Mr. Wandah Kurniawan Prasetiyo: A Man Who Will Not Settle for Less
If a man is indignant enough, a strong desire to achieve something espouses dedication. And with dedication, one can never go wrong.
Nobody knows this more than our featured Zbrush artist, Mr. Wandah Kurniawan Prasetiyo.
Starting out with 3ds Max, he came into the realization that he needed to take things further with Zbrush.
His desire to be better with his craft compelled him to step out of his comfort zone. Evident throughout our conversation, Mr. Prasetiyo proved to be a man who will not settle for less. Carrying with him a childhood dream and a resolve that he would work towards achieving it, Mr. Prasetiyo learned the ropes to the software and rendered quite an amazing body of work.
Xeno Creatives had been fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to interview the young artist. Here, Mr. Prasetiyo shares his experiences and aspirations with what started out to be sheer childhood interest.
Xeno Creatives (XC): We understand that developments in the industry such as Zbrush came in just recently. Unlike producing visual art by pencil and ink on paper, much technical know-how is required for the software. As such, what processes did you have to learn to be skilled in Zbrush? As a dedicated artist, how did this help you to better in your craft?
Wandah Kurniawan Prasetiyo (WKP): Before I learned how to use Zbrush, I used 3ds Max to create my models. Then I realized that to create better details, I needed to know how to use Zbrush. The first time I used Zbrush I really liked it, although the interface looked quite different compared to 3Ds Max. So I watched a lot of online tutorial from YouTube and Zclassroom. Zbrush felt more flexible and less technical compared to 3ds Max’s polygon modeling.
XC: When did you realize that you wanted to pursue the discipline in Zbrush? Would you want to expand to other media or do you want to just focus on it?
WKP: After comparing those two softwares, and since I wanted to focus on character modeling, I realized that I needed Zbrush to add more details to my models and to make my workflow faster. Right now, I’m focusing on modeling with Zbrush and 3ds Max. Now, I am learning better anatomy and detailing. In the future I would like to learn more about the production of toys and collectible statues.
XC: Is it integral for you to be masterful in human anatomy when working with Zbrush?
WKP: Yes I think to be a character artist, it is really important to understand anatomy—how the muscle works.
XC: Were there other media that you explored? What were these?
WKP: Yes! I like drawing; I created animation, also games!
XC: Did delving into the art start-off as a want or a necessity?
WKP: I really wanted to do work that involves art since I was young. I wanted to be a comic artist and designer back then. Then I found myself learning 3D and I really liked it. I really wanted to do it for living.
XC: Your works on Tioxic.com and Facebook are truly amazing. Getting to see them was such a visual treat! Picking which our favorites are among your Femme Fatales, dinosaurs, Koronos and Azrael Batman–to mention a few—proved difficult. Do you have favorite pieces? What are they and why?
WKP: One of my favorite was my latest work, Star Platinum vs Hierophant green, since it was from my favorite anime, “Jojo Bizzare Adventure”. I learned how to make dynamic poses from it. Also Kinetiquettes’s “Sons of Sparda”, it’s my first sculpt that was produced into statues. I put a lot of effort on those, and I am really happy with the result.
XC: Who or what can you consider as your influences? What attracted you to them?
WKP: I really like the dinosaur from “Jurrassic Park”, it’s one of the movies that influenced me. It made me like drawing dinosaurs and monsters. Also, I got inspiration from a lot of amazing character artists like Daniel Bel, Steve Lord, Gio Nakpil, Rafael Grassetti, and a lot more.
XC: What other pieces do you want to create?
WKP: More dinosaurs and monsters. I also want to practice more on making dynamic figures.
XC: Aside from rendering characters across different pop culture universes and your own amazing concepts, do you also see yourself getting involved in Game Character Design?
WKP: Yes I worked on some AAA game titles before. I like doing high poly characters model for games and I am not really a fan of low poly (retopology). But overall, I enjoy the process of creating a game model.
XC: If you weren’t doing what you’re doing now, what do you think you’d be specializing in instead?
WKP: Maybe I’ll grow organic strawberries or another fruit or veggies in a farm. I’d may even be a wood sculptor.
XC: What advice or message can you give young aspirants wanting to enter the craft/industry?
WKP: It’s better to focus on what you aim for. If you want to be a 3D characters artist for a AAA game, you must have models with good topology and texture. If you want to work on collectible statues, you need to have posed models with pedestal or interchangeable parts. Presentation is really important. Having only a single image in your portfolio is less attractive compared to having that image be taken from various angles to show the details of your model. Also to be characters artist try to learn anatomy as early as possible; it’s really important.
Xeno Creatives is more than honored to have had this chance to talk to an uncompromising artist. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors!
Want to see more of Mr. Wandah Kurniawan Prasetiyo’s works? You may visit, https://www.artstation.com/tioxic or follow him through Facebook by clicking here!
