Riyad Hasan: 3D artist interview

Hello, my name is Riyad Hasan. I'm a 3D artist and currently living in Chicago but I grew up in Dhaka, Bangladesh. As a kid, I have always been fascinated with creating 3D characters and creatures. Unfortunately, back then, we didn't have any Animation/VFX schools in my country. So, after finishing my undergrad in architecture, I decided to move to the U.S. to pursue an M.F.A in animation. In 2015 I was named as one of the winners of the Rookies award, which opened the door for me into the industry. I worked as a 3D artist in The Mill for four years before starting my career in academia. Currently, I'm working as a 3D modeling instructor at DePaul University and spend my free time working on personal projects.

For the last two years, I have been focusing more on photorealistic CG humans. To improve my skill, I took Kris Costa's Fly on the wall course. During that course, we started the creation of our characters. I am a big fan of the TV show The Last Kingdom and actor Alexander Dreymon who plays Uhtred and so I decided to pay tribute to one of my favorite actors. Dreymon has plenty of images online from many different angles. The abundance of reference images made my life a little easier during the likeness sculpting. I started with a base mesh in Maya. As I used the ZBrush HD sculpting option, I had to make sure the base mesh has an evenly distributed polygon everywhere. Then I started the likeness sculpting in ZBrush. Sculpting all the skin details took most of my time in this project. I used Mari to paint the skin textures and Substance Painter for the costume. For grooming, I used XGen interactive and Maya Arnold for rendering.

To my surprise, Alexander Dreymon saw the renders on my IG and left a compliment for me. That just made my day!

The first challenge was to get the likeness right. It is easy to fall into the uncanny valley with the likeness of a well-known figure. Therefore, I had to make many changes, especially around the eyes and lips, during the sculpting and look development phase. It is always a good idea to take the model to Maya with a basic studio lighting setup from the beginning of the ZBrush sculpting. Often the face would look slightly different in Maya render from ZBrush. The earlier we start testing the look with a few camera angles in Maya, the better.

Using customized skin brushes to sculpt the details of the skin such as the pores and wrinkles, proved to be one of the biggest challenges of this project. I also  had to constantly check high-resolution skin photo references and redo all the pores detail multiple times to ensure the scale was correct. I found that this process took a significant amount of time. I previously used scans for the skin details for my other projects. However, this is the first time I used traditional sculpting for skin details, which is oddly satisfying.

This project was the first time I had used XGen Interactive. Although some tools like Guide and Clump are better in XGen Core, the sculpt and layer system in XGen Interactive provides more creative control while grooming.

3dtotal Publishing has a fantastic collection of books. I often check the 3dtotal website to add some books to my wish list. Currently, I own "Anatomy for 3D Artists" and "Sculpting for the imagination: ZBrush." I also own the three-piece set of female and animal figures. Those were all birthday gifts that I got myself in 2 consecutive years. These anatomy models are great, and I use these as a reference while sculpting in ZBrush. I think our brain works better with a physical reference to understand form and shape.

Every year I set some goals for myself, the projects I want to do, and the skills I want to improve. I learned over time that if I start too many projects at once, there is a good chance that I won't be able to finish any of them. So, it's a good idea to set up a realistic goal and avoid working on too many projects simultaneously. Also, focusing on something always helps to become better at it. The world of 3D art is enormous; we don't need to be the master of everything. Instead, we need to find what we love and try to be better at it.

From architectural visualization to creature design, I have tried many different things over the years. But then I realized that I need to focus on one thing to become a better artist. So, I did some creative soul searching in the last two years and asked myself what I love. The human face is something that always fascinates me. So as a 3D artist, I always had a particular interest in photorealistic CG humans. I want to establish myself as a 3D portrait artist someday, where people would see my work as an art piece like other traditional artists' work.

There is a long list, but right now, Ian Spriggs, Kris Costa, Haitham Zaki and Andrey Bogomolov are on the top of my list for their ability to bring life in their 3D portraits. In addition, I like Maria Panfilova, Niyazi Selimoglu, Zhelong Xu and Borislav Kechashki for their style. Lois Van Baarle, Ross Tan and Irakli Nadar are some of my favorite 2D artists.

Recently, I have started working on a female portrait. This time, it will not be a likeness; instead, I want to explore an imaginary face. I have some rough costume and jewelry ideas for this project. In addition, it will be fun to explore the jewelry sculpting in ZBrush, which I haven't done before. I believe that having an expressive face in a CG portrait is very difficult and is something I definitely want to explore in this project.

I sculpted the bust and skin details in ZBrush. Maya XGen was used for the grooming, Mari for painting, and Maya Arnold for rendering.