Ballistic Publishing and CGSociety have brought together the
EXPOSÉ 7 Master Award winners.
CGSociety :: Special Feature
14 April 2009, by Gemma White
We are proud to introduce you to the 20 Master Artists of EXPOSÉ 7.
The Master Artists have been chosen by the EXPOSÉ 7 Advisory Board and recognized as having produced the best work submitted in their category of submission. Stay tuned for the Pre-release of EXPOSÉ 7 coming soon.
Robotic/Cyborg Lotus Born
Maya Daniel Arnold-Mist, GREAT BRITAIN
“I love that the bar is being raised daily by other artists, pushing everyone harder to create their own masterpieces.”
Daniel Arnold-Mist’s discovery of digital art began at eight years old, drawing with a mouse on an Amiga 500+. After studying fine art at university, he entered the games industry as a tester at Electronic Arts, before taking the position of junior 3D artist at Eurocom in England. In 2002, Arnold-Mist relocated to China: “I decided to continue my artwork by working freelance for games companies. It also opened up time for my personal art style to evolve and improve.”
“My early works were influenced by the great masters. Théodore Géricault was a main inspiration together with Francis Bacon and Edvard Munch. Today I draw my inspiration from the world around me and current artists. Meats Meier is an obvious inspiration. His use of geometry is totally unique, and I try to use his great understanding of negative space within my works. Through my art, I hope to leave behind a little of my mind for others to see.”
“If you truly care for your occupation and you work in a disciplined fashion, countless doors will open for you.”
“Once I began sharing my first digital works on the Internet, I started receiving commissions. I guess that was my first step towards going pro. I worked as a concept artist in the video game industry for a while, but freelance illustrating felt more appealing, so I locked myself at home and worked on a new portfolio.
Currently, I do freelance concept and card illustrations for Volta Creations (Legends of Norrath and Star Wars Galaxies projects for Sony Entertainment), Upper Deck (World of Warcraft TCG), and Wizard of the Coast (Dungeons & Dragons, D&D Miniatures and D&D Mirrorstone). I also enjoy creating novel covers, with designs appearing on three of Frenz Bernd’s ‘Blutork’ series and as the German edition cover of Tad Williams’s book, ‘The Dragons of Ordinary Farm’. I have achieved many of my artistic goals, however, I continue to work hard, as even for old and experienced artists, there are a million things to learn about illustrating.”
Architectural (exterior) Dubai High-rise
Rhino, Photoshop, V-Ray, 3ds Max Jaroslaw Bieda and Colin Benson, HOK, USA
“Each rendering that Jarek and I create has a personal touch that could not be achieved with the computer’s tools alone.”
Jaroslaw Bieda holds a Masters of Architecture from The Cracow University of Technology in Poland. He has worked as a freelance visualization artist, magazine illustrator, website designer and comic book colorist.
“I admire the work of traditional architectural illustrators like Hugh Ferris, Helmut Jacoby, Thomas Schaller and Steve Parker. Their individual artistic style inspired me to develop a more personal and expressive computer visualization process.”
An early interest in art led Colin Benson to study Industrial Design at Syracuse University: “This gave me the chance to explore 3D art, and computer modeling and rendering. After college I was offered a job at HOK Architectural Firm in Washington DC, where I’ve had the opportunity of working under Jarek Bieda, creating all of the office’s computer renderings and images. Working at HOK has been exciting, fast-paced, and most importantly, an unbelievable learning experience.”
Portrait (rendered) Gobelin
ZBrush, V-Ray, Photoshop Damien Canderle, FRANCE
“Digital art allows a lot of freedom to create images. You have so many tools to help you, so many ways to do things.”
Damien Canderle was interested in the CG industry from quite early on in his life. His first job at a small advertising company allowed him to develop his 2D computer graphics skills. He then moved to a game company where he did mainly 3D work, “I first worked on 3D cars but I finally ended up doing character modeling, which is what I really like to do”. Canderle currently works as a freelance artist.
“One of my greatest influences is photography. I’m always impressed with good photos. A good photo has the potential to express a lot; the mood, the feeling you can get from it, seeing the world through the eyes of the camera...all these things make photography a strong art and in some ways, that is what I want to reproduce in CG. I especially like to create photo-realistic characters and monsters, to give life to a character from my mind. Digital art is probably the best way to do it.”
Architectural (interior) Stockholm Library interior
3ds Max, mental ray, Photoshop Olivier Charles, FRANCE
“My intention in creating digital art is to communicate the idea of a project in the most beautiful way possible.”
“I started to use 3ds Max and Photoshop 11 years ago, while I was studying architecture in Paris. At the beginning, it was difficult to make the link between the job of an architect and computer art, but I discovered that this digital software offered a lot of possibilities for expressing space concepts. I tried to learn by myself, and an infinite artistic world opened to me. Now I teach architecture at my old school, and I hope to transmit to my students the artistic potential of digital software.
Since the beginning of my working life, I have held two jobs; both of architect and graphic designer, and I hope to continue doing this. Making images on my own architectural projects is a real pleasure. For some people it’s just a little step before building, but I think it’s a necessary step to fully understand the whole project.”
“My current developmental project is very satisfying; I have creative freedom and my team is exceptionally hardworking and talented.”
One of Daniel Dociu’s earliest memories points to the origins of his interest in art and design. His grandfather had taken him to a construction site, and it was in that moment that he decided to become an architect. Dociu embarked upon formal art training, graduating with a degree in industrial design before moving into the workforce as a product designer in Romania. Dociu then escaped the Iron Curtain prior to 1990, spending two hot summers in Greece before moving to the U.S. where he currently teaches, gives lectures, enters competitions and freelances.
“Since 1993, I’ve been working as an art director in the Interactive Entertainment Industry for Squaresoft, Zipper Interactive, Microsoft (briefly) and Electronic Arts. For the last six years I’ve been with ArenaNet as Studio Art Director, with particular focus on the Guild Wars franchise. I am also Chief Art Director for NCsoft West, our parent company.”
Science Fiction Jungleman
Photoshop Arthur Haas, NETHERLANDS
“There were these insane images in my head that I just had to put down somehow. So, by painting, I began to do just that.”
Arthur Haas is a self-taught artist from Amsterdam, where he lives with his wife and exhibits his work. He didn’t start as a digital artist. He began as a photographer, but the speed of the digital medium eventually seduced him.
“With acrylics, creating art was quite a laborious process; it often took me a month to complete a single painting. That was quite frustrating, so I started to look for a different medium; a faster one if possible. That’s how I ended up with Photoshop and my first tablet. Blown away with the seemingly endless technical tricks this program offers, I dove into it and soon got lost.
Now I mix traditional media like gouache and watercolor with Photoshop. The effects of these water-based paints are just not reproducible digitally, just as there is no analog equivalent to being able to use layers, dodge and burn and having an undo function.”
