The ArtStation Masterclasses is your chance to learn from some of the best of the film and games industry from wherever you are! Early bird tickets are available until the end of February.
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One of the amazing 10 courses you’ll have access to is Josh Herman‘s Character Design and Sculpting for Concept. Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably seen some of his work in the Spiderman: Homecomng, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange. He now works as Character Art Director for Cloud Imperium Games where he oversees the character and character concept teams on Star Citizen.
Read his interview below to find out more about his work, Masterclass and more.
The course will cover Josh’s 3D character design and modeling process from an initial concept sculpt to a final rendered illustration. He’ll be using software like Zbrush, Marvelous Designer, and Keyshot to establish the look for his character and finalize the look in Photoshop.
What is one technique or trick you’ll be showing your students in your course?
One “trick” that I’ll be showing in my course is how I use Zbrush to quickly block out shapes based on a quick sketch that I’ve created. I feel that it’s important to be able to quickly resolve and realize your design if you’re working in 3D so that you can quickly iterate on it.
You’ve considered many career paths. What made you eventually pursue a career as an artist?
It took me until college to know that I wanted to pursue a career as an artist. I always enjoyed drawing and making games as a kid but I didn’t realize that there were actual careers that did that! I ended up finding a school in Colorado that taught “Animation” (which really meant 3D) and decided to give it a try and ended up loving it. After I graduated there I moved out to Hollywood to continue my education at Gnomon and I’ve been working in entertainment ever since.
Tell us about one of your most valuable learning experiences.
When I was working on the Mark VII Iron Man suit for The Avengers, I was given some time to start on the model for a couple days or week before the concept artist, Phil Saunders, was going to come and work locally with me so that we could really nail it down. I worked really, really hard to get something as close as I could before he got there and was feeling pretty good about it! The day he came in, I gave him some renders of the model so that he could see what I’d done and have something to do paintovers of just in case he felt like it. He said something along the lines of “this is looking great!” and spent some time working on the paintover. When he was done, he gave it to me along with a list of call outs on what he wanted to adjust. The list was really long, but everything he called out was 100% spot on. It made me realize that even when you think you’re doing some really excellent work, someone with a sharp eye can come along and push you further than you thought you could be pushed, and I tried to keep that in mind whenever I’m working on something.
What do you think is the most rewarding part about your job?
The most rewarding part is when you’re able to share the final result with the public. Seeing people react positively to something you’ve made is a really wonderful feeling that makes you want to keep doing it. Not just for myself, but also because I like bringing the excitement and joy to others.
