Ramon, a 20-year-old Brazilian, is a creative force to be reckoned with because of his unwavering love for artistic expression in 3D, 2D, painting, and even video games. He made the decision to immerse himself in the field of 3D artistry less than a year ago in an effort to make his skills a career. His work "Research in Moon", won him an award in Kaizen's Lunar Landscape contest sponsored by Fox Renderfarm, a leading cloud rendering services provider and render farm in the industry. Ramon's hard work has already paid off spectacularly. The judges were amazed by this young Brazilian's ability to imagine and depict a fanciful lunar scenario with such detail and imagination.
Discover the inspirations, techniques, and boundless creativity that enabled Ramon to craft such an impressive 3D lunar environment at just 20 years old.
Fox Renderfarm: Hi Ramond! Thank you so much for accepting our interview! Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
Ramond: My name is Ramon, I'm 20 years old, I'm from Brazil and I'm kind of passionate about art. Be it 3D, 2D, painting, or even video games haha. Everything in the end is art. A little less than a year ago I decided to study 3D in depth and make it my profession.
Fox Renderfarm: What made you want to join the Kaizen’s ‘Lunar Landscape Challenge’, and how did you feel when you found out "Research in Moon" won?
Ramond: I really like Kaizen's content on YouTube and when I discovered that he had a discord server that had challenges, and it made me really want to participate. These types of challenges bring many good artists and at the same time that you compete against them, you learn a lot from them. Being there on the podium was incredible for me because I knew there were other incredible submissions, so "beating" them, in a way, was very rewarding.
Fox Renderfarm: Could you briefly summarize the project you submitted for the Challenge?
Research in Moon © Ramond
Ramond: "Research in Moon" was an idea I had while searching for references on Pinterest and I ended up finding some official NASA photos. So I thought it could be great to go with this idea, trying to recreate something more real since it's the area I've been studying for a few months. He's basically a scientist who's doing research on the moon (ba dum ts), in a The Martian vibe.
Fox Renderfarm: Can you walk us through your creative process in conceptualizing and executing "Research in Moon"? How did you start, and how did it evolve?
© Ramond
Ramond: Firstly, I wanted to define the style, more realistic, something cartoony or another style. Well, as I've been studying things about realism for almost a year, it makes a lot more sense to choose this for me. Then I went to Pinterest and simply typed in the challenge prompt: "lunar landscapes".
I ended up finding official photos of the man on the moon, so I knew that would be my focus. Try to replicate the mood of those old photos. After having this defined, I focused on looking for official photos of NASA and ended up merging them with some that I thought could be imported into the landscape. Finally, I set up the reference board and started working. Then I followed my standard workflow. Blocking, testing the lighting, placing the official actors, and then testing even more to see what can be removed or changed
Images sourced from NASA
Fox Renderfarm: What did you use to make the astronaut, rover, and moon look so real? Any techniques or tools?
© Ramond
Ramond: I have to thank his owner on Sketchfab hahaha for the astronaut, very well modeled and textured. Since I don't know much about characters, I had to resort to this. Having the rover wasn't my initial idea, but in some research, I ended up finding NASA's official 3D model website, official models used on expeditions. The texture wasn't the best, so I took advantage of the light I had already defined, as it wasn't a front light, it helped me. Obviously, there was also a lot of post-production, with bloom, lens flare, color adjustments, etc.
Fox Renderfarm: How long did it take you to finish "Research in Moon", and what part of making it took the longest? What do you think made it take so long?
© Ramond
Ramond: It was quick, in less than 3 days I had finished everything. It wasn't a scene with many elements, of course. What took the longest were the details, positioning of the stones, black level, and post-production in which I messed around a lot until I found the result I wanted.
Fox Renderfarm: What were the most significant challenges you faced in achieving such details, and how did you overcome them during the creation of your work?
Ramond: To be honest, I didn't have any major challenges in creating the scene itself. The challenge was in the post, as I sent it well before the final date, anxiety started to set in when seeing the other submissions and knowing that there were so many good submissions. So I was in that paranoia: I could have done this, I could have done that to be better... but it happens. It's always normal hahaha.
Fox Renderfarm: How did you show the connection between people and rovers exploring space in the context of lunar exploration through your artwork?
© Ramond
Ramond: At no other time in history has there been such a strong relationship between man and machine as we have now. Technology that both addicts and blinds us, helps us take important steps in agriculture, health and even exploring new places. In this case the moon. An inhospitable place and anything can kill us. Having a rover on an expedition like this is like having a dog when going hunting. Our ally, friend, our security. Basically what I tried to represent when I included it in the scene
Fox Renderfarm: Were there specific AI tools that you used in the creation of your work to achieve such quality? How did these tools contribute to the final visual appeal of the artwork?
Ramond: I only used AI tools to create initial ideas, typing the challenge prompt itself, but I didn't even use them in my references
Fox Renderfarm: Are there any moments you enjoyed during the creation process? And what was the most memorable?
Ramond: Post-production, for sure. I made the entire scene aware that I would change it a lot even after the final rendering.
Fox Renderfarm: Are there specific cultural or natural elements that consistently inspire your work? How do these influences impact your creations?
Ramond: Natural elements do not. The artist I am is based on what I consume. Content from other artists, films, games, music, and everything that I think will add to my critical eye
Fox Renderfarm: Have you had any experience with Fox Renderfarm's cloud rendering services in the past? If you have, what is your opinion of our cloud rendering offerings?
Ramond: I had no experience before but I knew the services. As my country's currency is devalued against the dollar, it has never been advantageous for me to buy credits for cloud rendering. But now it will be very useful, I already have a project that I'm working on, which I intend to use Fox to render.
Fox Renderfarm: Finally, what advice would you give to aspiring 3D artists? Are there any key lessons or insights that you have learned along your journey?
Ramond: It's training. It's about always practicing, studying new techniques, and entering the world of art, always consuming the best. To bring this baggage to our projects
Thanks again to Ramond for accepting our interview! Wishing new heights in your professional career!! keep up with your great work.
Ramond’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naustilus/
