Interview with Toni Bratincevic

Toni, thank you for taking the time to provide www.eyesonpixel.com with this interview.

Please, introduce yourself?

I’m Toni Bratincevic, currently living in Los Angeles, USA. 3 years ago I came to California from Croatia because I was hired by Blur Studio where I work today. I work personally and professionally as a 3D artist. While at my work I have a lot of creative freedom, you are always doing product for someone else so my personal art is a place where I am completely expressing myself and it gives some sort of counter balance to my professional work.
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Are you a self taught artist or have you been to a art school?

Unfortunately I didn’t have the option to go to art school when I was younger so I went to college for information science where I got my diploma. During my college years and few years of high school I was doing 3D graphics as my personal hobby. But at the time I got diploma I decided to pursue the job of being a 3D artist, and that’s how I ended up where I’m today. Since I didn’t go to art school I knew that way ahead of me would be hard and painfull, but in the end I learned a lot of skills on my own, and at the same time I learned a lot about programing, organization and information systems on my college, so I would say that even if it was a harder way to go, in the end I know so much more than just being a 3D artist.
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Where does your inspiration come from?

My main source of inspiration comes from everydays life. I can just read a magazine, good book, surf on internet or take a walk in the nature when new ideas will get into my head. It’s just that I enjoy life and I find every part of it very inspirational. Sometimes it’s the pain you feel, pleasure or something else, but in the end the basic thing that drives me are emotions.
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Who is your idol, do you have one?

Actually I can’t say I have an idol but there are some great artists that inspire me and set the limit for the quality that I pursue. There is actually one French artist that I really respect, his name is Gilles Tran and he has something really interesting end emotional in his work… I remember him because at the time I started with 3D and was using POVRay to do my illustrations he was the one that impressed me the most. I really liked the stories attached to his work and in time those small stories became integral part of my own workflow and the main source for motivation when doing illustrations.
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How does your job as an artist influence on your everyday life?

It makes you look differently on everything around you. Being an artist means seeing so much more details in everyday life. Something that a lot of people would find disturbing, artist can see beauty in it. In my case I don’t like shiny things, clean, new, fresh… there is for example more life in old dirty factory or shoes or rusty car than in the new one, you can feel the presence of someones past in old used objects.
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What kind of hardware and software you use?

At home I have PC quad core 2.4GHz Intel, 8GB of RAM, 22 inch monitor and Wacom Intuos 3 tablet. It’s not high end machine but it’s enough to get me what I want. At my work I have dual quad core machine that’s more than 2 times faster than the one at home.
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Tell us about your typical work day?

I usually plan everything ahead for the whole week, so I already know what will I do over the day. Since my tasks are environment modeling and scene assembly, that’s what I am doing most of the days. Environment modeling is the first stage of the process, you collect reference on internet, make some concept sketch or you get some from concept department. Then you do first blocking of the scene you will be working on, after that I do modeling and texturing, and once environment is done final lighting is created and scene assembly starts. Scene assembly basically means taking characters, integrating them in your scene applying animation, getting cameras and finally compositing the shot you are working on. So it basically depends on the stage where are you at.
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What are your favourite websites?

CGsociety is probably the place where I spend most of my time on internet, great forum, a lot of high quality work and so much usefull information. The other one is www.3dtotal.com which is basically very similar to CGSociety. www.raph.com is a great place with high quality work from 3D Artists. I also like to spend my time on www.3dhr.net , Croatian community for 3D artists with very nice people there, some of them I have known for more than 8 years.
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Where and how do you see yourself in five years?

Maybe I will be working at Blur studio, maybe have my own company or move somewhere else… who knows, life tends to be very unpredictable. So I don’t make big plans, I just live on a daily basis and sometimes wonder what tomorrow will bring. But I know whatever happens I will always create personal art.
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What makes you happy?

Hanging out with my wife, taking a walk in nature or on the beach, reading about old computer games, science etc.
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Can You Please Describe Yourself In One Word ?

Hm… there is so much more in every person than one word can describe. Maybe after meeting someone and getting that first impression you can say one word that describes that person, so if we meet one day, maybe you can give me the answer to this question.
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Thank you very much for the interview.

Name: Toni Bratincevic
Date of Birth: February, 25, 1977
Location: Los Angeles, USA
Email: toni@interstation3d.com
Web: www.interstation3d.com