Rado Javor’s paintings are beautiful, atmospheric and full of detail. We particularly love his classic science fiction themed images with giant mechanised steampunk style war machines – brilliant!
Source: this-is-cool.co.uk
Check out Rado’s ArtStation portfolio.
INTRODUCTION
My first encounter with digital art was on really old 8-bit computers, me and some of my friends made 2 or 3 adventure games. I wasn’t so great with coding so I’ve started to draw pictures and simple animations. Now its called pixel art, done solely pixel by pixel. I work as a freelancer and contractor for multiple projects, mostly concept art, illustrations, etc.
I love to work in computer games because this allow me to create much richer story or even new world sometimes. So not just concepts for example but also building the atmosphere with light, post and sky.
Could you tell us about some of the interesting projects you’ve worked on?
Warhammer Total War III was interesting, also done different kind of work on movie concepts for some sci-fi movie, some desktop games and mostly heavy metal album covers:)
CREATIVE PROCESS
What software and tools do you use for your work, and why?
Its mostly Photoshop, some simpler modeling in max, then substance designer for materials,and unity.
How do you organize your day (how many hours do you work per day)?
I try to work from the morning, when I got the most energy, however my freelancing sometimes pushes me to stay late night. I have a bad habit that my creativity comes after dark.
How important is work with reference for you? Do you have any tips on how to effectively organize an extensive reference library?
References are very important in my kind of job, I have some extensive library collected in those years. But of course the google helps a lot, there are lots of great photos libraries on the web, always available if I need something special. In my case its usually characters as I am not so good to draw them from my imagination.
Tell me about your techniques for overcoming creative blocks?
Just give it time. I always try to do something really different, maybe some manual dirty work. My other hobby is vintage bikes, so that helps a lot to switch and let the mind rest.
Do you also create with non digital medium (clay, pencil drawing,…)? What does it gives you compared to digital?
I am painting with acrylics and oils, which allows me to just go wild without much thinking or planning. Its is a totally different approach as in digital painting, where you should have a proper concept or sketch.
ART COMMUNITY
What themes would you say your work deals with?
I am interested in many themes, but my biggest likes are old ships and the traditional rural Halloween legends. I think in the last 12 years or so I’ve made always a new picture special for Halloween. Each picture shows a little story so I could do a book from those already.
How do you define success as an artist?
Success is very relative thing. If you are happy with the result, that’s most important if you are artist. Maybe success means that you are able to live from your art.
PROMOTION & FEEDBACK
Who provides you the most relevant feedback?
Usually people who are better than you, and have the guts to say even not so nice things. I miss that a bit tbh as a freelancer. I got the feedback usually only from the clients and that’s not the same.
BUSINESS
What factors influence the price of your work?
After the agreed price, Its usually number of revisions from clients, that’s the thing which is probably the least liked by any artist, sometimes its very slow and painful process.
MENTORSHIP
What’s the best advice you would give your younger self?
Be more bold in trying new styles and don’t think too much about the little things on each picture.
RELAX
What’s the best thing about being an artist?
Creating things that nobody seen before. Equally important is that if your work can create some emotion.
