Virtual Reality for Artists The CreativeMindClass Blog
Virtual Reality artist, Collin Leix, talks about her artistic evolution, from creating oil paintings to investigating the depths of VR art.
"Before I was an artist in VR, I began as an oil painter, focusing on portraits. In the course of time, this changed when I began to become more interested in the concepts behind the process of MAKING.
The artist evolution; starting with music, then classic art, to creating Metaverse
I'm a musician, and I got really interested in the visual musical scores and diverse ways to perceive drawings as musical direction. Additionally, I realized that I suffer from synaesthesia - a neurological condition that results in a mix of different senses - in my instance, numbers and even colors. It also inspired me to play around with how I approached creating an image."
"In 2009 I began my Master's course that focused on Fine Arts at the University of Michigan, where students were encouraged to explore a lot. I started as a painter , and then finished with a thesis project that was a huge installation on the ceiling, with animations projected on it. The animations I started out with were simple stop-motion drawings using paint and paper, with the landscape as a theme. The animation was so positively challenging as a medium that I decided to pursue it.
After the completion of my master's thesis at the end of 2012, I enrolled in the local community college in order to learn about After Effects, and since then have been pretty much self-taught. I began exploring apps for art, Cinema4D, and have attempted a few cel, however I have concentrated on After Effects. I developed animations directly-to-client over the course of a couple of years. I was careful to create 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 was often a time when I lay on my floor, surrounded by my dog. So this was my view. I challenged myself to make every week a new thing regardless of whether it was only a few minutes to be able to see myself where I REALLY was.
In 2018 I was hired by the animation studio Gunner in Detroit, and have worked there since!"
How would you describe your style of art?
"Realism is a constant in my heart from the beginning of my career. My style has evolved since then. is a little more surrealist and playfulness which is why I'm always studying how color can communicate mood.
My style has absolutely evolved also since I joined the team at Gunner. We are often working as a team to support different styles, so I am able to try out some styles that aren't necessarily my personal style. A few ways to use free brushwork, outline, or simplifying designs are a few instances of things I've experimented with and continued to do afterward. The example of this is 'Crocus' is a mixture of painting texture over 3D shapes, using realism as well as simple forms, using VR modeling as well as good old Photoshop painting."
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"One reason why I enjoy working at the studio is that the boundaries that define me' and 'my style' have been blurred. Consider the film "Interruption," for instance. I was asked to create an Instagram post to Gunner as I began to explore. I wanted to use some surrealism in order to show what it feels as being at the forefront of making music, as well as the images you can see through your mind's eyes and the feeling of being interrupted.
While I did all the animating and most of the designwork, my wonderful co-worker Ian Sigmon pushed me a A LOT when it came to character design. It wouldn't be possible to achieve the crazy arms or the simplified shapes of body on my own. We came to the conclusion that the woman's body can disintegrate back into its shapes when she begins to play again."
"I have a memory of losing in a high-school art competition because my artworks didn't seem to be cohesive or all the same style. I thought this was a curse however, it turned out to be a blessing in what I'm doing now."
What's the secret to making your illustrations?
"For me, it always must boil from a gut-feel. There's always a nugget of intrigue at the beginning of each new piece - often it's a new color scheme I'd like to test Sometimes it's an expression, or quote, or even a short narrative.
One thing that distinguishes my work is that I'm always trying out new mediums. In the present, I'm obsessed with drawing and painting with Virtual Reality. We're also making an animated short at Gunner which covers the entire gamut of painterly cell in Photoshop as well as 3D rendering, to sculpting using VR and then projecting paintings onto the sculpture. Here's a clip from the film, called Sync to give you an early preview. It's Gunner's first film directed by a woman. it's about three strangers on an aircraft and an unexpected event that happens to them during the flight.
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What would you advise those who are just starting out in VR art?
"When looking at any technology that is new it is always my intention to have in mind a small image or idea of what I would like to do first. I guess that's a tip I have for those who want to increase their skill set - do an art frame, or make a little sketch or story you're planning to write before folding in the new technology. It's important to have a goal or a "why". In other words, you're just cruising through tutorials and taking inspiration from the styles of other artists and telling stories.
This is a work we created for a conference called Blend at Gunner in the year 2019 In which I designed and sculpted many of the environment assets in Virtual Reality. I'd tried sculpting at times however, once I found an answer to the question of "why" my creativity and capabilities grew exponentially. Here's a video that's a tour of the landscapes I made."
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"I'm very active in Instagram also made a class on how to create your own illustrations using 3D space, with Tilt Brush. You don't have to already be a VR artist However, you need to have a VR headset to attend the class. I walk people through the process. I put SO MUCH LOVE to this!"
