Interview with John Hayes
Sony Playstation 3 or Xbox 360? Which you personally prefer?
Sony Playstation 3, I am a big PS2 fan and Sony usually makes the kind of games that I like to play.
Do you do any preliminary drawings before you model, or do you just start and see what happens and how long on average would you spend on a character?
I very rarely start without some sort of drawing or concept as I feel the end result is usually stronger and more focused. I also find a well thought out concept will help to speed up the production of a character. The average time on a character is about 4 to 6 weeks, I really like to make sure the models I make have good topology, as well as being seamless and consistent. That process usually takes time, plus, sometimes walking away from it for a few hours to a day to get a fresh perspective on my progress is very helpful.
Additionally for every new character I create, I challenge myself with new techniques or effects as I am always looking for a better and faster way to improve upon the final result.
Please tell us in detail about your work “Tarik the Axe Battler”, what problems you encountered in creation?
Tarik is based upon an initial rough concept by one of the Golden Axe artist's, Marc Homes as well as additional in-progress input from the art director. Tarik was intended to be reminiscent of Slane but in keeping with the style of Golden Axe, barbaric with many layers of detail with a Frank Frazzetta feel. By the time I started work on Tarik, we had worked out what tools and methods would get us the best results. However it was with Tarik that I really started to incorporate the rendering and 3D paint abilities of Modo to polish the final product.
The initial requirement for Tarik, was only for a head-shoulders shot to be used in the cinematic, but I really wanted to push the design so I ended up building the whole character. The result was very popular with the production team and the producers decided to expand a bit on Tarik's role within the game. The most challenging aspect of the character was trying to get the hair to look reasonable, but I ran out of time to continue making adjustments, so for marketing the rendered hair, face, and other parts where painted over by Marc to get a better result.
Do you have an aim or dream as an artist? What are your hobbies and please describe your free time, if you have any?
I would be great to help form a studio or development team to make the best games or interactive content possible.I really enjoy playing my PSP and DS game systems, plus I have always been an avid plastic scale model builder, and I really enjoy making models of cold-war and modern fighter aircraft.
Which 5 modeling tips and advice you like to give the upcoming artists, how they can create realistic models?
#1 Always consider the silhouette of the character, it is one of the most important ways of making a character appealing.
#2 Strive to create the most efficient model as possible. Remove or reduce unseen geometry. Smooth out polygon edges as needed.
#3 Use snapping and mirroring as much as possible until the very final tweaks. Be precise and deliberate.
#4 Dedicate yourself to making clean and well organized UVs, as texture generation and editing will be much easier and successful. Texture artists will love you.
#5 Use a clear and detailed naming convention and stick to it. Going back to the assets many months later will then be easier to decipher.
Anything you like to add? It is your chance now to state your opinion about anything!
I believe that the video games show the direction that much of media entertainment will move toward, a much more interactive and real-time experience. As games and movies are getting closer together, a box-office feature film might be might be released without using any software rendering at all. It is also possible that much more movie entertainment will include interactive options. The skills that game artists use now, could become the foundation for those future graphics.
Thank you for your interest in my art. I am often inspired with quality and variety of art work that CGArena shows from various artists. Keep up the great work!
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