Roman Samakovsky: freelance 3D artist interview - Nudity warning

* NUDITY WARNING *

Russian freelance 3D artist Roman Samakovsky is working on his organic modeling, successfully entering his characters to the 3dtotal gallery check out his interview...

3dtotal: Tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you, what do you do, and where are you located?
Roman Samakovskiy: Hello, everybody. My name is Roman Samakovskiy. Im from Russia, from a very cold part of it Siberia. I have been working in the realm of 3D graphics for more than 12 years as a freelancer with Russian and foreign clients, in particular in the area of photorealistic subject visualization. But during the last 2 years I took a great interest in organic modeling and human anatomy. Therefore, my last personal work was dedicated to this very topic. I would also like to become a fully-fledged character modeler.

I made this work after being influenced by the video for the game Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

3dt: Where did you find the inspiration for your latest gallery entry? What's the story behind its creation?
RS: There is no special story in its creation. Organic modeling is what I was dreaming of doing for my work in 3D. But until recently I hadnt enough experience or brevity to undertake this field. I was afraid to get a result which I would feel ashamed of. But through systematic study of anatomy, and numerous practices of sculpting in ZBrush gave me some self confidence. As a result, this is the second work in the realm of organic modeling on the site 3dtotal.com, and altogether the work Nu02 got 3 awards on different sites.

First organic modeling artwork accepted by 3dtotal

3dt: What software and plug-ins did you use to create this image? Did you face any difficulties, and how did you overcome them?
RS: 3ds Max, ZBrush, and V-Ray are those three elephants on which the world of 3D graphics stands. But recently I have been using Marvelous Designer for the creation of clothes. For the post processing I use Photoshop and After Effects. This work wasn't an exception: for the creation of the model: ZBrush, and I also textured the model here. For clothes: Marvelous Designer. And for rendering I used 3ds Max and V-Ray.

Result of experiments in Marvelous Designer

3dt: Do you normally use this software in your workflow? What other software and plug-ins do you favor?
RS: As I've already said, currently I often use Marvelous Designer. Clothes play a great role in organic modeling and Marvelous Designer excellently manages this task. I also use unfold3d in my works to create UVW mapping. Recently I have begun studying a plugin for the creation of the hair: Ornatrix, since its possibilities impress. And hair in my works is a weak spot.

One of my first attempts to make something from the animal world

3dt: Are there any particular techniques that you use often? Or do you like to experiment?
RS: I do experiments as necessary. We have an expression If it ain't broke, don't fix it or leave well enough alone. Therefore, I dont see any point in changing those methods which help to achieve necessary results. In those cases, when the result is unsatisfactory or the process takes a long time, I try to find more optimal variants.

Image caption: Visualization of the hunting carbine Marlin 444

3dt: What are your artistic ambitions?
RS: As I mentioned, my purpose is organic modeling. In my work I have to make architectural and subject visualizations. Interiors, classic furniture, industrial furniture, jewelry I can't say that I don't like these fields but I'm mostly interested in organic modeling. An additional passion of mine is cinematic trailers. I'm still amazed by the trailer for Witcher 3 by Digic Pictures, and I hope that one day I will be able to participate in a similar project.

This time I fancied myself as a food photographer

3dt: What software would you like to learn in the future to expand your portfolio and skillset, and why?
RS: In the near future I plan to pay some attention to MARI. It's a good software product for texturing, at least works executed in this software impress. As it was mentioned above, I would like to master the Ornatrix plugin for creating hair. In photorealistic visualizations, hair often looks computerised. I would like to get rid of it using this plugin.

3dt: How do you keep your portfolio up-to-date? Any tips?
RS: Here, everything is simple: for every work I try to set myself a task, at least a small but new task. This allows me to be constantly in search of new solutions and methods. I also try to track the leading 3D graphics galleries: artists often make excellent new works where one can get new information.

Visualization of the wrist-watch, Zenith

3dt: Who are your favorite artists, traditional or digital, and can you explain why?
RS: Its difficult to single out particular artists since there are many excellent artists whose example I try to follow in different areas of 3D graphics. But I will mention one of them: Vitaliy Bulgarov a concept designer, native of CIS, working in Russia for some time. Vitaliy took part in such projects as Robocop (2014), Transformers 4, Terminator Genisys and videogame cinematic trailers like Starcraft 2, World Of Warcraft and Diablo 3.

This may be my best work for now in organic modeling

3dt: What can we expect to see from you next?
RS: In the next work I will hardly be original. Most likely, it again will be a character in this or another view. At present I have 4 unfinished works, and later it will be seen which one I will finish first. But as usual, in my new work, I will try to take a step further in my development as a specialist in the sphere of 3D graphics.

This is one of my favorite artworks for organic modeling. Now I will try to finish the body completely

Related links

Check out Roman Samakovsky's website
Nu 02 in the 3dtotal gallery
Grab a copy of ZBrush Characters & Creatures