Ahmad N. Turki: VFX lead artist interview

Hello everyone, my name is Ahmad Turki and I am a look development / lighting, rendering, and comp artist. At the moment I am the lead for the light / comp / VFX department at Omens Studios, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I have been working for 11 years in the CGI industry, working on many projects including VFX movies, feature films, TV commercials, and architecture visualization. My passion is to create and produce art, and tell a story using my lighting skills. I also have a passion for photography and taking pictures!

For my latest work “Chill NIGHT | チルナイト” I wanted to create something different from what others have, since the set had already been setup by Pixar as a Renderman tutorial. I took that set and started to add in more and more detail to create a warm feeling, and create extra details for the eyes to see, as the original set was just empty. After I was done with the layout and set dress, I took my time creating details in the lighting. I wanted to create a mixed feel between blue and orange lights, and balance them all with old-school editing.

After I compile my render passes with Nuke, I tend to switch to LightRoom for the final edit / color correction. Usually most CGI artists use Nuke or Fusion for the final touches and color grading. I do that sometimes but I find myself more comfortable with LightRoom. Editing and tweaking each color gives me enough space to create a theme for my renders as I tend to keep a classy old-school grainy look for my images.

I always keep an eye on any new artwork and see the level of complexity and the amount of detail put into that work, and then set up my goals and aim higher. For any project I work on, I always try to create breakdowns that will help to build up my demo reel and portfolio later on. As a CGI artist you will always need to update your reel based on the projects you were involved in.

One of my favorite CGI artists to follow is MR. Beeple with his everyday 3D art. I find it extremely challenging sometimes to create something, especially if you're not in the mood or feeling it. For me it could take me some weeks in order to feel ready to make something new, but to have the energy to make it every day is inspiring for me to look at, and that's where I take energy most of the time.

I have recently finished working on a feature film that has been in the cinema called “Jiang Ziya” – my part in the movie was leading the look dev and the lighting. I've recently completed Singapore first VFX and CGI-driven, feature film in Singapore due to be release sometime next year. For my personal work, I have a couple of ideas that I need some time to execute. So hopefully shortly I will be publishing new artwork!