Bondok Max: 3D environment & look dev artist interview

Hello! My name is Bondok Max, I am from Egypt and I’m currently working as 3D Environment/LookDev Artist as a freelance with many studios around the world. I have 10+ years of experience in CG, mostly for film and commercials.

The "Crystal Ship" project is inspired by the "Breaking Bad" series mixed with "Ready Player One" movie. The image was created in Maya for modeling, Redshift for rendering, ZBrush for adding some details, Marvelous Designer to make some clothes, Substance Painter for textures, as it is powerful, helpful, and fast, AE+ Ps+ Nuke for compositing, and I use some assets from Quixel Megascans libraries like rocks, wood bars, and the grass.

The main challenge and the most time-consuming part was the idea itself. I believe that was the main challenge for me in this artwork, I wanted to create something unique and increase my imagination and creativity. I made almost everything from scratch as usual in my personal works. There were a lot of challenges because I wanted to make a piece that could show everything I can do with my current level of knowledge. And one of its main purposes was to get more used to Redshift and to discover the boundaries of my big-scene workflow when working inside a GPU-based environment.

As a freelance artist, you must have much software in your workflow and you should be flexible. I believe that will give you a priority. I am trying to improve this side of my workflow as much I can. I remember that in the last interview with 3dtotal I was used 3ds Max as a main 3D software and now I use Maya as a main 3D software. You can notice that all software has the same tools but with different names and I use almost all render engines in my workflow.

Sure, I am a big fan of 3dtotal Publishing I have a lot of them. Digital Art Masters: Volume 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. I hope you publish more from "Digital Art Masters”! 3ds Max Projects. Prime – The Definitive Digital Art Collection; actually, it’s an amazing collection. Sketch Workshop: Robots & Spaceships. I wish to had a lot more of these amazing works!

Actually I'm always working on some personal project, even if I'm full-time with work. Not just to update the portfolio itself, but to create and study ideas and techniques. I try to keep focused as much as I can, and in this area that we have chosen, we have to study a lot! I always try to push myself and to turn my latest work into my best work!

Absolutely yes, I try to be present in social media as much as I can because it's really important for any artist to be remembered, especially for the freelancers like me. I use Facebook and Instagram a lot and I'm starting to use LinkedIn. Also, I have Artstation and Behance where I'm always looking for inspiration. I don't use special hashtags, I prefer to check every platform.

My ambition is to have my own studio in the Visual/Cinematic Effects Industry. I don't know when this will happen, but I am trying to work on myself and develop my skills so that I am ready for this moment. This is a big one and the small one is cooperation with the great Cinematic /VFX studios around the world.

Actually, all artists can inspire you but if you need names I can give you some of the professionals who are inspiring me: Hayao Miyazaki, Artur Sadlos, Ismail Inceoglu, Ian McQue, Paul Chadeisson, Cornelius Dämmrich, and Marek Denko. All of them are a great inspiration for me. All of them have unique artistic skills and are creative.