ArtStation Masterclasses 2 Spotlight: Rafael Grassetti
The ArtStation Masterclasses 2 – Games Edition is starting August 6th and this is your unique opportunity to learn from and interact with 10 senior artists in the gaming industry and connect with other students in class forums. Available discounts for studios, educational institutions and students wanted to be a step ahead of their classmates before the fall semester begins!
If you’ve heard of the game God of War, then you are familiar with the work of the highly talented artist, Rafael Grassetti. Currently living in California and working as a principal artist at Santa Monica Studio, Rafael has worked on more than 70 projects and over 15 companies doing cinematic production, game art, TV projects, printed advertisement, statue collection design and toy design. He has professional experience with traditional and digital sculpting, modeling, rigging and facial pipeline, animation, rendering, as well as art direction for characters, environments, effects, and animation. Some of his notable projects include the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Infamous 3 and The Order:1886.
Masterclass – Designing for Production in ZBrush
Rafael will demonstrate his process of designing a character in ZBrush with the mindset of later taking it through a big production. He will go through the entire process from sketching to cleaning up the model, doing the first pass on textures and render to illustrate the final character as a product that is ready to be taken through a game or cinematic production.
Congrats on completing the latest God of War title! Can you tell us a bit about your role in the project and the most exciting aspect?
What is one of the biggest challenges you’ve faced working in the industry?
What/who would you say are your biggest influences and how have they shaped your career?
It is hard to say what my biggest influences are. I got into this industry because of movies, as I think most of us did. Movies like Jurassic Park and Predator made a mark on me early on. After learning how things work and knowing people that are working and helped shape the industry, I started to appreciate the craftsmanship a lot more, from concept artists to traditional sculptors. I have too many artists that helped influence and shape my career. Places like Artstation is where I spend hours of my day and definitely help me stay inspired.
What is one trick or technique students can expect to learn in your course?
Besides all the techniques I use in my Zbrush projects, I’ll give insights to a lot of different techniques that I use in big productions. But most of all, students can expect to learn how I manage my time and what I focus on when I’m trying to start and finish a piece. I’ll give students tips to understand the needs of different types of projects and what goes on my mind when I organize my portfolio and on what to focus on depending on where you are on your career.
Follow Rafael on ArtStation.