Guest of February 2001 : Shigeto Maeda
by the Linuxgraphic.org team
I n t e r v i e w

Linuxgraphic.org:
Hi, Shigeto. First of all, thank you for being this month Blender-Café's guest. Could you please tell us who you are ?

Shigeto Maeda :
I'm 38 years old, male, Japanese. I live in Zushi-city, Kanagawa pref. It's located at south of Tokyo. I studied graphic design, constructive art, and technology art in Tsukuba University. Now, I'm a graphic designer at my OUD corporation. It's a very small company, hiring only two peoples ! The other person is my elder brother who also learned graphic design. About 3D graphics, I learned through Strata Studio Pro on my Mac several years ago, and used it for my graphic works. I first met with Blender in a book store. Unexpectedly, I found a Blender guidebook written by Hiroshi Saito and Tatsuya Nakamura. I got a shock and thought : "It's a tool for me!".
Linuxgraphic.org:
Who are the customers of OUD corporation ? We already know that you publish covers for magazines, but are you also involved in animations, commercials, and advertising ?
Shigeto Maeda :
No commercials, no advertising, and we are poor! :) Just two men (my brother and I) are working for OUD. He has an office in his house, and me too. We form a graphic design office, and we have some works related to books and magazines for edition. Part of my job is web design, but also covers and inside illustrations for the magazines. The cover illustrations are for a Japanese telecommunication company. In rare cases, I make some title animations for a video company.
Linuxgraphic.org:
How came the idea to make the Ka-Ra artbook ? Did you planned it just like a compilation of your outstanding artworks, or do most of the features have been especially designed for the artbook ?
Shigeto Maeda :
I used to think about making an art book someday, and I was looking for the chance. Then I got an e-mail from B@rt telling me he was planning to publish an art book. They expected 80 pages for the book, full of totally new pictures, and to be released for Christmas. It was a very hard schedule, but also the greatest chance in my life. So I decided to make new works.
Linuxgraphic.org:
Through reading Ka-Ra, your Blender artbook, one can only become mesmerized by your singular art approach. Everything seems living, moving, pulsing its own life and breath, and the strange universes you depict are purely fantasy. What inspires you ?
Shigeto Maeda :
I think an art is an exploration of a universe settled only in the mind of the artist. Of course, each people looking the art piece has its own universe in his mind, too. To make it more real, I collect many fragments of memories, and I weave them on the computer screen. My works take inspiration from all the things born out of nature, like insects, birds, plants, shells, fishes... I think that God is the greatest artist of all. Not that I have any particular religion, but I mean thant God is providence of nature. Why are there so many kinds of insects in the world ? Why a sunset scene is so beautiful ?
Of course, I like many artists in the world, but I don't get the inspiration from their works. I draw the 'energy' to make my own art from their works.
Linuxgraphic.org:
You seem to pay a particular attention to texturing and lighting. Do you use specific tricks about these ?
Shigeto Maeda :
I don't use special techniques for texturing and lighting. It's very conventional, even if texturing and lighting are very important for good 3D graphics. A good model can be spoiled by a wrong texture mapping. Also, a photographer cares a lot about his lighting in a studio. I have an experience as a photographer assistant in my university, and I could see how lighting worked. It was a good reference. In fact, I don't want to simulate the laws of physic, but just to make scenes as real as possible. By no mean 'real' should be taken as 'simulation of reality'. Feeling reality is an activity from the brain. I think that we feel the reality surrounding by stimulating some part of our brain, not by simulating anything within it.
Linuxgraphic.org:
Some Blender users need to have preliminary sketches before starting to model anything, while others rather prefer to model freely, following their inspiration at the moment. The Ka-Ra artbook presents many sketches and references you collected. Do you use them each time, or only when you lack inspiration ? What are your favorite sources ?
Shigeto Maeda :
Why do many students in art schools learn how to draw sketches ? Sketch is not purposed to equal the snapshot of a photograph. If we see an object through our eyes, we recognize it with our brain. And output it with our hands! Sketching is a good training for drawing out subjects from our brain to the outside. At first, I get very rough shapes in my mind. Next, I certify them in a sketch. Sometimes, I draw the full shape, and sometimes only details and parts of it. I think it's a very useful and indispensable process for me. There are many sketches in the Ka-Ra book. They are not good sketches, but are a good clue about how thinking and shaping subjects work. My source for pictures is everything in the world : while under the sea (I'm a fan scuba diver!) or while sightseeing in other countries. I put many fragments of pictures into drawers in my brain, and I weave them in my mind when needed.
Linuxgraphic.org:
What is your favorite Blender trick ?
Shigeto Maeda :
None especially :)
I use subdivide and smooth well, but it's not a special technique. Well, maybe making an electric effect by using the 'marble' texture? It's simple but you can achieve good effects with this.
Linuxgraphic.org:
What suggestion would you make to beginners wanting to show good artwork with Blender ?
Shigeto Maeda :
Please look beyond your computer screen. The world is very wide, and it's filled with full of things of interest. Beautiful scenes, strange animals, cool science and technologies... Novels and music inspire me to do the next work. If you manage to build your own world in your mind, then your works will become more attractive. Of course, studying and improving skills and technics are important too.
Linuxgraphic.org:
You use a lot of different textures in your scenes, and each seem to be very carefully designed.
Shigeto Maeda :
Yes, I use Photoshop on my Mac for editing the textures. Especially to make seamless patterns like brick walls, stones, scale patterns for fishes. Bump map patterns are made with Photoshop, too. Fortunately, I could get some good material CD-ROM in Japan, and I use it to make good textures.
Linuxgraphic.org:
And what about UV-Texturing ? Is it a technique that you use seldom or on a regular basis ?
Shigeto Maeda :
I know, but I have a lack of study about the UV-Editor in Blender. I didn't find a good use for it in my works.
Linuxgraphic.org:
Your artwork is at honor on Blender-Café this issue, because it has been chosen for the Picture of the Month. What could you tell us about this picture ?
Shigeto Maeda :
This work started as a skeleton picture, but I came to a deadlock. So I left it in my mind. After a few days, I got some new ideas for some parts. Somehow, it matured in my brain. If you are making something but have not enough ideas on your way, leave your project as it is and never delete it. Maybe you'll find another good way to solve the problem in a few days.
Linuxgraphic.org:
It seems that the right wing (eg, the one on the left of the picture) is translucent due to the lighting. How did you achieved this effect ? How did you thought about implementing it ? It adds a big time of realism !
Shigeto Maeda :
I didn't thought intentionally about making the translucidity of the right and left wings different. Surely it's an accidental effect :) Sometimes, in shops, I can stare at machines, toys and computers covered with transparent skins that invite me to look at their inside mechanisms. It's easy to make full iron covered objects, round edges machines. But if you make visible some inside mechanism like gears, frames, wires and pipes, the realism of the objects is increased far more.
Linuxgraphic.org:
Nice art, definitively. As it is now the custom for Blender-Café guests, is there a gift you would like to do to the community ?
Shigeto Maeda :
Well, there's a blend file for CurtisS' F1 machine contest. This file include my modeling secrets within hidden layers. Maybe you could refer to make your own pics.
http://www.oud-japan.co.jp/experiment/f0.zip
At the end of January, I also made a PDF file containing postcards using some Ka-Ra works. If anyone hasn't downloaded yet, please get it. You can print them on your color printer, and cut along the crop mark. Of course these pictures are limited to personal use only.
http://www.oud-japan.co.jp/experiment/kara-cards.pdf
Linuxgraphic.org:
Any last saying, Shigeto, before we end this interview ? Perhaps a few words about your next projects ?
Shigeto Maeda :
I have some plans for next works. It will maybe be a long animation, or a game. Of course, I'll make still pictures, too, but I'd like to see my objects moving within a story. I don't plan to make a doom-like game. I rather prefer the Myst series.