Endearing Characters by a Serious Artist: The Digital Craft of Mr. Fabio Wasques
We can’t help but be thrilled with Mr. Fabio Wasques’ works. There is a certain freshness to his works despite the pieces being popular icons. Originality? Maybe. Talent? Absolutely.
It is evident that his adorable re-imaginings are a product of strict discipline with the various software that he had handled. One point of interest in our interview is his experience in having to work with television shows and commercials. This being thrown under his experiences are indicative of his versatility as an artist, making us want to visit Brazil to catch his projects on their local T.V.
But seeing his works here alone is already a visual experience. And judging from what we have seen, Mr. Wasques is definitely going to produce more works that will be noteworthy.
So join Xeno Creatives as we sit down and read through Mr. Fabio Wasques’ interview and find out how he was able to produce his exciting works of digital art.
Xeno Creatives (XC): ZBrush brought a lot to the industry. What was it like using the software for the first time? What processes did you have to learn to be skilled in it?
Fabio Wasques (FW): ZBrush is a great software. I remember to getting lost with the interface the first time I used it. So many buttons! But after some sculpts, you get used to it. It’s very fast to work with and you can draw ideas and explore shapes in a really easy way. Before trying to learn ZBrush, I learned traditional software like Cinema4D and 3ds Max. I first learned box-modeling and hard surface modeling. I think it’s good to start with those kinds of software, so you can get used to work in a 3D space.
XC: How does ZBrush help you progress further in your craft?
FW: ZBrush allowed me to work fast on my characters. It’s very easy and intuitive to test shapes and silhouettes. That’s good, because it allows me to focus on the artistic side of the project.
XC: When did you know that you’ll be using ZBrush to create 3D art? Would you want to expand to other media or do you want to just focus on it? What were there other media that you explored?
FW: I normally use ZBrush when I have to model anything that is organic. I use other software for hard surface, texture, and render. For hard surface, I prefer using 3Ds Max, for texture Substance Painter, and V-Ray for render.
XC: How is the knowledge in human anatomy important when working with ZBrush?
FW: It’s very important to know anatomy when working with character modeling. That knowledge is important even if you are modeling some stylized cartoon model. It allows you to model convincing structures for your character even if you are modeling some creature that doesn’t exist in our world, like a Minotaur for example.
XC: Do you see yourself working in the movie and television industry?
FW: I’ve already worked in some TV shows from Brazil and modeled characters for some commercials from other countries. It was awesome! For sure I intend to work even more in movie and also games industry.
XC: Was delving into the craft really a passion to begin with or a mere necessity?
FW: I always loved everything about art. In fact, I started my career as a Designer, working with Motion and Web Design. During this journey, I discovered 3D art, and started to study Cinema 4D. I found myself amazed by the possibilities and started to study it more and more.
XC: Your works over at ArtStation are AWESOME, AMAZING, and ADORABLE. Your concepts are really promising. Do you have any favorite pieces? What are they and why?
FW: It’s hard to choose one, but for sure “Rockabilly Girl” is a very important one. This piece is the first one that gave me some visibility in specialized sites and magazines and it opened some important doors for me. I still have so much to learn and to do, and I try to bring something new in each piece. “Samurai of the Leek” and my most recent work, the “Wonder Woman”, are other two pieces that I like too.
XC: What other pieces do you want to create?
FW: I want to create other pieces based in the geek world, but with a cartoon style. Maybe something from Star Wars or Marvel Universe. I also want to create some game characters designed by me.
XC: Whom do you consider your influences? What was it that made you look up to them?
FW: There are a lot of great artists that always inspire me and I follow them on ArtStation, Facebook, Instagram, and so on. But there are two, from Brazil, that are my main ones: Victor Hugo and Pedro Conte. Their work is amazing, and since the first time I saw it, I thought “I would like to do something like that one day”
XC: Do you also see yourself in Game Character Design?
FW: I love Game Character Design and for sure it would be great to work with that! I already produced some pieces for the game industry, but I would like to do it more often for sure.
XC: If you weren’t a 3D artist today, what do you think you’d be specializing in?
FW: I probably would be a Web or Motion Designer.
XC: What advice or message can you give young aspirants wanting to enter the craft/industry?
FW: Keep studying and work hard. On this industry, we have to produce every day to get better. Do personal works where you can explore new techniques and to try new things. If you always study to improve, that means your best art is yet to come, so keep pushing to find it out! It will be wonderful!
Thank you very much Mr. Fabio Wasques for this opportunity! We wish the future career only the best.
See more of Mr. Fabio Wasques’ awesome works by clicking here!
