John Wallin Liberto


John Wallin Liberto is one of the most talented CG artists, known in CG industry.A flight amateur from Stockholm known on international CG communities as Capt. Flush Garden with invaluable style and color sense.In only a few years of his career he became one of the most priced digital artists in the industry. He's famous for work on productions such as the Shania Twain music where he did video concepts.

I had an great opportunity to interview with John. Lets start then.

1.First of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself. Who you are & if U don't mind, some personal details that would interest us as well as our readers.

My name is John, the J has to go who was born in 1981 in Palermo , Sicily . I've lived in Sweden for the most of my life. I am fond of airplanes and painting. Well, I could be very shy when I'm new, at work for example, but after 1 or 2 months of bonding people realize that I'm quite goofy or whatever the word is!


2.What can you tell us about your professional background? For how long have you been involved with CG industry?

I started in the game industry in 2001 when I was 19 years old. I learned how to model, texture, animate and more. After a couple of years of working at different game companies I started to do some TV work such as music videos and simulators and finally got the opportunity to start working on feature films doing matte paintings and texture art for Harry potter 3, Big Fish and Alien Vs Predator.





3.What are your greatest achievements in CG? Could you tell us something more about them?

Because matte painting has been a dream for me since the very beginning, I feel that one of my dreams have come true. I liked the Harry Potter 3 project cause there were so many different things to paint, but also working as a texture artist for Tim Burton's Big Fish was very exiting, the film is great and I'm proud to have 2.8 seconds of stuff in there


4.Could you tell us a few words about the tools and the way you create your artworks?

I use Adobe Photoshop most of the time, but sometimes I tend to work on 1 painting with both Photoshop and Painter, the 2 programs have so many opportunities to offer and I must admit that my "best of the best" paintings have been mixed photoshop/painter made. For difficult perspective and to save a lot of time I sometimes do simple models in 3D that I can follow to get correct perspective.



5.For t past few years, you have been involved in the online communities such as Sijun or CGTalk, taking the active role in discussion forums. Did it have any impact on your professional career?

YES. I want to thank sijun forums a thousand times over because it has been my favourite place on the web, a lot of my clients have actually found me via sijun, and many talanted artists have given me great tips and tricks. They also post very inspiring artwork that makes me want to keep painting, to inspire people and to get inspired by others is what keeps me going!

6.How did you get involved in d'Artiste judging process? What is the Ballistic Publishing?

Leonard Teo contacted me and inquired whether I was interested in doing tutorials for a book together with 3 other artists, the book is called d'Artiste, and does not only consists of our tutorials but the artwork from other artists that have been chosen by Ballistic Publishing and us - artists as as well.








7.You are famous for Shania Twain "Gonna Getcha Good" music video concept. How did the work look like?

It was mainly a color/mood job. I received sketches from in house artists, which I used to re create or overpaint. I believe this was necessary for the 3D lighters to know what they should aim for. It was pure fun to do the sketches and, actually I sometimes prefer doing quick sketches instead of heavy paintings.

8.On what part of your work do you take the maximum focus at? What influents your work most?

I automatically try to get all the colours "right" but I believe I have a hardest time with details and perspective, so that's what I focus at, not to forget the idea and story of the painting which is very important too!

9.Your favorite artist is...

There are so many. but the 3 first I think of are:

Craig Mullins, because he has helped me a lot at sijun.com, giving fantastic tips and always made me start thinking in the right direction, and of course that he never fails to amaze me with his fantastic paintings.

Scott Robertsson, because I love his designs and everything he draws looks like real life and he is a guy with a very big heart!

Feng Zhu, because he's an awesome concept artist, terrific guy, and if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have got many of the projects including the Shania twain work.

I chose these 3 artists because they are both great artists and great personalities !





10.What are the other interests of yours?

I love everything that flies, from a plastic bag caught in the wind to an advanced jetfighter zooming by. If everything goes right I'm going to have a pilot license of my own, and I'm going to fly A LOT!


11.What kind of advice would you give for the novice 2d artists?

I would say, try not to "jump on" a huge project or idea that you had in mind, cause you will most likely get tired and fail before you know it. Start with something more simple, paint from photo references and please do try to go outside and paint from life. Just because one is good at painting on the computer doesn't mean that one is a good traditional artist, practice both. And if you are going to do work on the computer, try to let the computer do the tough work for you instead of thinking too much. "this is cheating and this is not" - its the result that counts.


With John Wallin Liberto talked Maciej Kuciara [17.05.2004] Exclusive for max3d.pl

Check also John's homepage at www.johnwallin.net

Related links: Sijun Forums