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Interview with John Martini aka Joker Martini
Hello John, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself, your background, interests, and how you came to be a digital artist?
Hello my name is John Martini aka Joker Martini. I'm originally from a small town in Ohio. I went to college at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, and immediately moved to Los Angeles, California after graduation. I grew up having two very artistic parents to help teach me fundamentals of art. My mom is always working on crafts. My dad is always working on mechanical  engineering projects. Being around them growing up helped me gain a strong understanding for art. I began doing 3D work my freshman year of high school when my dad began to show me CAD. From there I only got more and more determined to learn digital art. My sophomore year of high school I began taking 3D classes. I started learning 3D using 3ds Max 3.
What is your current job and what are the future plans?
I'm currently working freelance as well as full time at Jade Swell Entertainment and Running with Scissors Designs. My position as a generalist at Jade Swell Entertainment consists of a variety of things from conceptualizing all the way to final compositing.
If you could invent your dream job, where would you work & what would be your job title?
My dream job would consist of me working on projects helping from start to finish. I love designing, conceptualizing, modeling, sculpting, texturing, lighting, and compositing. My ideal job would give me the title of being a "Jack of all Trades" also known as a “Generalist".
You possess lots of skills like character modeling, lighting, web designing, editing and many others, in short you are Jack of all trade. Please tell us which work you like to do most and why?
I love designing, conceptualizing, modeling, sculpting, texturing, lighting, and compositing. I enjoy seeing a project come together from start to finish. Seeing characters, and projects reach their final stage and come to life is very rewarding. Working on many different parts, of the production process, helps to keep things fresh, new, interesting, and challenging.
What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
The most useful thing I've been told by several artists is to learn scripting. Whether HTML, Flash, MAXSCRIPT, MEL, or PYTHON. They are all very important and incredibly useful and important.
On which project you have enjoyed the working most and why?
I've enjoyed working on a variety of projects, most recently Rubberduckzilla. It was a project that consisted of several aspects of production that I greatly enjoy. At the same time it included a ridiculous amount of just chaos and madness. It was a fun little project that had a corky twist on it. Who wouldn't enjoy sculpting over a dozen rubber ducks!
What’s the most useful thing you have learned in 3d?
The most useful thing I have learned in 3d is scripting. Scripting now plays a large part in many of the projects I create now. It opens the door and allows for more creativity, faster production, and quicker problem solving.
Doing sketches and pre-vizing helps to speed up the process of all artwork. Whether it is modeling, motion graphics or graphic art. Doing paint-overs is another major tool of mine that I've picked up over the past few years. Paint-overs help to pre-visualize quick changes or modifications to projects.
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