Q. Tell us about yourself. Where you live and what you do for a job.
A. I’m currently living in Boston, Massachusetts here in the US. I'm currently an employee for Neoscape Inc, Neoscape conceives and produces 3D animations, renderings, film, and interactive programs for commercial and institutional marketing campaigns. I'm a Digital artist there, and the first character modeller ever to be hired there.
Q. When did you start getting into 3D?
A. I began 3D around age 16. But characters was too far advanced at that time for me. Coming from a 2D background, I wanted to take my illustrations and re-create them in 3D.
Q. What training have you had?
A. Around that time, teaching oneself 3D was the best route. During high school I spent my time learning 3D software during art class and during lunch period. School didn’t provide the technology for any media of that sorts. By the time high school was over, I learned quite a bit. I started using Rhino as my first 3D application. I was more interested in creating just objects of different nature at that time, nothing that existed.
Q. How would you describe your Character modelling style? To me it looks like a cross between Sci Fi and Fantasy (I love it).
A. Yes Sci Fi and Fantasy is what drives me. It is a good mixture for completely insane and risky ideas. More important is to give it a good meaning. Like many people I grew up with the love of games, comics, and animation. As I was learning 3D, I got a lot of inspiration from such artists as Louis Royo, Yoshitaka Amano, Massimiliano Frezzato, and Tetsuya Nomura
Q. I was totally blown away by your "The Dance" image that featured in issue 82 of the 3DWorld magazine. Tell us a bit more about this image. Was this for a commercial project or just for fun? Where do you get the inspiration and ideas for such a stunning image? How long would modelling, texturing and doing post work on something like this take? What was done in Photshop?
A. "The Dance" was for fun. It was meant as an inspiration piece to not just myself, but those who care about my work. The character herself was actually inspired by a great architectural artist named Nensi Karanxha. Before I began the image, my idea was to make an image based heavily on Beauty. Not just for the physical character but the image style. When I asked her if I could use her as the basis of the image, she happily accepted.
Modeling the image was by no means an easy task. Nensi helped with great input. I showed her progress daily to get a female point of view of the image. Style was important. Since I work full time in the studio, I bring my work in and create things during lunch. The total hours came out to be 4 hours a day for 3 weeks for modeling. Texturing was done within 2 days, which included a UV map for the face, body, and dress. I used custom Cinema 4D shaders for the armor she wears. Although her back feathers and wings are 3D objects, the effects for both were Photoshop using the smudge tool on the edges. I added an early wireframe shot for you, cause people love wires.
Q. Besides 3D artwork you've got some great 2D Illustration and Graphic Design artwork at your website. What applications do you use to make these images?
A. Well 99% of the 2D graphic work with 3D elements you seen is created with Illustrator, Photoshop and Cinema 4D. During my graphic design period, these were my main tools of success.
Q. In the 3DWorld magazine where "The Dance" image was featured you described yourself as a Character modeler. You've done a great model of a Nissan Z class. Have you done any other cars?
A. Besides the Nissan Z I created 2 other cars, my fist ever car which was from my Rhino 3D Days. I'm not really a fan of building cars, the Nissan Z was to test to see if I can do it with the available Cinema 4D tools at the time.
Q. Any plans to do more cars?
A. At the moment I do not plan on doing any other cars.
Q. Another great image of yours made with Cinema 4D and BodyPaint was "The Red Riding Hood" image for the CGTalk "The Journey Begins" Contest. Can you tell us a bit about the image?
A. Lil Red, obviously was inspired by the Little Red Riding Hood story. I figured what would be better then putting my own spin on the tale. What was great about doing this, is it finally gave me a chance to use the Hair Module and see if I can I finally do the stuff I thought only other applications would do for me. You can follow the thread and see the insane progress. http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=324808
Q. You're of Spanish origin aren't you?
A. Yes I am of Spanish Origin. My mother is from Spain my father is from Puerto Rico. But that’s another long story.
Q. Do you use Cinema 4D and BodyPaint for your job? (This question may be irrelevant depending on your previous answers)
A. Well at Neoscape, there are a heavily 3D Studio Max studio. I am a 3D Max user, but when it comes to the character jobs, I explain to them that it can be done 10x faster using Cinema 4D than 3D Max. Why? Cause the tools are there, quick and easy. Sometimes it’s hard to express the right software to big studios, but since I’m the only person with that skill, they managed to see things my way, for the sake of time and money.
Q. A lot of your work is character creation. Do you use reference images or draw concept sketches beforehand?
A. Concepts are always a must. Since I commute to work, I kick out the drawing pad and begin sketching out ideas for my next image.
Q. What's your hardware setup?
A. Well, I'm a PC guy. At home, I built my own computer to fit my needs. I built a Dual Core w/ 2 Gigs of memory, dual screens, 3D Navigation Device and a tablet. I believe a good setup helps a good image.
Q. Have you got several favourite images or animations that you can share with us?
A. Well I really I don't have any favorite image. I share the same feelings with all my images. The only time I feel more favorite of an image is when it make a slight impact on people. I guess "The Dance" is that image, At least until the next one.
Q. Dare I mention it. Do you ever use a Poser or Daz figure in your scenes?
A. I use to use Poser 3 in high school. I created a few great images using Poser. But I learned in a short time, the only way to get the characters I want, is to build them myself. Reason I do the stuff you see today. As for Daz, wouldn't want to pay for something I can do myself. How else am I going to learn? I'm very strict when it comes to doing things myself, cause I always wanted to learn 3D modeling and create cool things, I would hate to loose any opportunity for modelling.
Q. How long have you been using Cinema 4D and BodyPaint and why C4D and BodyPaint?
A. I been using Cinema 4D seriously for about 3 years and some months now. From building boxes to the stuff you see now. BodyPaint, I have been using only for a year. Really can't live without it now. I say that cause I use to hate unwrapping UV's, but BodyPaint makes that tons more fun now.
Q. Is there any areas of Cinema 4D and or BodyPaint that you would like to see MAXON improve upon?
A. Well believe it or not, I was happy with just having Cinema 4D XL 7. MAXON amazes me with each upgrade. All I ever needed was HAIR. So now I can create happily ever after.
Q. What else are you interested in?
A. Other working in the world of 3D, I am a rock climber on the weekend. A day on the rocks is a healthy way to collect my thoughts and ideas to tackle upcoming projects.
Here are a few samples of Jaques' work:
