Arturo Ramírez (Limkuk): creature and character artist interview

Take a closer look at the work of creature and character artist Arturo Ramírez (Limkuk), learning the workflow behind his fantastic creations...

3dtotal: Tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you, what do you do, and where are you located?
Arturo Ramírez: Well I'm a happy father and husband, and freelance creature and character artist. I have been working as a freelance 3D artist for three years, developing characters for commercials and indie games. I have always liked creating new species and characters; it's my passion, actually. I'm located in the beautiful city of Morelia, México.

Final piece of my fan art of the demogorgon from the Netflix series "Stranger Things" for the Aaron Sims Creative Challenge

3dt: Where did you find the inspiration for your latest gallery entry? What's the story behind its creation?
AR: Well the inspiration for my last entry to the gallery was my little son. He's 1 years old, and I don't know, ha! – I tried to create a baby dragon with his personality. It was very hard because I knew that the baby dragon needed to have his look… playful, happy, gluttonous, and so on. It was fun for me to create this because I did something that my son really likes.

Personal project created for the Edgar Gómez challenge "Remaking the monsters of 90's Power Rangers"

3dt: What software and plug-ins did you use to create this image? Did you face any difficulties, and how did you overcome them?
AR: The software that I used was ZBrush for the sculpting, retopology and texture, KeyShot for the rendering, and Photoshop for the post-production. I didn't face any difficulties with the pipeline because it was very simple to create it, I think that the most difficult part was finding the right expression in his face.

Personal work for a challenge that I did remaking the Pepsicard #86 Maximum Carnage

3dt: Do you normally use this software in your workflow? What other software and plug-ins do you favor?
AR: Yes, I always use this software for my workflow. Other software that I sometimes use are Substance Painter, Topogun, Maya and Marmoset Toolbag, depending on the work that I'm creating. If I'm only creating a 3D concept I used ZBrush, KeyShot and Photoshop. If I'm doing a game character or any other production creature I use ZBrush, Topogun, Maya, Substance Painter and Marmoset Toolbag.

Final composition of a Wartortle that I am doing for a challenge in my free time

3dt: Are there any particular techniques that you use often? Or do you like to experiment?
AR: Well I really like to experiment with many styles and techniques because I think it's good to know the pipeline to create something different, like a cartoon girl. I like to create very creepy and scary creatures, or hard surface robots. I always particularly like to create roughness sketches with ZBrush.

Cartoon Study from a Sketch of Anna Cattish

3dt: What are your artistic ambitions?
AR: As a creature and character artist, I really would like to work in a studio like Santa Monica, Blizzard, Riot or 343 Studios, creating and designing characters and creatures. Also, you are creating a life that the people will see and can hate or love it, that is the magic in creating characters and creatures.

Redesign of Batman Azrael for the PEPSI Cards Challenge

3dt: What software would you like to learn in the future to expand your portfolio and skillset, and why?
AR: Actually I'm trying to learn Modo and Substance Designer. I can see the beautiful things that you can create with these software options, and I would really like to learn something new to give more professional presentation to my work.

Personal concept of this funny character. The base made in Sculptris, then posed and polypainted in ZBrush, along with UVs and retopology too. 4-and-a-half hours in the making!

3dt: How do you keep your portfolio up-to-date? Any tips?
AR: Well I try to practice every day, designing in my sketchbook or in my free time in work. I think that studying every day opens your world to create something new, since a simple portrait could become a complete character. Study animal and human anatomy, have your mind fresh when the hour comes to create something new.

3dt: Who are your favorite artists, traditional or digital, and can you explain why?
AR: I admire seven artists in the world: Alex Alvarez from Gnomon, Rafael Grassetti, Dominic Qwek, Kurt Papstein, Carlos Ortega Elizalde, Edgar Gomez and Soren Zaragoza. The way they create characters, creatures and new concepts is what makes me follow their work!

Concept that I'm working on to redesign the Mars People from the classic arcade game Metal Slug.

3dt: What can we expect to see from you next?
AR: That's a good question! Actually I'm creating a sci-fi short film of the 90's game Metal Slug. We now have 15 people working on it. I can tell you that we will give a nice gift to all the 90's gamers out there. The project is located on the digital platform call Artella. Artella has helped us a lot to gather the amazing crew, so yeah we are working hard to bring life to this project that begun as personal concept art.

Related links

Check out The Dragon in the gallery
Head over to Arturo's ArtStation
Grab a copy of ZBrush Characters & Creatures