3DVIA®

Welcome everyone to 3DVIA’s first Featured Artist interview!  In these posts we aim to ask industry veteran 3D Artists a few questions and showcase their work for our community members.  Today’s Featured Artist is Bryan Silva.  Bryan  worked for Rockstar New England (formerly MadDoc Software) creating a wide variety of game models and is currently working for Image Movers Digital, the company behind Polar Express and Beowulf.  The bad boy in the image above is none other than Danny Trejo, and is one of the models created by Bryan in 3D.

How did you get your first break in the Gaming/Entertainment Industry?

I spent a lot of time at online forums like Polycount and CGTalk posting my work and getting critiques. I sought out tutorials that would help me learn the software I was using. Then I started getting emails from people working at game companies that had seen my work on the forums. None of those materialized into a job offer for me, though. I had a few art tests sent to me that also never materialized.  I sent myself to GDC two times before ever landing a job in the game industry. The experience of attending was great. They have tutorials that you can attend where industry professionals share their knowledge with conference attendees. I learned a lot from those tutorials. Plus GDC is a great environment to network with industry professionals. I remember I had gone to Kinkos and printed business cards with my name, number, my online portfolio url  and what I was good at doing in 3d. I started to apply to game  studios and it took a little over a year to get an onsite interview. The developer that ended up hiring me had my resume on file from a year earlier when I had applied. It was so out of the blue I was very surprised and happy.

How much time do you spend, on average, on one particular model?

While in the game industry two weeks to a month to do a character. When it’s a personal project I tend to spend more time on it than I could on the job. Im now in the film industry working on blend shapes. I usually spend one to 3 days on a shape depending on its complexity.

What program do you use for modeling, and what 3rd party software do you use to make your job easier?

3dsmax with Polyboost, Polygon Cruncher, Crazybump, Maya with NEX, proprietary scripts at my job, Mudbox, Zbrush.

What is your day like?

I work on blendshapes for a film that is completely CG. There are actors that I create shapes for as well as shapes for the characters based on those actors. There are rounds daily where your work is reviewed by your superiors. Weekly meetings. Dailies, where artists submit their work to be reviewed by other departments and studio heads. It’s a really great environment. Its really exciting to see progress. In games, you get to do a whole character which is great, but you don’t have as much time or technology to devote to the character. In film you work on one part of the characters’ creation, and everyone who works on it, nails the part he or she is working on. Its really nice to see it come together.

What influenced you into becomming a 3D Artist?

My love of comic book art from McFarlane, Greg Capullo, Dale Keown, Steven Platt, led me indirectly to 3d. I remember recreating a panel for a comic book. Falling in love with all the details those artists put into their work. I wanted to be a part of animation and the lack of details in traditional animation led me to 3d animation.

Favorite game? Favorite Movie? Favorite Comic Book?

I think my favorite game was Resident Evil. I remember being so captivated and actually jumping from the suspence. Movie, man, I can’t call it. Too many favorites. Spawn was my favorite comic of all time.

What are your tips to staying focused on a large model/project?

I think 3d is a pleasure to do. I am so happy that I don’t wake up dreading going into work. I even work on personal projects outside of work. Staying focused shouldn’t be a problem in this line of work in my opinion.

We want to thank Bryan for taking part in this interview.  I personally learned a lot from his answers and by just looking at the work on his site.  Make sure you guys check out his website, and post all your comments here!