Interview with Carlos Ortega Elizalde

Q. Could you please tell us about yourself a bit and what is the reason of choosing Graphic Design and 3D Art as a career?

Since my childhood I wanted to be an archaeologist or a geologist, I have a big passion for science and paleontology, and I kept that goal for year’s even days before applying for the University. Somebody recommended me to give Graphic Design a try, due to my passion for graphics, arts and drawing. Of course I was a bit wrong since Graphic Design is not all about drawing. Still, I choose wisely and I fell in love with the career. I was introduced to 3D graphics with Rhinoceros -thanks to a deceased old friend we all still miss- then I moved to Carrara Studio and later to Maya. I spent many nights learning the 3D world by myself since it wasn´t part of the career at that time. I still cannot picture myself doing anything else. It’s one of those jobs you want to relax from doing the exact same things in your free time.

Q. Please tell us about your first professional project and how did you get that?

I was working in an advertising agency doing flash and web stuff, but I also had my own 3D noob projects running in my free time. A good friend of mine invited me to join in an upcoming project at the University where he was working at that moment. The project involved a 3D animated sequence for a paleontological exhibition, so I didn´t think of it twice to merge, two of my great passions in my first big project, 3D and dinosaurs. That lead later to get a full time job at the Guanajuato University, here in Mexico.

Q. Please tell us what you enjoying the most modeling characters, buildings, cars, objects and why? Which areas do you like the most modeling, texturing, lighting, rendering or post?

I love to model characters the most. I know it´s a bit cliche but it is awesome to create some kind of “life” straight from a cube or a plane. Once I complete a character I enjoy modeling anything from accessories to buildings and environments as long as all of it helps to fill the world of the previous created character. As for the area I enjoy the most, each one has its own fun and magic, but I can say modeling, texturing and lighting are my favorite stages. I hate modeling toes though.

Q. Which software’s and renderer you use to create your image? Have you any trick for getting a good quality of realistic or toon image?

I use Maya and mental ray most of the time; recently I had the luck to put my hand on FurryBall which is an awesome jewel too. Other helpful tools I often use are ZBrush, CrazyBump and Carrara Studio. I love toon imagery, and one thing I always focus on is the atmosphere and lighting to enhance the attitude of the character or the mood of the scene. If simple things works well for the project I often go for it. I´m not a big fan of physically accurate values regarding toon stuff and whenever I have the chance to enhance something in a post stage I do it. On the other hand, realistic images requires being more sharp-eyed, cause most people can spot when something is wrong. I always try to observe the real life as much as I can and put special attention to those small details you can only spot when they aren´t present. I´m not an expert at hyper realistic rendering though, so my only trick is researching when looking for realistic effect (as an example, I learnt a lot from MasterZap´s blog) cause even when I´m not that much into technical stuff, it’s great to know what the render engine is doing every time you hit “Render”.