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Ronan Le Fur aka Dofresh: freelance concept artist interview

Ronan Le Fur aka Dofresh shares his Lovecraft-inspired gallery images, and talks about his preferred working methods...

Ronan Le Fur aka Dofresh shares his Lovecraft-inspired gallery images, and talks about his preferred working methods...

3dtotal: Tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you, what do you do, and where are you located?
Ronan Le Fur: My name is Ronan Le Fur, but my pseudonym is Dofresh. I am a freelance concept artist and illustrator living in Britanny, on the western coast of France. After more than ten years working as a CG artist (I specialized in textures, lighting and rendering) for various studios, I decided to become a freelance concept artist. Therefore, I still consider myself as a beginner.

3dt: Where did you find the inspiration for your latest gallery entry? What's the story behind its creation?

RLF: I wanted to create a series of artworks inspired by the works of the horror writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft. He is a well known figure of the pop culture and I just wanted to bring my own modern vision of his universe. Most of the time (especially for commercials) I am asked to produce very vivid, clean and happy pictures. This time, I had the opportunity to create something different, a very dark and gloomy visual. It was very fun and fast to create (two to three days per artwork).

3dt: What software and plug-ins did you use to create this image? Did you face any difficulties, and how did you overcome them?

RLF: I used 3ds Max for the modelling and V-Ray for the rendering. A bit of ZBrush for some creatures. There was also a massive use of Photoshop in order to get the final result. I did not face any particular difficulty during the process. It allowed me to concentrate on lighting, composition and colors.

3dt: Do you normally use this software in your workflow? What other software and plug-ins do you favor?

RLF: The 3ds Max/V-Ray/Photoshop combo is my typical workflow, I find it fast and reliable. One of the things I like the most in 3ds Max is the fact that there are many free scripts that you can use to solve almost any problem you could encounter.

3dt: What are your artistic ambitions?

RLF: I like to create cinematic artworks: pictures which convey a mood, an emotion, a story.

3dt: How do you keep your portfolio up-to-date? Any tips?

RLF: I have the following habit: each time I have an idea for an illustration I draw a few quick thumbnails in order to keep the idea for a future use. It allows me to never waste a potential good idea. Once you get a slowdown in your work you can pick one of your unfinished drafts and finish it.

3dt: Who are your favorite artists, traditional or digital, and can you explain why?

RLF: For the digital part I like a lot Pascal Blanché; his use of colors is fantastic. I also love the works of the Steambot team. For the traditional part I like a lot of French comics artists such as Fred Blanchard, Olivier Vatine, Loisel, Moebius, to name a few.

3dt: What can we expect to see from you next?

RLF: I have just finished a series of sci-fi artworks featuring some mechas (yes, I do like to produce series). But until now I had never produced any heroic-fantasy artwork. I guess it will change in the next future. So you'd better expect some castles, knights, dragons and so on!

Related links

Check out Dofresh's ArtStation
Dofresh's artwork in the 3dtotal gallery
Starting a project? Grab a copy of 3ds Max Projects

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