Virtual Reality for Artists - The CreativeMindClass Blog
Virtual Reality artist Collin Leix, talks about her artistic evolution, beginning with oil-based paintings, she is now discovering the possibilities of VR art.
"Before I became an artist in VR, I began as an oil artist, focused on portraits. Over the years this evolved as I became more intrigued by the ideas that go into making.
The evolution of the artist; starting with music, then classic artto the creation of Metaverse
I'm a violinist and became interested in musical score illustrations; different ways to interpret illustrations as musical directions. I also discovered I had synaesthesia - a neurological condition that causes a blending of various senses, in my case, numbers, and even colors. It also caused me to play in the way I created images."
"In 2009 I started a Master's program of Fine Arts at the University of Michigan, where we were encouraged to experiment with a variety of techniques. I started with painting and ended by completing a thesis that consisted of a large installation the ceiling, with animations projected onto the. My first animations that I worked with were rudimentary stop-motion animations with paper and paint, with the landscape as a topic. It was so challenging as a medium that I was certain that I would want to explore it further.
After the completion of my master's thesis at the end of 2012, I enrolled in an area community college to learn about After Effects as well, and since then have learned a lot on my own. I started exploring art applications, Cinema4D, and have tried a bit of cel too, but have focused mainly upon After Effects. I made direct-to-client animations for several years, and made sure to always do my own creative experiments in animation and put them online.
"I suffered from major health issues and was going through a period of depression. It often had me lying on my floor, surrounded by my dog. That was what I thought. I challenged myself to make something once a week regardless of whether it wasn't a lot so that I could meet my goals of the place I really was.
In 2018 I was hired from the Animation Studio Gunner in Detroit I have been there since!"
How would you describe your art style?
"Realism is a constant in my heart , even from the beginning of my career. In the past, my style includes a touch of surrealism as well as humour which is why I'm always studying the ways color communicates mood.
My style has absolutely evolved in the time since I joined the Gunner team. Gunner. The Gunner team is often working together as a unit to promote various styles. As a result, I get to 'try out' styles that aren't my own. A few ways to use loose brushwork, outlines or reducing design elements are some examples of what I've tried and kept doing afterward. As an example, the work "Crocus" is a mix of painting textures over 3D forms, both with realism and simple forms, using VR modeling along with traditional Photoshop drawing."
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"One reason I love working in the studio is because the boundaries that define me as well as my personal style have been blurred. Take the video called 'Interruption' for example. I was asked to create an Instagram video for Gunner when I first started. I decided to employ some surrealism in order to show what it feels as being immersed in playing music, and what you may see through your mind's eyes - and then how it feels to be interrupted.
Although I was the one who did the animating and most of the design, my amazing coworker Ian Sigmon pushed me a A LOT when it came to design of the characters. I wouldn't have got to those crazy long arms and streamlined body forms on my own. We came to the conclusion that women's bodies can dissolve back into the forms when she starts to play again."
"I recall losing an high school art contest because my paintings were not all cohesive, or all the same style. I was convinced that this was the curse of my life, however it has turned out prove to be a blessing given what I'm doing now."
What's the secret to drawing your artwork?
"For me, it always must boil down to a gut feeling. There's always a nugget of intrigue at the beginning of any new piece. Sometimes it's just a color combo I'd like to explore, sometimes it starts with a gesture, or a quote, or even a short narrative.
The thing that makes my art distinctive is the fact that I'm always exploring different mediums. Right now, I'm so obsessed with drawing and painting with Virtual Reality. We're also working on an animated short at Gunner which covers the entire gamut of painterly cell in Photoshop as well as 3D rendering, to sculpting using VR before displaying paintings onto the sculpt. We've added a scene from the film, which is called Sync for a sneak preview. This is Gunner's debut film that was directed by a woman, and it's about three strangers who travel on an aircraft and an unexpected event that happens to them during the flight.
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What would you advise anyone who is just beginning with VR art?
"When approaching any new tech that I am interested in, I have always an image or story of what I want to make prior to implementing it. This is a hint I would offer to those who want to increase their skill set - do a style frame or have an idea of a sketch or story that you'd like to tell prior to folding in the new technology. It's important to have a goal that you can explain a reason for. In other words, you're just cruising about tutorials, attempting to imitate other people's styles and stories.
This is a work we created to launch an event called Blend at Gunner in the year 2019 where I created several of the natural objects in Virtual Reality. I had played with sculpting a little bit however, once I found the right 'why', my creativity and capabilities grew exponentially. This video is a tour of the landscapes I made."
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"I'm pretty engaged in Instagram and I've also created an instruction on how to create your own illustrations using 3D space, with Tilt Brush. There is no requirement to already be a VR artist, but you have to possess a VR headset take the class, but I walk people through the process from there. It was a lot of love that I put to this!"
