The best 3D artists of 2018 – 15 amazing portraits
Last year, I had the chance to interview the best 3D artists of 2018: 15 amazing digital artists from all over the world. They were all very kind, talented, patient, and well-educated enough not to blow me off. I feel lucky to had the chance to talk about:
- photorealism with Ian Spriggs, Cornelius Dämmrich, Christian Behrendt and Raphael Rau
- character creation with Mark Gmehling, Kevin Beckers, Pedro Conti and Phil NGuyen
- fashion with Milica Martic
- digital painting and sci-fi with Sebastien Hue
- cute toys with Charles Blanchard
- succulents plants with Marcus Chaloner
- skulls and gold with Billelis
And you know the best part? This website is only one year old! Imagine 2019 😉
Better Digital Artist was launched almost a year ago
At first, this website was supposed to be a 3D blog, with posts about any upcoming 3D softwares and rendering engines, and tips for beginner artists.
Then I remembered how frustrated I was when, as a 3D artist, I was always asking by people and 3D magazines HOW I made this illustration, which new ninja technic I used, which super rendering engines gave me this tremendous photorealism to my image. But nobody asked me who I was, what was my goal with my art, how traditional art and photographic study helped me in my quest.
In fact, nobody asked me why I was suffering so much with 3D, and why I liked it so much.
With Better Digital Artist and this first year, I tend to realize that the best 3D artists are the ones that are the most committed to their art. Learning a 3D software or two is ok, but you really have to be patient, to study a LOT lights, traditional art, drawing, sculpture, modeling, post-production technics, to make something remarkable.
So, I got the simple idea to email some 3d artists I already liked, and some others I just discovered, and asked them: “Can we talk about you and your projects?”. And most, even very popular artists, said yes. Simple as that!
Now, I wish for 2019 to interview new talented 3D artists, and help the 3D community with in-depth articles and videos about art and 3D
I learned a lot thanks to all the artists listed below. I truly thanks them again for their time and patience. They found some time to answer to questions from an unknown website, and I sincerely hope that Better Digital Artist could give them some exposure.
That been said, let’s now review all the artists featured in 2018:
- Phil Duc NGuyen
- Billelis
- Cornelius Dämmrich
- Ian Spriggs
- Mark Gmehling
- Omar Aqil
- Christian Behrendt
- Dmytro Teslenko
- Kevin Beckers
- Pedro Conti
- Charles Blanchard
- Milica Martic
- Marcus Chaloner
- Sebastien Hue
- Raphael Rau
1# Phil Duc NGuyen
Phil – Duc – NGuyen was my first artist. He is a talented french 3D artist, who made an amazing Akuma from Street Fighter (from a Liam Neeson sculpt!). I saw his illustration in one day everywhere on the web. So he was the perfect guy to launch Better Digital Artist
2# Billelis
Billelis is a UK illustration, with great dark images, full of gold and skulls. I really liked his universe, and I’m not the only one, regarding his popularity
3# Cornelius Dämmrich
Cornelius Dämmrich is a world-class german 3D artist, well-known for his 3D masterpieces. This guy has no limits. He can spend months on an image until perfection. And he is also a kind guy. Respect!
4# Ian Spriggs
Ian Spriggs is a hero of likeness portraits for many 3D artists. He achieves some amazing portraits of his family, including himself. More than his technic, I liked his quest to understand what makes us human. His interview is full of poetry, and just for that, that was a great portrait.
5# Mark Gmehling
Mark Gmehling is a german 3D artist, former street artist, who has a unique style, made of crazy colorful characters. Unique and very fresh!
6# Omar Aqil
Omar Aqil is a 3D artist from Pakistan, who likes typography and colorful shapes. He also decided to make some illustrations based on Picasso works, and they all look fantastic. Great idea, perfect execution
7# Christian Behrendt
Christian Behrendt is a german 3D artist, specialized in interior/exterior and visualization product. But he decided to try big photorealistic scenes, and dedicated a lot of time for his Rubikon project, which gave him a lot of exposure. And some questions for me 🙂
8# Dmytro Teslenko
Dmytro Teslenko is a 3D artist from Ukraine, and a talented one. He decided to create a photorealistic mantis to practice and to show his skills, and the result is amazing. That was a good start for a portrait
9# Kevin Beckers
Kevin Beckers is a 3D artist from the netherlands, and is a character developer. He has a lot of great projects, including a cat character which I personally loved
10# Pedro Conti
Pedro Conti is a famous 3D artist, and I felt very lucky to have him here. He has worked for Disney (only that would be enough I guess), is a talented artist, and also an international speaker. Please discover the man, don’t miss this opportunity 😉
11# Charles Blanchard
Charles Blanchard is a french 3D artist, living in Thailand, and working as a freelancer. Besides his professional activity, he likes to create childish and colorful illustrations, that would make awesome toys!
12# Milica Martic
Milica Martic is a talented serbian artist, who learned at first fashion, then by accident 3D, and those two skills put together make a great combo!
13# Marcus Chaloner
Marcus Chaloner is a 3D artist from the UK, and he likes to create new refreshing images. This time, he did some great renderings about succulents plants, testing and playing with shapes and colors. Well done!
14# Sebastien Hue
Sebastien Hue is a great digital artist, but he didn’t define himself as a 3D artist. He uses 3D to help in his art, but what he loves the most is digital painting. Sebastien has an incredible portfolio of massive spaceships and sci-fi illustrations. World-class!
15# Raphael Rau
Raphael Rau is a german 3D artist, fascinated by photorealism. He loves this subject so much that he gave talks about it, and teach it to other artists. Raphael is a nice guy, a talented artist, and has a diversified portfolio with masterpieces.
