I recently came across the work of Sylvain Bernard aka Mestaty, a freelance Blender artist from France. He worked for some top-tier clients, including HTC, nVidia and Parrot.
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? Where are you located?
Hi everyone, my name is Sylvain, I live in Angers, France and i started to do 3D modeling in Blender since Blender 2.32 in (...wow) 2004.
Can you tell us about what aspects of 3D you specialize in?
I do all kind of stuff in Blender but I am specialized in modeling and texturing. I do a lot of hard surface object and 3D environement and I do all my work for real time use.
How did you learn how to design in 3D?
Starting, I learn many things by myself, how to use Blender and what can be achieve with it. I read a lot about basic 3D stuff like Uvs, normal map, particles etc... At the time i wasn't really aware of tutorial existence. Then I entered a Game art school it helps me understand things better and make me discover some new technics and constraints. From now i use the internet to find all the thing I still have to learn.
What is your favorite Blender feature?
My favorite Blender feature, is the fact that the software evolve so fast. It's always very reliable and pretty stable. I tried some very expensive 3D package and Blender is way more stable and comforting than those. And it's free !!
Do you currently have a job in the industry?
Yes, I am freelance, and i work closely with Sketchfab. We work for improving the website for 3D artist needs, and I do some 3D models used to promote the website and it's features.
You've been doing some high-profile work. Can you tell us more about some of these projects?
Most of the success i get from my model is always due to timing. I got to model as fast as possible after the announce of the devices. It's sometime quite hard mostly because of the lack of picture and sometimes because of the time difference between France and the country in which the announcement is made.
Which work are you most proud of?
I really like the nVidia Shield, even if it was a pretty difficult model to work on, because of the shape of the model and the lack of reference picture at the time, I am really satisfied with how it looks.
Do you have a tip for beginning 3D modelers?
Test things, try anything you want. Personaly I don't consider finishing a project to be very important. As soon as you learn something it's worth it.
Have fun, don't block yourself on a project you no longer want to work on. Draw a lot, you will always get to the point where your drawing skill will be important for texturing, sculpting or enhance the look of your render.
Thanks Sylvain!
Links
4 Comments
I felt better after reading him say that finishing a project is not important.
I have so many unfinished projects.
Nice work, really like that 3D web app to see and check out the models.
Beau travail sylvain, il serait interressant de se rencontrer car nous avons un studio à Nantes: Pictofilmo.
Could you please add an English translation to your comment? BlenderNation caters to an international audience, and English is the main language. You're welcome to publish comments in other languages, as long as they contain an English translation as well.
Thanks!
In english, I would say to Sylvain that his job is nice and I have invited him to contact me because he leaves near me and between BlenderNation's citizens we could talk about commons interests !