Interview With A Professional - Character Artist Heber Alvarado

[fieldy3000]

this was going to be fully posted in the newsletter but since that's getting chopped the hell up now I'm posting it here so that they can take out whichever bit they like and link it here.

What’s your name?
Heber Alvarado

On your site it says that you went to Vancouver Film School and the Art institute of Vancouver. what made you choose those schools and how was your learning experience?
Well I went to A.I because I visited the school and it seemed like a good place to study art and get my hands dirty. I found out after less than a year that the program they offered was not really what I was looking for so i enrolled into VFS after all the good reputation I had heard from various sources and it turned out to be a very positive experience for me and I got to meet lots of talented individuals who influenced me greatly even today.

What type of medium do you work in?
Mostly digital, I have dabbled in sculpting, painting but lately I find it difficult to make time to do much of that but i would love to get back into that soon, as I find that theres still so much left for me to learn from it.

What made you lean towards character design?
Growing up, I was heavily into cartoons and superhero TV shows especially if it was fantasy. The more fictional it seemed the more i was drawn to it, and thats basically where my interest in characters began.
Today, I am just amazed at some of the artists in the industry and the creations that they come up with. How through good design they are able to tell a story with their character or make you think about a place where they might exist.
I find that really fascinating so I decided thats the direction i wanted to take with my work as well.


You are currently employed at Rockstar, can you reveal anything about your current project?
Oh, I definitely would love to talk about it but I cannot since its unannounced but keep out an eye for it.


In your portfolio you listed that you use XSI, Maya, and 3DStudio Max, do you have a preference? If so can you explain, why?
As a student, I began with xsi and created my student reel using xsi so, being my first real experience with 3d software, I didn't really have much of a contrast as to what other software could offer me as a character artist.
I have worked professionally now with all of them (xsi/maya/max) and i can safely say I prefer xsi over anything else because of how fast and stable it is for me.
At the same time, I can see why different studios prefer a certain package; they all seem to have their strengths and weaknesses in different areas and I guess they use a certain package based on what the studio needs are and what kind of pipeline they are trying to create.
So in the end, it's really just software and its up to the artist to create with whatever tools he/she is given.


Any advice on establishing a solid work flow?
Yes, think about your work in layers, don't rush any part of it and spend time at the start setting up a proper foundation so you don't get lost a long the way.
Also, don't get carried away and lost with detail that simply doesn't fit well with your work , think "broad strokes" .
Learn to look at your work upside down, left , right and from close and far away and see if it still makes sense while paying close attention to silhouette and form.


How did you first get into art?
Cartoons, especially Saturday morning cartoons. I was big on TV growing up (not so much anymore) and thats really what sparked something in my mind.
In high school, I wanted to study computer science but at some point i found myself more interested in creating graphics and designing small bits of 3d content for websites and slowly that lead me into trying to do more of my work in 3d.
After much thought, I took the road less traveled and tried my hardest to make whatever I got into work for me, happy to say it did.


Why did you decide to become an artist?
Very few things in life allow me to be as creative as what I do, so it was always something I wanted to do and once I found out that there is a career in being an artist then I thought it was a safe route to take not just as a hobby but also professionally.


What did you gain from art?
Discovery for other forms of art that I never imagined I could enjoy this much, for example music.
One of my friends in art school gave me a quick demo on a guitar one day and now its something i think I will be doing for the rest of my life now.


Any advice for aspiring artist, especially those that want to go into the professional field?
Take the time to study, don't rush any part of your post secondary education.
I know these 1 year programs seem like a good way to break into 3d fast but not of all them are what they make them out to be.
If you feel the need to study fine art in Spain, for say 4 years then do it!
Looking back on my schooling now, sometimes I do wish I had gave it more time. College can be an amazing experience and I don't think anyone should pass up on that.

Do you have anything in particular that sparks your imagination?
Film, especially non mainstream foreign films.
There's a lot of movies out there that people don't generally get to see and sometimes I find that there is a lot of amazing content in them and characters that any artist can draw inspiration from.


Do you ever think of moving from designing characters for games to designing characters for movies? Do you think that it would somehow affect your work?
Sure, I woudln't really mind doing either and they are very closely related nowadays anyways. I have had opportunities to work in film lately but i guess they didn't pan out for whatever reason. I really do like working in games and at times its hard to decide on either on since they both have their advantages.

I think it would affect my work but maybe not drastically; the workflow nowadays for creating a detailed film character is very similar to creating a game character, the difference is mainly in the output.


Anything you want to say to your fans?
Hmm, keep those pencils sharp!


Some art by Heber:

more (along iwth a Demo Reel) can be found here:
Heber Alvarado - CHARACTER ARTIST - Online Portfolio

[Akuma]

THX, great interview fieldy.

[Batr]

Nice interview
Thanks for the hard work, keep it up.
I liked Heber's work.
Can't anyone interview the animators of Naruto

[fieldy3000]

glad you liked it.
(no real hard work was involved in the process though haha)

[Epoxy]

Why would a professional artists talk to you is my first questions, besides that. Nice work really.

[fieldy3000]

haha I go to a forum where a bunch of mods are basically pros (Hebert worked on fifa/nba 06 for 360) another one made a Batman bust for DC Direct that now sells for 300$ so I just pm them & ask.
If people dig this I'll do another one next month... problem (well not for me) is they're all 3D artists.

[Epoxy]

Hell yes I dig it, do more. These are professionals nigga.

[.Kaos]

Yeahs moar plx

great read btw

[Fresh1]

Lol, nicely done fieldy.

[Atem]

Good interview, I really like his portfolio. =3
Hope you do another one.

[Llian]

Amazing interview nice work Fieldy.

[fieldy3000]

Cool, glad people actually ended up reading this (50+views with only two replies made it look like a really shaky start.)
I'll try to do another one, if anybody has any questions they want answered PM me & I'll ask them when I do the next one.

[Akuma]

u know who would be awesome for an interwiev ?

chris vector
he is too awesome

[fieldy3000]

CrisVector.com V.2
that dude?
haha if I ran in the same circles I'd interview him but it it looks like I'll try to interview the guy behind this:
Batman 1:2 Scale Bust - Raving Toy Maniac - The Latest News and Pictures from the World of Toys

[Akuma]

yep I ment him, he would be awesome but the 2nd one sound also great

[fieldy3000]

so this time I'm doing an "Unprofessional" interview with a good friend of mine, the guy is currently trying to get in to the 3D gaming industry so it should be interesting.
should be done in a few days since I'm going to do this like more of a conversation than a straight forward Q&A.
also:

I'll try to do another one, if anybody has any questions they want answered PM me & I'll ask them when I do the next one.

you've got a couple of days for that.

[fieldy3000]

ok, so I'm at 6 questions right about now, should hopefully be atleast another 6 to 8.
PM me if you want something asked or just post it here (for the incredibly lazy people...)