Interview With Geert Melis

ZBrush Artist and Certified Instructor

  • So Geert, tell us where you are living these days.

    I live in a small medieval town near Antwerp, Belgium.

  • Did you have any hobbies or inspirations growing up that help lead you into what you do today?

    Art has always been in my life. My father , Henri Melis has always been drawing and painting, as did my grandfather ,Joseph Melis before him. As a child, I spent hours in my dad's studio, while he was painting. I would be drawing or browsing through his library; a huge collection of books, art books and comics. He introduced me to the classic masters like Rubens, Rembrandt, Brueghel, Michelangelo, Da Vinci,… . In 1979 he bought the book "The Studio" with artwork by Jeffrey Jones, Michael Kaluta, Barry Windsor Smith, Bernie Wrightson, I don't know many hours I've spent browsing through it's pages, copying artwork and wishing one day I would be as good as those guys. When I was between ages 14 - 18, I read every Stephen King book available, watched every John Carpenter and George Romero movie. I Followed Rick Baker's, Dick Smith's and Tom Savini's sfx works through the pages of Fangoria magazine. I remember being an avid collector of everything Richard Corben related. In those years Alien and Blade Runner made a lasting impression. Dave Mckean's Arkham Asylum, has always been a favourite :I love the way he experiments with different materials and techniques –thinks outside the box / tries to break the mold. During those years, Blue Velvet came to my attention and made my an instant David Lynch fan. When I was between 18 and 24, advances in the field of cgi caught my interest: I have been following the works of Pixar and ILM ever since I first saw Luxo jr and Terminator 2. When it comes to modern and contemporary art, I got a lot of cues from Bauhaus / Bauhaus related artists and teachers and Joseph Beuys.

  • Have you had any formal training that made you the artist you are today? How did you become so good at what you do?

    I have always been drawing for as long as I can remember, but I have to thank my dad for encouraging me to attend drawing classes on weekends and Wednesday afternoons when I was between ages 11-17. I remember not being very motivated at the time, but I did pick up the basics in perspective drawing, sight sizing and pencil rendering. Between ages 18 and 22, I studied printmaking at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. This is where I got a 4 year foundation in anatomy and drawing the human figure. In the years following my studies, I continued to refine my knowledge of the human figure at my own pace, relying on the excellent books by Gottfried Bammes and George Bridgeman. Although I have to say that discovering ZBrush did add a dimension: if I could've had access to ZBrush and the Anatomytools's models during my Academic years would have been able to learn more in less time on a more efficient manner (I remember studying for my anatomy finals using a life sized paper skeleton at home). I feel that there's always more to learn, explore, refine. This also counts for my study of ZBrush: I spend a lot of time examining every aspect of the program in order to develop a good and efficient workflow.

  • What tools do you use in your work?

    I started out in 3d using Cinema 4D, some time after, I discovered ZBrush which I now use for all my 3d work, I also use Photoshop to composite my ZBrush render passes and, occasionally, Illustrator (to create crisp vector images to be used as alphas or textures within ZBrush)

  • What has been your favorite piece or project to date? Why?

    My favorite project is "The Thin Veil of Reality" Where I create an imaginary world & characters and, on another level, explore the possibilities of 2 and 3 dimensional imagery. Every piece of work that I produce, be it drawing, painting or sculpt (digital or traditional) somehow connects and relates to The Thin Veil of Reality. Progress can be in my online sketchbook thread at ZBrush Central: Etcher_Sketcher. Right now it clocks in at roughly 100 sheets.

  • What keeps you inspired? Is there anything that keeps your imagination going so you can create the great work you do?

    Movies, games, books on everything art related (ranging from classic to contemporary), comics, also, I love looking at concept art and sketchbooks (because, many times, this behind the scenes look gives me a good insight in how other artists think and work)

  • Once there was a time where you were trying to make it in the world, do you have any advice for those who hope to one day have a career in the industry?

    Study, practice, dedication. Master the basics of traditional 2 and 3 dimensional visualization techniques (drawing, painting, sculpting), master your software of choice. Try to be as objective and critical as possible about your own work: try to pinpoint areas that you need to improve on and work out what you need to do to improve those. Sometimes it's difficult to grasp how many years of dedicated study and practice it took an artist to reach a certain skill level. Don't expect a course of a few months or a year to teach you everything you need to become a great artist, prepare to go on a lifelong journey of study and discovery. Patience, persistence, dedication: take it one step at a time; if the end result of a project (or drawing, or sculpt) isn't to your satisfaction, take a look at it's individual parts and you will surely see areas or workflow parts that you did feel good about and that can serve as a base to build upon in a next project. Most of all; have fun while studying and creating!