Today we have Alex Treviño with us, an awesome super talented 3D Artist.
His works are on Top Trending 3D websites and he was humble enough to give us this interview so he can share some of his experience and knowledge with us.
to Check out Alex Full Portfolio visit his site: https://www.aendom.com/
Lets Start:
Question: Hey Alejandro, Can you please introduce yourself, Your name, Education, Early life?
My name is Alex Treviño, a self-taught 3D artist. My love for computers started in my early years with a Commodore 64 and never stopped since then.
Also studied various traditional art techniques from drawing, painting with pastels, acrylic, and watercolor. Then started college studying architecture, but never finished because it wasn’t something I liked enough to commit that amount of years.
As a dropout, I studied programming online for free on different websites like Codecademy and CS50 and got a Front-end job in a couple of months.
But I wanted to not only use the computer for programming, but also make art, so I started to study 3D in my free time buying some books about digital art techniques. After five years, I save enough money to quit my programming job and start my project called AENDOM, which focused on 3D Art.
Question: What made you choose Art as a career?
Although it was not my first choice, I tried other careers such as architecture and programming, but they never filled me fully. When I finally decided to focus on art, I noticed that investing many hours every day was emotionally fulfilling. At that point, I knew it was the right path.
Question: Did you have the support you needed from your family starting out or was there opposition?
My whole family are engineers and clearly, there was some disbelief that I wanted to be an artist. And there wasn’t an absolute opposition, but they were afraid that I couldn’t make a living from it and that I should have a serious career in case of emergency.
Question: Did you Learn 3D on your own or did you get a diploma of some sort?
I learned 3D on my own, with some books at the beginning that were few. As time went by, more online tutorials came out, which I used to learn the newest techniques. Now there are many free tutorials that I still use to improve specific topics when doing a new project.
Question: Did you find a job quickly after finishing your education?
I did not finish my formal education, and my first jobs were not about what I had studied. My earliest jobs were very varied. But I got well-paid jobs in 3D thanks to my online portfolio.
Question: What were the obstacles you faced in the first job you took as an artist?
The lack of experience made me afraid that I would not be able to do the job. I solved this by asking my doubts about the project, and that was how I was able to deliver what they needed.
Question: Do you feel to be an artist an individual should be a master at drawing?
I don’t think it is strictly necessary to be a master, but it does help a lot to have an artistic base, like drawing, to have that sophistication when creating a project.
Question: What is currently your workflow when it comes to working? what softwares do you use?
First I have to find a strong concept to commit fully and take it to the maximum of my capabilities in 3D. Then start modeling using Blender. Texture it in Substance Painter, but creating vector images with Adobe Illustrator. Then go back to Blender to render the project and finally do the post-production in Adobe Photoshop.
Question: Do you practice any kind of traditional art, for example, Painting, Traditional Sculpting? do you think that is beneficial in the digital age we live in?
For a long time, I studied traditional painting techniques, such as oil, acrylic, pastel, and watercolor. Also studied some years of sculpture and photography. I do believe there is a clear benefit to learn these techniques. They help me to select the light, colors, depth of field, and more.
Question: What kind of tech do you use? do you use a Wacom? Do you think it’s better for artists to get a laptop rather than a PC?
I built a desktop that I currently use. At this moment can be said to be old. Although I have 64 Gb of Ram, I have an Intel 7700K CPU with 4 cores (8 Threads) and a GTX 1080 (8Gb Vram) Card that now is something very sluggish. I have three monitors, one of them is a Wacom Cintiq 22HD that helps me a lot to draw and sculpt digitally.
I prefer a desktop that can be upgraded and expanded to a laptop. But if you move around a lot, it’s clear that a laptop is better.
Question: In your opinion what is the best software to start with if one wants to learn 3d ? and why?
Before making a decision, it is best to do some testing. For that, I would use free or low-cost software. The combination of Blender, Substance Painter and Affinity is very potent.
Question: Do you think artists, in general, are well paid? do you encourage students out there to go into this field?
Good artists are well paid. If you hesitate too much and don’t invest the necessary time to have great quality, it will be impossible to have a big paycheck.
Question: If you were to give your younger self 3 pieces of advice what would those be?
- Always commit Fully,
- Realize your own value
- Only do the thing you are interested in.