Hello Marcos, thanks for taking time away to chat with us. Can you briefly give us a little insight into your background as an artist, and how it all started for you?

Hello, I thank you for this opportunity to chat with you guys, it’s an honor be here in this inspiration area beside of great artists. The chance to begin working as professional with 3D appeared about 3 years ago when I started working at Best-CG studio, before that I used to work with computer hardware and studied 3D on my free time doing courses and for my own.
Today I see how late I started working on this area (I’m 25) and everyday I’m trying to compensate this “lost time” studying hard to reach the level that I really want.

Where do all your ideas and inspirations come from? And why do you love creating them?

As you can see, most of my jobs are cartoons and I loved to stare the television playing games or watch cartoons for hours and hours. Nowadays I look back and see the importance of those “hours and hours” and when I create something today I always remember that good time.

How long does it usually take you to create a 3D model? What percentage of project duration does it take to achieve such detailed works?

It depends on the model and the purpose of it. If I’m doing a model for commercial, in most cases the time is very limited because the client  wants the job done as soon as possible. Sometimes I have to do 2 or 3 character models with rigging and textures in one day, it is simple models but takes time and I don’t like to do it just for deliver and to shout: NEXT! But if I’m doing a work for my portfolio I try to do it in couple weeks taking my free time for it, detailing as I want and I’m not worried with deadline.

Do you do any preliminary drawings before you model, or do you just start and see what happens?

I prefer to draw before i start anything, it really helps me inside 3D work.

What would your suggestions be for our audience and for 3D beginners? What are the typical mistakes to avoid while producing a good 3D Model?

Always focus in your model, since the first drawing until the last touch in post- production, try to make critique to your own job analyzing if it’s good enough and improve what you don’t liked. Nothing can divert your objective in your work.

Are you formally trained as an artist or are you self-taught? There’s a well known debate in the design community regarding the role of education in a designer’s work versus no design education, what do you think about this?

I did few courses to improve my knowledge in 3D tools but also learned a lot with tutorials, making of and articles on internet. I think this discussion is relative, depending on the artist, I know some artists which never entered in a classroom to learn 3D but studied on their own and today can produce great stuffs. In my opinion we always need a good art base.

Of all of your artwork, which piece is your personal favorite and why?

Zero is my favorite. It was a character which I applied some lighting and render studies that I have done, and also because he is one of my favorite character from the game.

Zero was my favorite character from Megaman as well, can you tell us little more about on how you went to create this cool character?

Yeah!  Zero has a lot of fans around the world.
As I said before, I loved to play games for hours and hours and I played almost all Megaman games series. On Megaman X suddenly appears a different character of all I was accustomed to see in last games. Since Megaman X I became a huge fan of this character and nowadays I chose to make a fan art version been a high end version as I never seen before in any game of the series.

Are you working on any projects currently and what projects can we expect from you in the future?

Currently I’m working for commercials and TV spots jobs at Best -CG and also I’m doing freelance work. For the future I expect studying more art and anatomy, drawing to improve my knowledge, and produce higher quality characters.

What are your hobbies and please describe your free time, if you have any?

My free time is very limited, If I’m not working in the studio, certainly I’m doing freelance or studying but I try to organize my time and dedicate myself  to my wife, watch movies, play soccer and travel to visit my family and friends.

How would your life change if you were no longer allowed to create art?

I think this is something really hard to imagine, I always try to think positive and my life would be changed a lot if something happened to me and I couldn’t create any kind of art. I’m sure my family and friends would help to move on and find anything else beyond art.

What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?

Never give up. If you’re not happy with your job, try to improve on it, studying until get better and you be proud of your efforts.

Finally, Red Bull, coffee, or something else?

I don’t drink anything to keep me awake or help in long days, sometimes I pass one or two nights without sleep but without any kind of drink. 😉

Well it’s been a great pleasure and thanks for taking the time out to talk with us.

My pleasure guys and thanks again.

For more info visit Marcos portfolio here:MarcosNicacio

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