| Its that time again, when all the ghosts and ghouls come
out to play. Who better to join in the fun, other than the Dark
Lord of Inspiration, the Spirit-Master, himself, last years
Halloween Contest winner, Frank Picini [fpicini]. Come join
with me, as we explore the muse behind the man ...
Congratulations again, on winning last years Renderosity Community Halloween contest. What was the inspiration for your masterpiece, Deciduous Man? Actually the original title was Evidence of Autumn. I was inspired by a song from Genesis of the same title. I had been meaning to illustrate something that would express the whole fall feeling within my style something surrealistic as well as a bit dark. I recreated an older image for the contest and took the concept a little further. Thats when I also came up with the new concept and title Deciduous Man. A place where man can reflect beside nature, and shed his problems within nature with hopes to rejuvenate again. Deciduous; to lose or shed your leaves. 
Last Years Halloween Contest Winner by Frank
Picini [fpicini] I seemed to adapt pretty easily to computers. Ive taught
myself most of the programs that I know. I feel that with all the
new software out there, an artist now has many tools to create. Of
course having a good design sense and a knowledge of color and
lighting is a must. Now I look at the creation process in many
dimensions. I come up with a concept and design it, but you need to
have the foresight to determine which programs to use and how to
composite it. It never hurts to be able to save as many versions as
you want also. You cant do that with a canvas. I look at digital
art very seriously now. I also think the world is finally
recognizing, or should I say accepting, digital works of art and
illustration as real art. Ive been involved with the Macworld
digital art contest for many years now. I have been fortunate to be
amongst the winners the last 3 years in a row. I also got to speak
on a panel of artists at Macworld 2003 in NYC on the techniques and
processes of creating award winning digital illustrations. Do
you feel that working with promotions, production animations, and
creating graphics for a television network has helped or stifled
your artistic creativity? Good question. Most of the people I
work with are always commenting on how can a style of artwork, such
as mine, come from the same person they work with. Actually I would
say that my knowledge of fine art and illustration, lighting and
color has actually helped me at my job whether its a promo or
any 3D animation. Fortunately teaching myself 3D animation software
at work, in turn has helped me in my personal Illustration work. So
you can say that they both helped each side grow and learn new
things. When I do news graphics that are 2D illustrations I often
go to a 3D program to create something and then bring it back into
my 2d program of choice. Again knowing how to use a production
pipeline really helps to create and composite much faster, and with
less problems. There are times when I have to create an animation,
for example, of a plane near miss at an airport. I have to pre-plan
my plane Targa sequences from my 3D program, and as they are
rendering Im compositing in After Effects with other elements at
the same time. Then I need to bring it all together with any
Photoshop elements and any special effects from within After
Effects. Plus, everything has to match an audio track from the
Reporter. Having this knowledge of using a pre-planed pipeline
approach, and knowing which program to use for certain elements, is
important for meeting deadlines at work. My approach to
illustrations is exactly the same. So, my work experience and
personal work help each other equally. Through your work, you
have access to a large variety of computer graphic programs, which
are your favorite? My all time favorite 3D program is Cinema
4D. I do all my modeling and rendering from within that program. I
use Poser all the time at work for medical illustrations. I
composite all the poser obj files within Cinema 4D, and then export
renders into After Effects projects from C4D. Cinema 4D allows you
to export a complete multi-pass render to After Effects with
separate passes assigned to different animating layers, which
allows you to manipulate the individual elements in After Effects.
So, those are two of my favorite applications both at work and at
home. Photoshop is my third favorite. Almost everything I do, goes
through Photoshop for its final completion, with the exception of
3D animations, which are completed in After Effects. Do you
currently create your art exclusively with the computer ... do you
miss the feel of a paintbrush or the smell of the paints? Yes,
all my personal artwork I create is done on the computer. I do miss
painting on a canvas. The one thing I dont miss is the preparation
and clean up stages. I love the fact that you can save so many
versions of your artwork in any stage that you want and never have
to wash brushes. I always use a Wacom tablet to paint and airbrush.
As far as the smell goes I do miss that. Ive always used acrylics
to paint and we all know how fast they dry. Its a blessing to know
you can leave your artwork at any stage on the computer and
comeback to it anytime and pick up right where you left off. You
have a unique artistic style, often delving into the darker side of
your imagination please introduce us to your muse. When
people always ask me that question, Im always at a loss of words
on how to really explain where the inspiration comes from. So
heres a go at it. As far as I can remember my art has always been
surrealistic in nature. My art grew up inspired by Salvador Dali.
When I started creating art, around ten or twelve years old, I was
in awe of his work. Everything I created from that point on I tried
to approach it the way I thought he might. I even sent him artwork
for his birthday, a couple of times, where he stayed in NYC. Dreams
also had a big influence, and still do, on my artwork although
when I was younger, it was harder to transcribe them to a canvas.
When I went away to college to get a BFA degree, my work progressed
to more of a psychological or metaphysical nature. As an art
student, the schools counselors always felt we needed to take
courses other than art to make us well rounded.
A Thousand Lights won't Lift the Dark by
Frank Picini [fpicini]We invite you to visit  "Lets Talk" with Dee-Marieis a monthly featured column by Dee-Marie: Senior Staff Writer, and Managing Editor of Renderosity's Front Page News |
Let's Talk With Frank Picini [fpicini]
Sep 18, 2005 at 12:00 am by deemarie
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