but I like to get home to Oregon now and then to see the family.
37. What country would you love to visit? New Zealand looks amazing
38. Any hints on what you're working on currently? yeah I'm starting on classic Wasp