Capturing a Sense of Ever-Changing Reality in an Intricate 3D Scene

Introduction

My name is Alexandr Subsensus, a 22-year-old Digital 3D Artist and Art Director. I create art in my own unique style, exploring human nature and trying to understand who I am through it. My pseudonym, Subsensus, which can be translated as “under sensations” or “under feeling,” symbolizes my immersion into the depths of human existence.

Throughout my artistic career, I have created art projects for global and Chinese artists such as Travis Scott, Migos, Jackson Wang, Kris Wu, and Mao Buyi. I have also collaborated with world-renowned brands: I created the first digital cover for Esquire, which was sold at an NFT auction, and I was the ambassador for Pasha de Cartier in the CIS in 2021.

My journey into 3D graphics began in childhood when I accidentally saw a video about creating special effects for the movie Avatar. Later, at the age of 15, after reading Malevich’s manifestos on Black Square, I realized how boundless contemporary art could be and decided to make 3D graphics my main tool on my creative path.

I began to study 3D in-depth in 2018. I started with the program Cinema 4D, and I learned all 3D software only through YouTube tutorials. However, in 2019, after discovering Ian Hubert’s lazy tutorials, I realized that Blender would become my main program. Speed is the most important thing for me in my creativity.

Inspiration

I draw ideas by absorbing everything around me like a sponge. Working as both an artist and an art director, I study everything that catches my eye and ear from visual arts and design to cinema, philosophy, and history. My creative process changes with my mood: today I might be inspired by Chinese culture, and tomorrow by cyberpunk, leading to an interesting mix of ideas. For me, it’s important not to suppress the flow of creativity with rational logic but to maintain joy and play like a child.

When I was arranging the characters, an idea came to my mind: I saw a frame where the boat was bent in an abstract way, and it seemed interesting to me. All the abstract details you see in the picture appeared under the question “What if?” But during the process, many elements didn’t fit, and I removed them, leaving only those that I liked.

Why Chinese culture? While working on this picture, I was simultaneously watching an old Chinese film about the last Chinese emperor, and its aesthetics influenced me. Although I am well aware that this is a period in China’s history that is quite painful for part of the Chinese people, it seemed to me that the idea I was trying to convey was executed in the spirit of Asian philosophy.

Composition

My work on composition begins with trying to convey my inner feeling through the character’s pose. I never draw sketches, simply because when I did, the final work was very far from the sketch. It’s always a real-time process of exploring my feelings and the possibilities of 3D.

I have my own packs of various ready-made rigged characters that I have assembled so that I can quickly change their face or body through the shape keys system. I have basic clothing in Marvelous Designer that allows me to customize it and simulate it as quickly as possible, as well as my own abstract elements created with sculpting. To shorten the processing time, I didn’t engage in perfectionism and seriously evaluated that what I see may not be perfect for me, but another person might not even notice. But the feeling inside me or the thought will not be there in a week, so I need to do, do, and do.

Creating Water

The water I made was an experiment for me; I did it through LiquidGen Alpha, a very powerful tool. As for how I do retopology and texturing, the conversation is quite simple: I learned Ian Hubert’s workflow – maximum quick results focused on the final image, not a well-developed model. Therefore, where I can use the fastest and most rigid methods to get an interesting result, I use everything. Speed is paramount for me.

Assembling the Scene

I built the composition so that there was a sense of volume from the front and back, and it looked beautiful from any angle. The methods I used to create the composition are as simple and basic as my detailing: scattered objects and particles are the simplest basic Geometry Node system and nothing more. But I always work on lighting for a long time, trying different options until I find one that beautifully accentuates attention and casts shadows. Light is the most basic composition tool; it needs much attention when working with compositions like mine. Specifically, in this composition, I didn’t use different passes for post-production; I made a high-quality render and did what I think is a good color correction.

Conclusion

I worked on my piece in the evenings for about a week; most of the time was spent on experiments and searching for the right form, pose, color, and textures. The problem during production will always be relevant for me – I don’t economize on the number of polygons in my works, and when it comes to animation, unfortunately, I have to perform not the most pleasant and quick processes to see it without lags at the desired FPS.

My advice to beginner artists: do everything, study everything, look at everything that catches your eye. If a certain topic, visual, or aesthetic is considered cringe, that’s all the more reason to dive in and study that topic. Your visual literacy is the key to a beautiful picture, beautiful composition, realistic materials, and so on because, after my interview, you can clearly see that I don’t possess some secret that makes my picture more beautiful. I use absolutely basic, simple techniques and methods; only through visual literacy will you come to your creative style, a beautiful sense of composition, color palette, and so on. And I also wish you to work hard and press on while the light still shines upon you for a little while longer, for those who walk in darkness do not know where they are going.

Alexandr Subsensus, 3D Artist