Michael Kutsche Interview projects, but ZBrush 3 is a killer tool! I have a lot of fun playing around with that way of modelling, using it with a Cintiq is like, “Yes! This is the future!” Painter is a synonym for the translation of traditional paint media into the digital universe, and ZBrush3 is the counterpart in terms of intuitive digital clay sculpting. I know one can use ZBrush also as a 2D painting tool, but I guess I haven’t tried that because I feel very comfortable with Painter for that stuff.
Characters are obviously a very popular choice for your art, but within this category you seem to branch out a lot: photo real, stylised, 2D, 3D, fun, fantasy... So what are your favourite styles and what kind of commissions really get you excited? All these kinds of styles are challenging when you try to keep away from automatism. Basically, it’s all about art and creativity and inventing new visual aesthetics, whether they are beautiful or frightening. There would be no real impact if someone sees something which has already been done a hundred times before. That’s why I try not to stick to a theme like fantasy or science fiction; I see myself as an inventor and artist, not a “fantasy artist” or “street artist”.
After all, my favourite style is ideally not named yet. I love to do my personal art stuff and what gets me really excited are film or game projects, where there’s space for loads of creativity instead of a too-fixed briefing. Art is always a fight for freedom, somehow!
That’s such a good answer it’s made my brain jam up and I can’t think of a follow on question… Er, OK… Do you ever find you push the boundaries of a brief a bit too far and your employees have to bring you back down to earth a bit? Since I’m kind of experienced with those situations by now, I pretty often send my first sketch and get an approval by the client, without big “changes”. But some years ago I was sending scribbles which I wasn’t really happy
www.2dartistmag.com
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Issue 029 May 2008