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Steven Stahlberg
Steven is the head of 3D animation and art director of Androidblues in addition to being an artist, illustrator and animator.
After completing his art studies in Sweden and Australia Steven worked ten years as a freelance illustrator for leading advertising agencies and publications in Europe and Asia, then another eleven years in CG for clients such as Digital Anvil, Electronic Arts and Disney. He has also held seminars for Alias and Disney.
Steven has won many awards, including 8 CG Choice, Animago, Ars
Electronica, 3D Festival and Comgraph. His art has been featured in and on the covers of dozens of books. He was the first artist in the world to have a virtual character sponsored by a major modeling agency (Elite, 1999).
Steven is internationally acknowledged as a world class digital artist.
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| The Area:
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I can't avoid sounding cheesy, but it is an honour to interview a pioneer such as yourself. There are a few questions that pop up immediately for things which I have wanted to know for some time, the first being - why girls?... asides from the obvious. Is there something about the subject matter Is there something about the subject matter that has enthralled you for at least the past ten years?
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| Stahlberg:
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Thanks. answer, even though I've gotten it many times... I don't know if there really is much more to it, aside from the 'obvious', as you put it. It's been much longer than ten years, and I've always been a workaholic. There's always the risk of burn-out... It's the only subject matter that never gets boring for me, so to some extent it can protect me from burning out.
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| The Area:
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By the way, for those of us who are not familiar, could you please tell us a little bit about yourself?
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| Stahlberg:
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I was born in Australia 1959 by Swedish parents, I grew up in Sweden but later spent 2 years in Adelaide, 4 years in USA, 10 years in Hong Kong, and now 3 years in Kuala Lumpur, where I still live with my wife and two boys.
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| The Area:
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How did you start with 3D - and why? What was the 'sparkle' that has kept you going for this long?
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| Stahlberg:
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I started because I felt I found something I'd been looking for my whole life. I felt I found my destiny... sounds silly, but I was incredibly stoked about it then, and for many years after... still am but perhaps in a different way.
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| The Area:
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Back in the day, resources for anything 3D was scarce - how did you manage? I presume that everything was self-taught since it was highly unlikely that there were schools for 3D as there are now.
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| Stahlberg:
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Yes, I taught myself everything, there was hardly an internet, and no resources on it... no books either. All I had was the manual. But at least it was a little thinner then. I managed, I guess, because I loved reading the manual. I must have read it 50 times, I read it in bed and on the ferry and while eating... And I had a lot of patience testing every feature.
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| The Area:
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What kind of education did you receive - have you always known that you wanted to work with graphics? Or did you enroll in aerospace engineering and then figure out that it wasn't the thing for you?
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| Stahlberg:
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I have 3 years of art school, that's it for the tertiary level. Yes I've always wanted to work with graphics, ever since I could remember. Everyone around me always told me that too. I guess I must have had some inheritance from my mother, who was good at drawing already at an early age. And her father before her.
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| The Area:
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The girls - some of the images you've made have such amazing narratives! How were you able to compose such a visual story? Could you describe to us the thought process and visual process involved in such a production?
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| Stahlberg:
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Thanks, well I'm not sure. Not that it's that great, I'm certainly no professional writer... but I have a lot of ideas, and I've written a lot, novels, screenplays, short stories... I always loved reading and writing. Mostly science fiction and fantasy.
The thought process often starts with an image, a sketch, and as I look at it, or as I'm developing it into a painting, I can't help but start thinking about the background and back story of it. Then it just unravels from there.
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| The Area:
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For example, 'One Last Time' and 'Trapper' - could you tell us a little about each? The contrast between the fragile and ...impending doom. What was you inspiration for making them?
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| Stahlberg:
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'One Last Time' popped into my brain when I was in a similar position as the main character, waiting for a friend in a cold empty movie theater, my knees up on the seat in front. 'Trapper' I'm not sure, probably just a case of one though leading to another... then I made a sketch in my notebook, to remember it.
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| The Area:
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And 'Psycho Girlfriend' - what's the story behind that?? It's pretty hilarious - who's the guy on the bike? Also, nice detail on the construction of perspective - the electric blue lights on the building, the two wide cracks that draws the eye to... the train...
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| Stahlberg:
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Thank you... I was out running one night, and there are some beautiful city lights in the distance... a vision came to me, of a giant woman striding through those buildings, a bit like King Kong or Godzilla... I did the image, and when it was done I thought it reminded me a bit of an old girlfriend I had (she wasn't mad with jealousy or something, she just walked out on me with my video player). I guess the guy on the bike could be me. Of course it's also very inspired by the movie "Attack of the 50 ft. Woman".
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| The Area:
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What are your inspirations for your work - for the narrative, the style? The sort of sci-fi/fantasy and sexy women combo? Do you use any references for modeling the women?
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| Stahlberg:
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Everybody uses reference, and if they don't they should... except maybe Frank Frazetta. He's so far the only artist I've encountered who could do that well without specific reference. Yes, Frank is a big inspiration of course, together with many other artists, Maxfield Parrish, Howard Pyle, Rembrandt... too many to list. For the narrative, I guess all the reading and movies from my youth has inspired me.
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| The Area:
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What do you usually model with - NURBS, polygons, subdivison? Which do you prefer?
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| Stahlberg:
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Nowadays, polygons, definitely. None of the disadvantages of Subd's, many advantages. NURBS can be okay for certain types of objects, but it's more rare.
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| The Area:
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This might be a stupid question, but you do use the same skin shader for all your women? Is it procedural or image-mapped? Is it used for the entire body?
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| Stahlberg:
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It's almost the same shader, but not quite... it would be if I was ever satisfied with it. I'm not, so I keep tweaking it, creating new versions of it... It's image-mapped, and used for the whole body.
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| The Area:
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How about lighting? Are any of your images touched up in Photoshop afterwards? Your women have very nice consistent colour and shadows.
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| Stahlberg:
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Some retouching happens, but it's usually restricted to color correction, grain, hair and tiny errors - artifacts, cracks etc.
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| The Area:
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How do you make the hair? Especially for the Psycho Girlfriend - she has very nice wavy red hair - was it animated?
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| Stahlberg:
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No, sorry, for that particular one I did paint over the hair quite a lot. I had geometry there, but of course none of the translucence and softness of real hair.
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| The Area:
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Coming from a more traditional background (as an illustrator), which do you rely more heavily on - illustration (Photoshop) or 3D?
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| Stahlberg:
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It depends on what I'm trying to do. Lately I've been mixing it up more and more; there's 2D in my 3D, and 3D in my 2D. But I'm not sure which one dominates. My paying work is mostly 3D, so I guess 3D dominates a little.
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| The Area:
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Also, why the transition from 2D to 3D?
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| Stahlberg:
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I just prefer 3D to 2D, on the whole. 2D is more interactive, and I've been getting more back into it during these last 5 years or so (I left it completely for years). But 3D still has some of that fascination for me it did originally.
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| The Area:
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Being a pioneer in the visual industry, how do you compare then and now? What are the positive improvements now and have we in any way taken a step back in anything?
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| Stahlberg:
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"Back in the Old Days we used an abacus to render..." Of course, the power of the tools has multiplied many times over. And so much free resources available today. But there is also more competition, and thicker manuals.
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| The Area:
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Given that 3D is taken more seriously nowadays, what is the general perception towards your artwork?
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| Stahlberg:
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I don't know about the general public, I don't get much exposure to or feedback from them. They'd probably see it as cheesecake, or silly fantasies, or both.
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| The Area:
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How do you compare the 3D scene in Asia versus North America and Europe?
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| Stahlberg:
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Not sure about the rest of Asia, there are some countries with a lot of CG, then some countries with very little... Malaysia would be one of the latter. The domestic market is just too small, very few companies here, and very little growth. As we all know, North America is traditionally where it's been at, ever since the beginning, but Korea, Japan, China, India and Singapore are growing. Perhaps within a decade or two Asia will pass North America? Who knows, the only thing we know for sure is that things change.
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| The Area:
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What do you do and where do you live now? (since Optidigit closed)
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| Stahlberg:
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Still in the same place, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. I just moved my office home. I still work on similar projects, perhaps a bit more book and tutorial writing now...
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| The Area:
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And now on a more personal note...
What does your wife think of your work? ;-))) I understand that the women are merely your preferred subject matter and they might as well be orange peels if you wanted - but what is her attitude towards the girls?
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| Stahlberg:
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She's down-to-earth and secure about herself, so she really doesn't care. In fact she's all for it, since my work helps to pay some bills. :)
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| The Area:
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What is your favourite movie and type of music you like best?
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| Stahlberg:
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Favorite movie: too many to choose from... favorite directors: James Cameron, Ingmar Bergman, Kurosawa...
Music: I think my taste is a bit more eclectic than average. Ryuichi Sakamoto, BB King, ABBA, classical, metal, jazz... I will enjoy almost any kind of Western music (and much Eastern too) if it's written and performed by talented musicians who love what they're doing. It's just that certain types of music I wouldn't want to listen to more than a couple in a row, you know? I like variation.
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Favourite cuisine?
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| Stahlberg:
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Anything spicy - Indian, Mexican, Thai, Szechuan etc. I also love Japanese (sushi, wasabi and ramen mmm) and Hong Kong Dim Sum. Not to mention Italian (Spaghetti with Pesto sauce, garlic bread and olive oil, mmm). Actually, I'll eat anything, and love it, if the chef's good enough.
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| The Area:
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How many languages do you speak?
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| Stahlberg:
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Swedish, English and French, and a tiny bit of German. Some ask me sometimes about my Cantonese skills, well I did try to learn it but I only know enough to direct a taxi driver and haggle about price.
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| The Area:
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Thanks very much for your time, Steven.
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| Posted by Kapten on Aug 07, 2009 at 06:37 PM
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I love your work!
Du är ju bäst (Swedish) :)
You are the best
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| Posted by Dissidia on Mar 01, 2009 at 03:18 AM
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Impressive, I especially like the fairy picture.
Gogo Sweden!
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| Posted by steedee83 on Feb 12, 2009 at 05:48 PM
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I am a big fan of your work sir. you are a living legend. may God bless you and yours.
Steven George
An Art student inspired by your amazing work.
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| Posted by CGreyeyes on Jul 20, 2008 at 08:35 AM
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| Sweet work!
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| Posted by passariello on Jun 27, 2008 at 02:35 AM
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Hi steven :-D ....
You are the best :D
Bye
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