What got you interested in digital art and creating 3D content?

I came to 3D late. I made illustration images for my pleasure and often I couldn't find elements to populate my scenes. I started making them for myself. And then I won a competition for the VUE software. Not only did I end up with new software that I had won, but I realized that my art was popular and gained some popularity at the time.

I wondered why not sell my own creations, my own content... and here it is today.

Which one gives you a bigger thrill? Creating 3D Content, Creating Artwork, or both?

It's a nice question. Initially, I imagine a final rendering image. I see a scene and there comes the desire to create. I take pleasure in the production because I always imagine my final image, so I add a detail here, another there and I build my scene. Sometimes it's difficult because it's a very technical part, my first reward is texturing. I love this step, I'm jubilant when I'm at this stage. Finally when my product is ready and I stage characters, adding the light is actually like a reward. I wait for my rendering like a child in front of his Christmas tree his gifts! And then comes the final touch of work on the image. I love these moments, even if I'm never happy with the final result.

Do you feel driven by your desire to create or is it something that just pops up from time to time?

I have a thousand ideas and I don't have enough time to create everything I want. So all the time, it's like an extra organ in my belly! I need to create and like all artists, I am a real sponge. I see an image, an architectural achievement, a design, a fashion photo, a film... the desire is born in me according to the sensations. A concrete example, at the moment I have a song running through my head. I want to make a product and I'm doing it; I'm thinking about it as I answer this question. 

When did you start to realize that you had artistic/creative ability?

At a very young, I already knew how to draw and paint, it seemed easy and obvious. I realized that my mode of expression was the image when I left a cinema where I had seen a film with friends. (Summer of 42 to be precise). I said this is what I want to do, I know I can do it. I was 11 and they all looked at me with wide eyes!

What is in your digital toolbox? What applications do you rely on for artwork and/or 3D content creation? Especially your “can’t live without” software apps.

I use Cinema4D and ZBrush for modeling. For clothing, I use Marvelous designer. I used to work with it. Of course, I like the rendering work with DAZ, but the software that "I couldn't live without" is Substance Painter and Photoshop. 

Digital Artists and Content creators form a wide spectrum. Are you formally educated, self-taught, or both in digital asset creation?

I am self-taught. Although I regularly follow tutorials to learn. However, I think that with regard to the techniques facing creation, sometimes the rules are made to be transgressed. Accidents sometimes give beautiful things.

What did you want to be when you were a kid?

Movie director. When I was 11 my father gave me a camera for my communion. Then there was the Cinema sequence where the film I saw was a revelation...I won a lot of festivals very early on; which confirmed my desire to be a film director. truly a calling.

Did you end up in a related profession or something totally different?

I became a movie director. I have more than 1000 of them to my credit (fiction, music videos, advertising. A lot of commercials, ads, movies… too many (laughs)!! I'm preparing a film for Netflix, a feature film, with my producer we are in the phase of casting but it's extremely long... too long. But when I'm in my 3D software I feel like I'm on a movie set, a studio but with much more docile actors! Besides, I light my scenes like in the cinema, I arrange my lights like a director of photography would do in a film. The advantage of 3D is that it is not necessary to have a legion to create. I am alone and I like it. I found another string to my bow and I'm not ready to give up, I'm too passionate about 3D.

Is there anything that you would like the Renderosity community to know about you in particular or a general statement you’d like to make about your digital work?

Sometimes people write to me to suggest ideas or to ask me to make products. I like this approach; it opens the mind. There are very, very talented artists in this community and sometimes I would like to collaborate with them. Finally, I would be curious to have criticisms and suggestions concerning my promotional images, this would certainly allow me to improve. My God, there are artists who release remarkable promotional images.