Virtual Reality for Artists The CreativeMindClass Blog
Virtual Reality artist, Collin Leix, talks about her creative evolution; from creating oil paintings to investigating the possibilities of VR art.
"Before I became a VR artist, started as an oil artist, focusing on portraits. Over the years this evolved when I began to become more interested in the concepts that go into making.
The development of an artist, starting with music, then classic art, to creating Metaverse
I'm a violinist, and I got really interested in the visual musical scores and different ways to interpret illustrations as musical directions. I also discovered I had synaesthesia, which is a neurologic condition that causes a blending of different senses - in my instance, numbers and colors. The experience caused me to play in the way I created images."
"In 2009 I began my Master's degree in Fine Arts at the University of Michigan, where we were encouraged to experiment extensively. I started as a painter and finished with a thesis project that was a huge installation on the ceiling with animated images projected onto the. My first animations that I worked with were simple stop-motion drawings using paint and paper, with the landscape as a subject matter. The work was so difficult as a medium I knew I wanted to explore it further.
After the completion of my master's thesis in 2012, I enrolled in a local community college to take a course on After Effects as well, and Since then I've mostly self-taught. I began exploring apps for art, Cinema4D, and have attempted a few cel, however I have focused mainly upon After Effects. I developed animations directly-to-client over the course of a couple of years. I ensured that I always did my own artful experiments in animation and put them online.
"I was dealing with a big health challenge and had a spell of depression. It frequently left me on the ground with my dog. That was what I thought. I set myself the challenge of creating something once a week regardless of whether it was only a few minutes to be able to see myself exactly where I was.
In 2018 , I was employed at the studio of animation Gunner located in Detroit, and have been working there ever since!"
What would you say about your style of art?
"Realism still has a place within my heart since the beginning of my career. In the past, my style has a bit more surrealism and a sense of fun as I continue to study what color means to communicate mood.
My style has absolutely evolved as well since joining the Gunner team. Gunner. It is common for us to work as a unit to promote diverse styles. This means that I am able to try out different styles that aren't mine individual styles. There are many ways to utilize loose brushwork, outlines, or simplifying designs are a few examples of what I've tried and continued to do afterward. As an example, the work "Crocus" is an amalgamation of drawing textures on three-dimensional forms. Both using realism as well as simple shapes, using VR modeling along with traditional Photoshop painting."
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"One reason I like working in the studio is because the boundaries that define me my style' and'me' are blurred. Consider the film 'Interruption' for example. I was invited to make an Instagram video to Gunner at the time I started. I wanted to use the surrealism of my work to illustrate what it's like to be at the forefront of making music, and what you may see within your head as well as the feeling of being interrupted.
When I worked on the animation, and a lot of the designing, my fantastic co-worker Ian Sigmon pushed me a LOT in the design of the characters. I wouldn't have got to these crazy, long arms and streamlined body forms all by myself. This led us to realize that the woman's body can dissolve back into the forms when she starts playing again."
"I remember losing a high-school art contest due to my work because it weren't all that cohesive or had the same aesthetic. I believed that was the curse of my life, but it's turned out to prove to be a blessing given my current work."
What are the most important things to consider when creating your illustration?
"For me, it all has to come from a gut-feel. There's always a nugget of interest at the beginning of any new piece. sometimes it's a color combination I want to try out Sometimes it's a gesture, or a quote, or even a short story.
Something that marks my artwork is that I'm always exploring different mediums. At the moment, I'm in love with painting and drawing in Virtual Reality. We're also making an animated short at Gunner that runs the gamut of painting a cel using Photoshop, to 3D rendering, to sculpting within VR and then projecting paintings onto the sculpt. We've added a scene of the film, titled Sync, as an unofficial preview. It's Gunner's first film directed by a woman, and it's about three strangers who travel on an airplane and something unexpected that happens to them during the flight.
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What advice would you give to those who are just starting out in VR art?
"When looking at any technology that is new it is always my intention to have a little image or a story of what I want to make before I begin. It's probably a suggestion that I can offer anyone who wants to expand their skill set - do an art frame, or make an idea of a sketch or story you want to do before incorporating the latest tech. Then you have a purpose or a "why". In other words, you're just cruising around tutorials, taking on different styles and narratives of others.
Here's a piece we made to launch an event called Blend at Gunner which took place in 2019 In which I designed and sculpted many of the environment elements in Virtual Reality. I'd tried sculpting some time ago before, but once I knew the right 'why', my experimentation and skills expanded exponentially. Below is a video overview of the scenes I designed."
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"I'm very active in Instagram and I've also created an instruction on how to recreate your illustrations in 3D space with Tilt Brush. You don't have to have a degree in VR art yet However, you need to possess a VR headset take the class, but I guide people through the steps from there. I put SO MUCH LOVE to this!"
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