Interview with Nicolas Crombez

Hello and thanks for your interest in my work. My name is Nicolas Crombez, I was born in Belgium in 1975 and currently live in France. I have two professional activities: freelance graphic design (web design, etc...) and in parallel, I teach computer graphics in art school in Belgium, the Institute Saint Luc of Tournai. I studied myself in that school, the concept and the basics of computer graphics. My school career was essentially artistic; it’s the only thing I can do!

I felt very early the need for creating and developing worlds. The computer and the tools it offers, both in graphics and sound or interactivity initiated by the Internet, allows a total autonomy in the development of a project. I have no specific cultural references. I operate on instinct, I digest what I see, what I feel and I transform it all. Many subjects interest me, the technical side, strict, purely functional and, on the other side, the emotional, sensual and awkward stimulate me a lot in my projects. I love making incongruous connections.

The traditional sculpting has a certain influence in my virtual development; I can abstract the volume and imagine the contours before the image was built. I appreciate the anatomical rigor, but this is not the main objective in my work. The imperfection and chance are, for me, allies. I do not want to fight them, but rather, to integrate them into the design process. I like creating my own techniques, the need to divert their original functions.

I mostly use the software Lightwave 3D (Newtek), very flexible and powerful. It meets all my needs. In addition, the plug-in “FPrime” is an essential tool in Lightwave, to view near real-time changes to a scene, in conditions close to the final rendering.

I also work a lot with Photoshop, especially in the use of brushes and retouching.

Q. Besides, CG work anything else you doing professionally?

Sometimes I make skins for various audio projects (sound effects for plays, for example), but the majority of my work revolves around the CG.

Q. Can you tell us in detail about your panorama image (The procession of pigs), from where you got the idea and how this related to your upcoming album?

I develop in parallel with my professional activities, a personal universe, called DEU TER ROR, for which I’ve created “A picture”. This latest achievement will accompany, with some other visual, a fourth album of music.

Structured around the sound and image, DEU TER ROR makes me stage the reality while playing on its deep sense (through the symbols, the use of incongruous elements, for example). The CG images allow me exploration and transformation of a reality into another.

I started working on this project since 2007, after my first album, “Le gueule de guerre “. First, I wanted to consider the notion of space / time and develop a story without using animated techniques. Therefore, I did not have time fixed structure, like a movie in which the action unfolds in a linear mode. My idea was to allow the viewer to make his own history by moving into the picture, as in the paintings of Flemish Primitives.

Then I developed the story that the picture should be told. This is a result of research that began last few years, forming the heart of the project DEU TER ROR. I wonder especially about this “faith”, which makes us stand, and this gigantic timeline in which we operate without knowing where, when and to what it takes us (the meaning of life has not stopped questioning us, even in the computer age).

Formally, I use symbols, such as items related to traditional Belgian, wildlife and local flora, etc...

The red Magma is initiated by a light wave (wave mechanics) who hits the ground and whose course through the universe and the matter will be reported in the musical part (electromagnetic wave).

This course illustrates several scenes, animals. First naked, then clothed in animal skins, they are adorned with leather armor and warlike. Some devour each other; others are fighting, etc... Where are they? What is the reason for their actions? Each has its own interpretation.

On a technical level, once the concept is validated, I began to realize a number of sketches and drawings, to get a rough idea of the whole.

I cut the scene into five main parts + transitions between scenes because even 64-bit software has limits...

I first modeled the components, from stock or old models converted achievements. Modeling and positioning these elements took me several months; I worked a few hours per month.

My idea was not to make a “full 3D” picture, but to mix several processes. I believe that art must serve the story and not stand on its own.

Therefore, the models are not as fine or perfect accurate. They have mainly served basis. The textures are also relatively rudimentary.