Renderosity Artists at ARTronica - Interview with John Hoagland [JHoagland]

The Orlando Science Center, in Orlando, Florida, held a ten day video game and simulation extravaganza, Otronicon. The January event also included a juried digital art exhibition, fittingly called ARTronica. Guest Columnist, Jennifer Jonas [MorriganShadow] caught up with two of Renderosity's artists whose works were selected for the exhibit. This week she presents an interview with John Hoagland [JHoagland].

How did you get started in 3D? I've always enjoyed computer graphics. When I was a kid, I would write mini-programs on an Apple II to draw images on the screen. Around 1998, a friend of mine introduced me to some graphics programs like Poser, Ray Dream Studio, and Bryce. I was hooked immediately and started playing around with them. It took me a few years until I was ready to actually show my images to other people. Are you a professional artist, or is this more of a hobby for you? I started out as a hobbyist, making images and models for fun. Over the past two years, though, it's turned into a business. My modeling business evolved into Vanishing Point, which now has almost 100 products for sale and is a content provider for e-frontier's Content Paradise. The artwork side of my business has taken a little longer to develop since it took me a while to find my "style". Do you create art in other media? Not at all. Digital media is great because there are no messy tools: there's no paint to spill and no ink to clean up. I can also create artwork at any size simply by re-rendering the scene. Plus, I'm terrible at drawing people with a pen or pencil! What do you like most about 3D art? The way the computer handles all the basics like perspective and lighting. It's much easier to create artwork when you can concentrate on being creative and not worry about little details like the proportions of a character's face. What is your typical subject matter? My artwork is usually "pin-up" or "portrait" style, using my own character, called Tabby.

JHoagTabbyPortrait3 Who or what is your inspiration? This may sound weird, but I get my inspiration by seeing an interesting photo in a magazine, then posing my character to match, and then seeing how the image develops from there. Sometimes the resulting image is just "okay", but then when I adjust the camera angle, it becomes a "great" image. What do you hope others take away from your art? I'd like to show people that "computer artwork" is more than just fractal images or landscapes. Computer artwork can showcase people just as well as photography, though with digital people instead. What do you think you'd be doing if you weren't doing 3D art? I would probably still be in the computer field, probably in a programming job: either making computer applications or websites. What was your initial reaction when you found out you were accepted to be in the ARTronica gallery? My initial reaction was, "Uh, oh, there's no way I can do this." You see, the Otronicon staff sent out e-mails in the beginning of January to let everyone know they had been accepted. But it seems that their mail server wasn't working properly and I never received my acceptance letter. Tracey (one of the organizers) called me Wednesday afternoon asking if I could deliver my artwork the next day, to be set up in time for Friday's opening night. I told her that I hadn't prepared a framed print of my artwork for the show since I didn't even know I had been accepted. So, rather than being excited about being in the show, I was in a panic state to render a 24 inch x 36 inch version of my image and get it printed and get it over to the Orlando Science Center before the start of the show. Luckily, I was able to finish the image later that night, deliver it to Kinkos to be printed, frame it the next day, and then deliver it to the show (It took me about 15 minutes to drive to the Science Center). Did you enter, or were you "discovered" by the Otronicon? I entered Otronicon after my friend, mrsparky, saw it mentioned on Renderosity's front page and told me about it. Since I live in Orlando anyway, I thought it would be a good show to enter. What advice do you have to any budding artists, or artists who are hesitant to enter their art into big contests? Keep working on your skills, keep practicing, and keep entering contests. You never know when someone may discover you. Even though one contest may not be right, someone may see your art and suggest a better show, more suited to your style of art. We invite you to visit:

All supporting images are copyright, and cannot be
copied, printed, or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the artist.

A special thanks to contributing columnist, artist, MorriganShadow [Jennifer Jonas], for taking time out of her busy schedule as Renderositys DAZ|Studio, Poser, and Printing/Publishing Moderator. We invite you to view:
MorriganShadow's Gallery MorriganShadow's Free Stuff

February 27, 2006

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