Show, Don’t Tell: The Art of Mr. Alex Hagen
Humble and economical with words, Mr. Alex Hagen is an artist who knows what he wants but is not loud about it. He keeps it low key and lets his works speak for him. And based on his works online, one can definitely say that he has the talent and the skill to get his artistic vision across.
So let’s get to know Mr. Hagen through this short but insightful feature and find out how he had been able to turn his passion into his everyday life.
Xeno Creatives (XC): How did you get involved in the 3D industry? What was that one moment that led you to decide that you are going to take it seriously?
Alex Hagen (AH): I got involved when I was studying at the university. I got tired of doing graphic design so I considered other paths, like video mapping or ArchiViz. These seemed interesting so I went ahead.
XC: Would you consider yourself a fully-fledged 3D artist? What were the things that you had to go through?
AH: I guess fully-fledged is a bit too much–but yes–kind of. While this is the case, I do recognize that my anatomy skills lack some techniques and sometimes I still struggle with proportions and volumes. I had to go through a lot of tests of determination and consistency such as me wanting to finish everything on the same day (rigging, texturing, retopo and the like. But sometimes, it’s best to wait and to observe things from another perspective. It can be very insightful.
XC: What or who influenced you the most?
AH: Various 3D artists around the web, specifically Vitaly Bulgarov and Maciej Kuciara. These guys were and still are my main artistic inspiration.
XC: What’s your day in production like?
AH: Being freelance is somewhat hard to manage at times, so if I have several projects I prioritize. While I do dedicate the same amount of time to each of my projects, I give greater attention to the interesting ones.
XC: What are the common challenges that a 3D artist like you encounter when working in a project?
AH: I think retopo and baking are some of the most common challenges.
XC: What’s your biggest or most exciting project to date?
AH: It’s a project based on the Machinen Krieger saga which I’m working on at the moment. It became exciting after the client told me “Feel free to add your fantasy to it, consider ‘Tank Girl’ and ‘Borderlands’ and simply have fun.”
XC: What would you say are your strengths, your edge as a 3D artist?
AH: Mainly hard surface stuff, vehicles, weapons, robots, mecha etc.
XC: If you weren’t a 3D artist today, what would you be?
AH: Probably an Illustrator, not a concept artist. More like your traditional illustrator.
Want to see more of Mr. Alex Hagen’s works? Click here!
