25 Jan 2016
Interviews
Meticulous. Bold. Eccentric. An artist who can describe his work with those three words and claims that his biggest influence was 'Alice in Wonderland'. What could be better than this? Let’s take a look at an eccentric designer - Ryan-John Keates!
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Ryan-John Keates, I am a South-African born artist currently living and working in Brisbane, Australia. I work at Defiant Development, a video game studio where I assume the role of character artist. I enjoy 3D sculpture, modelling and illustration. I am fascinated with the industry’s technological advancements, particularly motion capture, 3D scanning and real-time engines. I have an entrepreneurial spirit and spend a lot of my free time utilising my artistic skills in any format to create small personal projects. I will create illustrative designs for shirts or posters, jewellery for 3D printing, graphic design and whatever else takes my fancy.
How did you break into the industry? What helped you get your first job/sale?
Upon graduating university with a degree in animation I was confronted with the reality that there were very few jobs in the local industry and an army of graduates and professionals to compete with. It was crucial to stand out from the crowd so I spent the next year working freelance and completing an honours degree in which I used self directed studying to develop my skills to a professional standard. The resulting qualifications and portfolio opened up work opportunities and I wound up at Defiant Development.
What do you think are the most important skills for a designer to have?
In my direct line of sculptural work, a strong understanding of anatomy is often considered the most important skill. In more general design terms I would say that an understanding of colour balance and the ability to establish accurate proportions is key.
Proportional accuracy is achieved by viewing a complicated object and deconstructing it by simplifying the object to more manageable forms. To implement this one must establish landmarks that correlate with each other to create a strong foundation.
What kind of research do you do before you start a project? Do you go with the flow or have a very good idea how everything goes?
I often start a project by looking at the tools available and try to use them most effectively. For example if a program renders metal particularly well I will try to capitalize on this element within the design.
Once I come up with an idea I write down the key selling points of the design. Then I do a rough sketch which is little more than a stick figure. Next I will gather many, many reference images. Finally I will do a concept sculpt, a flexible 3D model in which I play with the design until I am happy. In some cases I will screenshot this and paint over it until it is a polished concept work but usually I will just start making the model, using the concept sculpture as a base.
How would you best describe your projects in three words?
Meticulous / Bold / Eccentric
They are visually bold through colour and lighting choices.
The projects are meticulous because of the intense research of the subject and the attention to detail.
The eccentricity in my projects stems from the subject matter, a result of my interest in optical illusions and all things bizarre.
What tool would you consider indispensable for your work?
I use Zbrush all day every day. I do not only sculpt in Zbrush but often create textures and lowpoly models.
What would you recommend a beginner to start with and what to avoid? What would you have told yourself when you were starting out?
“Art is never finished, only abandoned” – Leonardo Da Vinci
I used to consider myself a perfectionist; however it was a detriment to my work. For a very long time I was never able to present my work confidently as it was always a practice study or incomplete. People hire for reliability not potential.
Being able to finish a project, even something that seems simple takes a long time, particularly in 3D. To actually finish works I had to stop letting perfection get in the way of completion. To remedy this I set strict time limitations and defined goals for my personal projects. Once I had a good understanding of how to finish works I could reintegrate an attitude of perfectionism as I was finally able to gage the time and effort required.
Your value as an artist is only as good as people’s perception of it. Lastly produce and share work, market yourself even if you only do the work for fun, you never know what may come of it.
What/who are your influences in life?
The old masters such as Michelangelo have always been a great study resource. My colleagues have influenced me by showing me what it means to be professional. Special effects studios such as Weta Digital have encouraged me to pursue work in this field by capturing my imagination, making the fictional appear real and showing the incredible potential of the digital arts medium.
My interest in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ has influenced my artistic taste and encouraged me to always be creative and different. For this reason I often try to implement optical illusions, positive and negative space into designs. I find the weird to be wonderful.
How do you take a break from work? What are your hobbies?
I am fortunate that my job is also my hobby!
I also enjoy writing stories and designing extensive pitch documents for games and films. Sometimes an idea will pop into my head and I will obsess over it, until I write it down. Hopefully some of these will come to fruition in the future.
Away from the computer I enjoy being out in nature, particularly going on hikes. I also enjoy swimming, playing squash and long relaxing drives.
Are there any future projects you can tell us about?
I am in the pre-production stage of development for a short film I designed. It has been planned as a team production but I am still in the solo stages, however I am very excited to see how it pans out.
I am also working towards the creation of more illustrative designs for clothing and jewellery design which I intend to commercialise.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
With the modern advances in motion capture and 3D scanning it is now possible to streamline a production immensely. In five years I intend to be running a small company with a focus on production efficiency to create a 3D animated television show.
Check Out Ryan’s Website: https://www.artstation.com/artist/pirahna_rjkeates
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