Henry Paskov Q+A

[ragupasta]

Hi there.

I have been in touch with Henry "Wanderer" Pashkov, to ask him a few questions about his art works, and a few other things, so enjoy this little Q+A, as I most certainly have done.



1.Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? (Age, where you live, ect, ect).

I am 37 years old. I live and work in Russia. Taganrog town near Rostov-on-Don city. Not married. Received higher education in mathematics. Later gained diploma of the candidate of physical-mathematical sciences. I've been fond of computer graphics since 1998. It was a great hobby until two years ago, when I was lucky to get a job in this area.

2. Are you self taught in Photoshop, or did you take a course? If you took a course, how was it?, and was it worth it’s money?

Yes, everything I know and use in my work I gained from books and tutorials I could find on the net.

3. 2D, or 3D graphics. Which do you like/use the most, and why?

Essentially it is 3D graphics. Although last couple of years I've shifted great deal into using combined 3D and 2D. I guess prime examples of that are my works “Retribution” and “Outpost”. As a continuation of that direction, I've came to work with matte painting. By the way, “Tunnel” is my debut work in this area. The second one was the “Tollgate” piece.




4.Do you work full-time for a company, or are you a free-lancer?

Currently I'm on a chief position in “Industrial Design” company, RosSpecTech Ltd. Most of the work I carry out is essentially has to deal with printed advertisements and design.
My free time is devoted to other projects as freelance work.

5. What kind of area does your work enter? (Games, films, gallery.)

It's hard to emphasize a concrete area. For instance during the last year I've participated in a couple of game projects as a concept artist, modeler and texture artist. But I also participate in architectural visualization projects, make art for movie and toon business. I also do design work for advertisements and write lessons for galleries.

6.Your latest piece, “Toll-gate”. What was your inspiration for that piece, and why?

I am a big fan of Akira Kurosawa's art. And for a long time I wanted to create something in a spirit of his creative art.



7.How long does a matte paining of this quality take you?

I have spent about 10 days on the “Tunnel” piece. It took me 4 weeks to bring the “Tollgate” scene to the look I was satisfied with

8. I myself love the art that is matte painting, what tips, tricks, or advice can you give some one like me, to get better at matte painting?

Always do the preliminary outline of what you intend to to create.
So that ideas and plot would achieve certain “wholeness”.
This would serve as a plan for your initial idea that will help to keep you focused on it.
Mostly this should represent the feel and mood you want to portray in your work.
And of course don't afraid to change things and try them over and over again

9. “Tunnel”, that was a great piece of work, what tips, and tricks did you use to make that scene.

During this work I tried to get the look of “Specularity”, but at the same time I didn't want to work to loose the realistic feel to it. So except books and lessons on painting, I studied books on photography.



10.The colour correction in the tunnel scene is very good. What do you look for, to help you along with colour correction?

Commencing a work on new project, I am always trying to get into a certain emotional state. For that I read books and watch films on that topic. As a result I get a lot of new ideas and concepts that I immediately try to mockup. These concepts serve as a starting point while creating the atmosphere in my works, as well as a certain color scheme of the image.



11. Who is your favourite artist, and why?

Oh, there are just too many of them. An enumeration of all of them will take much more space than this whole interview :-).

But if I were to begin this list it would look like that:
Dylan Cole
Steven Hägg-Ståhlberg
Philip Straub
Jeremy Cook
Kent Matheson
Christopher Stoski
Tim Warnock
Dark Hoffman
Alan Sonneman
Ron Crabb
Olga Antonenko
Sergey Skachkov
Soa Lee
Alp Altiner

... the list goes on...



12. Do you use Photoshop or Painter?. Which is more and why?

Mostly I'm using Photoshop. This is a 2D package I know reasonably well, as I'm constantly using it for design sketches and texturing work. And now it serves me for matte-painting works.

13.What 3D package do you use?

It 3D Studio MAX, but I also have the skills of working in Maya and Lightwave.

14.If you had 1 piece of advice to give, what would it be, and why?

Do not scruple to ask the advice from other people. In the end, studying of something new is always fun but also a laborious task.

I have several friends, whose I call "the loved critics".
This people whose opinion I value, and whose advices I always perceive with attention, because they are always useful.

I would like to say a big "thanks" to Henry Pashkov, for letting me contact him, and arrange this Q+A.
You have excellent skills, and I wish you all the best for the future.

[Bertie]

Nice one Scoop! And thanks Wanderer for taking part

[Firestorm]

Excellent post and info.

[Kris]

Great read, Pesto. You're doing a great job.

D3D

[olblue]

a fantastic article - I have to admit that I really want to see more of this quality.

[BiroBoy]

That was a damn good interview mate, hell of a good read.

I might have a go myself at some point

[ragupasta]

Thanksfor the kind words guy's, but it's wanderer that should recieve the credit.

Excellent work indeed!!

[Wanderer]

Thank you for your commentarys.
Much pleasantly that my work liked You.

[3dusers]

Great post, useful info, Thanks.

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3d graphic

[StJoris]

That was an interesting bit of text to read