Alongside my studies, I do freelance work for Project XIV. The company was founded by former UOL students who studied this same module in their final year. I have spoken with Antek and Ellis in the past, Ellis Blake is now my main point of contact but I decided to ask Antek a few questions about his job and the company, as this is really somewhere I would love to work after University and I find their work really inspirational.
Here is their most recent showreel, demonstrating some of the digital content that they create.
(Karbowiak, 2019)
An interview with Antek Karbowiak
What would you describe your job role as?
I’m a 3D/digital artist – I help with building up creative concepts and creating digital assets, such as 3D models, textures and animations. On certain occasions I also contact and brief in other creatives.
What do you do, day to day?
My days often vary, most of them will be dedicated to 3D related work – building up models accordingly to the brief, working on any requested revisions, but also learning new skills to improve the workflow and end product.
What are the primary pieces of software you use? Do you have any specific reasons for choosing these?
For the base modelling an animation – Cinema 4D, as it’s fairly intuitive and user-friendly. It’s quite common in the advertising/design industry. At the end of the day, Maya, Blender or Max can serve you just as well. ZBrush – painful to use, definitely the most powerful sculpting tool in the industry at the moment, used by high-end studios and professionals, 3D Coat – good for UV mapping and retopology, comes with a very decent price, Substance Painter – one of the most popular texturing tools, great for high quality textures for many purposes, Spark AR – solid tool for AR filters, directly connected to Facebook and Instagram. Other than that – whole Adobe Creative Cloud for any tasks that require Photoshop, AI, AE etc.
Who inspires you?
There’s a lot of inspirations, some of them would be: Mike Campau, Daniel Danielsson (great tutorials), Anthony Gargasz, thisisset (Visual Scientist), Golden Wolf, Vault49 and ilovedust (amazing creative digital agencies).
How did you get into this industry?
I got into the industry by setting goals and planning ahead during uni (research about essential skills, potentials roles within 3D industry etc.), developing basic skills and then being fortunate enough to join a talented and motivated group of creatives. Bringing our efforts together allowed us to land some exciting clients and things got dynamic from there!
Do you have any advice for young creatives who want to get into this industry?
The most basic advice would be hard work – be patient and plan your actions. As an example, what I’d change about my learning process is picking and mixing parts of 3D skills I was adapting – I wish I had added a bit more structure in the first place for myself. A great idea would be buying a 3D generalist/character design course (depending on your goals) and doing things step-by-step. It clarifies a lot. Practical skills are the most important, but theory is a bit underrated and it will definitely help you understand how certain actions are connected. Other than that, use LinkedIn to build contacts (don’t be afraid to find and contact people high up in the industry once you have established a style or a solid portfolio), collaborate with other talented artists, and obviously get your work out there on platforms such as Behance, ArtStation, Instagram! Also, don’t give up – learning 3D is really hard at times and some things seem to be impossible – once you force through that stage it’s really rewarding
Findings
-I’ve been struggling with figuring out what I want to be, and what to refer to myself as because I enjoy both 2D and 3D graphics and motion graphics. I feel like a 3D/digital artist is a job role that I can identify with.
-They use Cinema 4D which is what I have spent my project getting to grips with, so this tells me that I am using the right software to create the kind of things that I want.
-I need to be patient with my learning process, and not get disheartened when things seem to go wrong, as this is normal.
-I have looked into the artists he mentioned, and I love Daniel Danielsson’s work!
-After university, if I don’t end up in a graduate job, I should look into short courses in motion graphics or Cinema 4D to improve my skills.
Bibliography
XIV. (2019). Home — XIV. [online] Available at: https://projectxiv.agency/home [Accessed 23 Nov. 2019].
Karbowiak, A. (2019). YouTube. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOwBx9BZYtY&feature=emb_logo [Accessed 23 Nov. 2019].
Jennie Hawkes 