Bio

Neil Blevins started off painting and drawing traditionally, and then got into 3d graphics while still living in his home country of Canada. After getting a BFA in Design Art, he moved to Los Angeles where he worked for Blur Studio. He now lives in San Francisco working as a Technical Director for Pixar. In his spare time, he makes sci-fi 3d/2d hybrid artwork, author tools and writes art related lessons and tutorials for his website.

Q&A

1. How did you get involved with 3D computer graphics?
   
   

   While buying a book to get a more advanced paint program (well, advanced for the early 90s anyways), it also came with a copy of an early raytracer called POV-RAY. My computer couldn't handle the program, but after I upgraded about a year later, I tried POV-RAY out and was hooked on 3d.

2. What are some of the projects have you worked on?
   
   

   I've worked on a number of films for Pixar Animation Studios including The Incredibles, Wall-e and Up. I've also worked on a number of commercials, ridefilms and videogame cinematics during my time at Blur Studio.

3. As an Autodesk Master, for what do you use the 3D software? (For example, modeling, texturing, lighting etc.)
   
   

   Well, for mudbox I use it to model and texture organic models.

4. What makes this industry so exciting to you?
   
   

   I love creating pretty pictures, and 3d software lets me do that more efficiently.

5. Where do you see the industry going in the next five years?
   
   

   I think it'll be pretty much the same as it is now. We don't see as many new things these days like we did at the beginning of the industry. Hopefully we'll see a gradual move towards more artist friendly tools, that's one thing Mudbox really excels at, which makes it to me one of the most interesting programs currently being developed.

6. What words of wisdom do you have for anyone interested in entering the professional world of 3D computer graphics?
   
   

   Make sure you love what you do. Because loving 3d is the only thing that will let you put in the hours and hours of work it'll take you to get good. There is no substitute for hard work, so best to enjoy it so that the work doesn't seem as hard. :)