Hello ZBC! It’s been quite a long time since I have posted anything here.
But I wanted to start sharing with this community of exceptional artists
the many tutorials and interviews that we are creating over at 3DTrainer.
Thank you to Pixologic and all of the ZBrush users out there for an endless
supply of inspiration.
- So Geert, tell us where you are living these days.
I live in a small medieval town near Antwerp, Belgium. - Did you have any hobbies or inspirations growing up that help lead you into what you do today?
Art has always been in my life. My father , Henri Melis has always been drawing and painting, as did my grandfather ,Joseph Melis before him. As a child, I spent hours in my dad’s studio, while he was painting. I would be drawing or browsing through his library; a huge collection of books, art books and comics. He introduced me to the classic masters like Rubens, Rembrandt, Brueghel, Michelangelo, Da Vinci,***8230; . In 1979 he bought the book “The Studio” with artwork by Jeffrey Jones, Michael Kaluta, Barry Windsor Smith, Bernie Wrightson, I don’t know many hours I’ve spent browsing through it’s pages, copying artwork and wishing one day I would be as good as those guys. When I was between ages 14 - 18, I read every Stephen King book available, watched every John Carpenter and George Romero movie. I Followed Rick Baker’s, Dick Smith’s and Tom Savini’s sfx works through the pages of Fangoria magazine. I remember being an avid collector of everything Richard Corben related. In those years Alien and Blade Runner made a lasting impression. Dave Mckean’s Arkham Asylum, has always been a favourite :I love the way he experiments with different materials and techniques ***8211;thinks outside the box / tries to break the mold. During those years, Blue Velvet came to my attention and made my an instant David Lynch fan. When I was between 18 and 24, advances in the field of cgi caught my interest: I have been following the works of Pixar and ILM ever since I first saw Luxo jr and Terminator 2. When it comes to modern and contemporary art, I got a lot of cues from Bauhaus / Bauhaus related artists and teachers and Joseph Beuys.
Have you had any formal training that made you the artist you are today? How did you become so good at what you do?
I have always been drawing for as long as I can remember, but I have to thank my dad for encouraging me to attend drawing classes on weekends and Wednesday afternoons when I was between ages 11-17. I remember not being very motivated at the time, but I did pick up the basics in perspective drawing, sight sizing and pencil rendering. Between ages 18 and 22…
Read the rest of this interview and more at 3DTrainer.com
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