Interview With Digital Artist Kyle Lambert

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29 September 2009 3 Comments

First off could you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about you?

Alright, so my name is Kyle. I am an illustrator from the UK who produces digital illustration, photorealistic painting and 3D animation. I currently work freelance for a variety of clients.

How did you get involved in the design field? What training do you have?

From a very early age I decided that drawing and creating things was what I wanted to do professionally. Since then my artwork has gradually transformed from a passionate hobby to a full time career. I studied Illustration and Animation at University and have self taught myself a lot of the techniques and software that I use today in my work.

Earlier this year I won a national competition to storyboard a scene from the movie Watchmen. My work was chosen by the original comic book artist Dave Gibbons and I won tickets to attend the World Premier in London and go the opportunity to interview the director Zack Snyder.

You’re primarily known for your photo-realistic digital paintings, what can you tell us about why you prefer this type of digital artwork?

My photo-realistic portrait paintings are more like technical exercises than works of art. In the same way an artist would attend life drawing classes to perfect drawing the human figure, I paint these portraits to enhance my ability to draw accurately and to improve my understanding of color and lighting. I then take these techniques and develop them in my own concept paintings and illustrations.

What are some of the things you have to do to pull off these amazing photo-realistic portraits?

There is no secret really, it is all about being patient and making sure everything is accurate as you work your way through. I begin by diving my workspace into two sections with the reference on one side and a blank canvas on other. I then work my way through the painting, starting with a pencil-like sketch of the basic features followed by the basic colors and then the basic highlight and shadow areas. Lastly comes the long process of painting in the intricate details of the subject. A photo-realistic painting can take anything from 8 hours upwards to complete.

Do you use a tablet, and if so what kind? What are some of the other tools you use?

I have 2 tablets, both Wacom. The tablet I use for most of my work is a Cintiq 21UX, which is amazing. It allows you to use a pen to paint directly onto the screen, which makes painting digitally as natural as drawing on paper. The other tablet I use is an A5 Intuos Wide, which I use on my second display. Both allow you to control attributes such as brush opacity and size based on how much pressure you apply with the pen to the surface. A must for any digital artist.

What would you say is your favorite piece, and what is your best known piece?

I think because the photo-realistic pieces always get the ‘wow’ moment, I am probably best known for the Rihanna Photo-realistic painting I did 2 years ago. I also get a great deal of interest in the painting I did of Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight.

My favourite piece would probably have to be my last big project called ‘Short Story‘. The reason I like this project is because I was involved in the entire production, writing the story, storyboarding, costume design, photography, illustrations and the final 3D animation. It really brought together everything I had learned and felt like I was working on a mini movie production. My favourite single image is probably the Will Smith painting I did last year. I really wanted to be able to simulate loose oil paintings digitally, so I created a few brushes and the painting of Will Smith was my first test.

Who are some artist you admire or that had an influence on your work?

Inspiration can come from anywhere, something funny somebody says, an interesting photo, a piece of music.. as an artist I find inspiration in most things.

I have a number of artists that influence my work, painters such as Lucien Freud, Jenny Saville. I look at the early photo-realistic work of Chuck Close. I get inspired by numerous graphic novel illustrators and concept artists. One of my biggest inspiration is the work of PIXAR. I think the movies are the perfect blend between story, character and stunning visuals.

I’ve seen a lot of references in your work to movies and comics, care to talk about that a bit?

Well, I have a real soft spot for science fiction, whether that be a novel, a comic book series of a movie. One of the first inspirations for me as a child was Jurassic Park. It flipped a switch on in my head questioning how a film-maker would go about visualising amazing creatures like this. I find the process of dreaming up an idea and then visualising it very interesting. My first attempt at science fiction was a story I wrote called <Intercepted. It was based on the idea of thoughts being intercepted and digitised.

If you could give one piece of advice to other digital artist and creatives out there what would it be?

My advise would be to fall in love with what you do. I don’t see what I do as work, because over the years growing up this is what I used to do for fun. If I was a millionaire and never needed to earn another penny again, I would still wake up every morning, have my breakfast and start working on some crazy project.

What are some of your goals for the future?I would love to progress to working on big scale movie projects as a concept artist or storyboard artist or something in that area that allowed me to continue to express ideas visually.

Thanks Kyle for a wonderful interview, I certainly look forward to seeing more of your work in the future! We’ll be expecting great things from you!

Kyle’s Website

Portfolio | http://www.kylelambert.co.uk/
Blog | http://www.kylelambert.co.uk/latest/