Interview with Zuliban

We're sure that the next person to be interviewed needs no introduction – everybody already knew about Zuliban - one of the famous CG artist who has been creating alot of inspirations for our CG world. CG Record team had a chance to talk with him and We're pleased to share you this Exciting Interview.


Before going into details, Lets begin with a little talk about yourself, Can you give us a little background into your work history? How did you get involved in CG and what have you been working on recently?



Hi! First of all thank you for taking me into the consideration and this interview.
Ok! My interest in art started Since I got my Nintendo NES, I wanted to do virtual worlds where other people could enjoy a story, environments and characters, so I started doing traditional drawings, paintings and sculpting as time passed by when the video games moved into 3d, I jumped from traditional media to digital media and started to learn 3ds max, but gave up on it pretty soon as it seemed really hard to me at the time!
Then I picked up again because I really wanted to be part of a videogame creation one day, so started learning basic stuff, I had a little knowledge about architecture and it was easier to model interiors than characters so I started the journey into 3d with archviz first.


You started doing mostly architectural visualizations then jumped to character design and game design and we rarely see architectural images again from you... why and how this change occurred?


As mentioned above, I started 3d with architecture because it was easier for me and I had the knowledge on the basic stuff It was an opportunity to learn a lot on lighting, i still do architectural visualization but only for the clients.
I have just started to build my character portfolio, there is a lot to finish, and at some point, I will do some architectural visualization for fun but for now just have to focus on my character studies and portfolio.

Stages of light

What companies have you worked in these years?Can you describe one of your typical days at work?

Well i have named a few in the past, I have worked for Peugeot doing concept car renderings , for heineken i did mostly beer machines.
It may sound funny, but for Armani , I did some lotion glasses renderings
Also some stuff for Coca Cola and Pepsi.
Recently some props and characters for the wii and ps3,
And, Sometimes, For private individuals mostly architectural visualization.




I've always loved the realism in your art pieces the way you set up light and materials, tell me, apart from many hours of work, what is the secret?What items do you think could be the fundamentals to achieve realism in a cg art piece?
Well, honestly one thing is the most important and its the observation, i know it sounds like a very common answer but most of the time we miss those little details that makes the difference. Watching movies and photos is a good thing, it makes your eyes sharper



If you can learn photography its even much better, then you can comprehend how things in real life works and mimic them into CG.
Also try to have a style with your lighting.to achieve ultimate realism all the time could be boring! My photography mentor once said ''everybody can take a camera and take a photo but what it takes to be a professional photographer if you only click one button? your style your, lighting and the way you see the world'' I think of this every time I click render.



Who has been your inspiration when creating new art pieces? where do you find your inspirations?

I think everywhere ,sometimes when i travel i like to look at the landscape when looking at someone or some animal I like to see the eyes and the emotions they have or when I stare at the sky or stars I just think how many worlds are there full of life or things we don't know simple things like those and of course my family and friends and other persons and things from the past that I liked as a child are endless source of inspiration.

What are your main work tools?I remember some renderings of yours done with brazil render engine and they were quite impressive, but the rendering engine you normally use in your creations is V-Ray, what do you find in it as advantages over other solutions? Do you have any plan to explore other softwares or render engines?

For Modeling i use 3ds max and zbrush

Render with vray
For Texture painting I use photoshop and polypaint

I have tested all the renderings from Brazil to Maxwell and why I prefer Vray? I like its flexibility, It is fast you can customize a lot and i like the way it has his biased and unbiased methods, the advantage of this for example: I can render with the lowest quality possible to do a 20 secs render and when I'm happy with the general feeling I can render with QMC+QMC so all the tiny shadows and bounces appear .
I honestly want to try Fry render in the near future.

Which one of your art pieces is your favorite? What was the process like in actually making it? What was the inspiration behind it, How did you come up with the concept, and what was the time line?

My favorite is'' high oracle Desaar'' is like my 1st finished character ,all the other ones i consider them as studies and doodles,



High Oracle Desaar

I made it from pencil sketch to 3d, it also took me to learn a lot of things specialy the transition from zbrush to 3ds max and vray the hardest part was to keep the displacement map accurate and clean, I wanted to do something that looked intelligent and at the same time like a royal figure like a priest or a king, it took me around 2 months or so from start to finish because i really didn't know a lot of things so while i was doing it i learned new things.



Have you ever been in a situation that you lose inspiration while doing a personal project? what would you do, keep going or leaving?

A lot of times it happens ,most of the time i think is not good or interesting and i have no reason to finish it but I always manage to finish everything, just take a break and breathe some fresh air, go out and do other things, try to keep my mind away from it when I comeback I see it with a different eye and that refreshes my mind and eventually can finish it , also never lose faith in yourself and what you do, It is the key and makes you a better person and a better artist.

Have you worked on any personal animation project, are you planning to do so in future? What would be your next project? Can you tell us a bit about it?

To be honest I have never had any plan to do animation, Instead, I have an online ''comic book '' in mind, that will be my life time project! I don't want to spoil the plot :) but it will be done in 2d and 3d and is not just a story it will have a very strong message .



Are you planning for any training program or tutorials in the future? would you be interested in teaching others?

I have been interested in doing this, Since I want to do very polished tutorials with lot of pictures and good explanation of every detail, so maybe one day I will have a lot. but not any time soon and I have been teaching 3d for some time now in my country,USA and Canada
I really love to teach.






Do you have any specific message for our readers and your fans?

For those who would like to start or are doing 3d for some time, "Do Not Give Up" even when you think it is all too hard for you or you feel unskilled, Remember: When you love something, skill doesn't matter, it is just the matter of time to become good at it, and for those who like my stuff, I really would like to tell you I feel honored and try to improve every time to show something better and better and I try to do my art for everyone not just for myself.

I would like to thank you for participating in this interview and thank you for being inspiration to many, including myself. To our readers: you can ask your questions in our comment section, Zuliban will come back and we will be updating the interview with your answers.


>>More CG Record Interview Recorded

Related links:

zuliban.com
zuliban.cgsociety.org