Q & A with Nicholas Devos – The third place winner of Creature vs Humanoids challenge
3D Concept Art presents a Q & A with Nicholas Devos about The Humanoids Vs Creatures challenge. He is a very talented artist specializing in characters and creatures. He submitted one model to the contest and made a very good effort with a very complex creature that needed a very good knowledge on anatomy, he was able to take the third place in the challenge.
With a pleasure, 3D Concept Art presents the third place winner of The Creatures vs Humanoids Challenge, Nicholas Devos.
| 3D Concept Art: Tell us about you and how did you become interested in the art of Character and Creature design, and 3D modeling?
| Nicholas Devos: → As a kid, I was an avid drawer always drawing characters and monsters. This lead to studying design at the age of 19 where I bounced around between Graphic and Industrial design. After getting bored of both, I finally decided to try CG and went back to university to study IT at the age of 27.
→ It gave me the technical problem-solving aspect of Industrial Design with the more relaxed creative aspects of graphic design. Midway through university, I discovered ZBrush and the freedom that it brought to 3d modeling, this quickly became an obsession where I could revert back to what I loved about drawing as a kid.
| 3CA: You came in the Third place in the Creature vs Humanoid challenge, how has that affected your interest of 3D modeling/sculpting and has the tools you won helped your further development in this field?
| N.D: → When I came third in the Creature vs Humanoid challenge, I had just finished my 3rd year in a 4-year degree at university. Coming third help legitimize my work and give me confidence, the work I was creating was of a high quality. Combined with winning all those great programs and tools helped and lead me to create a final year project that landed me a job in the industry 2 months before I had even finished it, and I’m sure coming third in this competition helped sweeten the portfolio.
| 3CA: When you joined the challenge, what were you first thought on how to be able to deliver an interesting concept and as well finding a uniqueness with the specification added to the challenge?
| N.D: → I quickly came up with a small list of attributes I knew I wanted my creature to have and the small back story that went along with it. I tend to design and create the concept in ZBrush rather than more traditional methods, so having this list and short story meant that all my design decisions were informed and considered. I also love anatomy and as a student, I was very new to it so this seemed like a great opportunity to start experimenting with creature anatomy.
| 3CA: Tell us about your concept idea and which parts was the most challenging ones when trying to create the vision you had?
| N.D: → The creature was supposed to be an unstoppable predator that quickly traveled from planet to planet consuming the inhabitants, because of this I wanted to make it able to inhabit any planet whether it is a jungle, desert or even completely aquatic. This aspect was the most challenging and after many iterations, the multi-tentacle approach seemed to fit best. Then having the need to overpower other creature’s meant I had settled on 4 arm’s very early on in the design so combining all these aspects into one cohesive creature was by far the most challenging part.
| 3CA: What is your advice when it comes to being part of International challenges like the Creature vs Humanoids challenge?
| N.D: → Create a backstory and world for your entry early. Really spend time flushing out what you are making and where it fits into your world and let this influence your design process. This will mean every part is considered and cohesive. Give yourself as much time as possible- the deadline will be upon you in no time.
| 3CA: What can we expect more from you in future and see more of?
| Nicholas Devos : → Well, I’m back to character modeling and now I’m currently working on hair systems as a new thing to add to my works. I’m really looking forward to how it’s going to turn out!
Congratulations to the third place in the Creatures vs Humanoids challenge. 3D Concept Art Community are very happy to help with all the sponsors involved in this challenge. Keep it up, work hard and be a creator of imagination.
