Aamir Moosa - interview

Hi, tell us a few words about yourself!

First, I want to thank Evermotion for the opportunity to be presented here, I would also like to thank my brothers and my family who always support me and they make me a better artist.

I love art with motion and shapes. I am a character artist, my passion is to create awesome looking characters, animation and direction. I am currently working as a freelancer.

Editors' Note: We can add also that Aamir Moosa is an award collector! He was awarded with "The Best of Evermotion" award for work entitled „you picked up the --wrooooong-- bed monster”. He also won CGSociety award, CGFEEDBACK TopRow Award, 3DTOTAL Excellence Award, GAMEARTISIANS Award, TREDDI Award Best of 2014. Aamir was also IT'S ART Awards February 2014 3D Category Winner. He was awarded also by CGHub, CGArena, render.ru, 3Dmir (and more...). His works were featured in 3D Artist magazine, 3DCreative and Render magazine.

Visit Aamir's websites: https://www.aamirart.com and https://aamirart.blogspot.com

Have you been studying graphic oriented field of study?

No, I am self-taught. I started years ago and loved cg field, so I decided to become a professional.

My passion for art started when I was watching „Shrek” in the theater. That was the moment after I thought for the first time that I want to be cg artist. So I focused on art and started studying Autodesk Maya, because I heard that this is software that people use to make movies. I really enjoy working with Maya. My brother liked my works from the beginning and he encouraged me to make a progress in cg field.

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I primarily use Maya, Zbrush and Photoshop. I've been using these programs for a long time. I use mental ray for rendering and After Effects for composition.

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How long did it take to make your awesome „you picked up the --wrooooong-- bed monster” work?

This work took 3 months to finish. I was doing it in my extra time, I used my typical software - Maya, Mental ray for rendering and Photoshop. „You picked up the --wrooooong-- bed monster” is based on illustration by awesome Skottie Young. He created it for Emerald City Comic Con book Monsters and Dames.

You can see an original drawing here. Below is Aamir's 3D recreation:

I choosed it, because it has lovely and appealing characters, beautiful environment and it has an excellent mood. and last but not least – I knew that it will be a challenging and enjoyable work.

Before I even launch any program, I analyze the reference image. I check the contours, proportions of head, arms, legs, etc. I am looking at the image the same way as traditional artist. Then I start with simple face-to-face modeling. I try to maintain proportions. I don't make the details till I am satisfied with overall shape. Then I make more precise modeling and distort shapes, so they look more cartoonish.

I unwrapped models in this scene using unfold tools in Maya. Sometimes I use also UV master in Zbrush, but not this time.

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The next step is to create a simple rig to define the pose of my characters.

I faced a slight problem when i put monster character under the bed because it was intersecting with the sheet and bed legs, so I had some work with adjusting its shape.

I textured my models in Zbrush and Photoshop then i started creating girl's hair with the help of many curves , I used Shave and hair cut for bed monster with high density fur and multiple passes. I used mental ray for rendering and composited the whole in Photoshop.

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What advice would you give for cg beginners?

There is nothing surprising here - you need to work hard, learn all the time and be patient :)

Thanks for an interview!

Thanks a lot!

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For more Aamir's art visit https://www.aamirart.com and https://aamirart.blogspot.com