Women on Sketchfab: Rosa Iglesias Molina

My journey

Since I was very little, I have been a restless person attracted to being able to express myself through any creative process. I loved sitting down to draw while watching animated series and movies or playing video games. In fact, it was at the time I played Final Fantasy VII that I decided I wanted to do 3D, but at that time, when internet access was very limited, it was almost impossible to find information on how to learn it or how to work in 3D—until one day my mother surprised me with a disc of software called 3ds Max, and I started to learn it by myself based on the trial and error method.

My first contact with an artistic job was as a 2D interbetweener in animated movies like Dragon Hill: The Magic Cube and RH+ :The Vampire of Sevilla. Working doing traditional pencil and paper animation was exhausting, the creative process was very limited and my hands were very sore, so I soon realized that it was not my dream job. I decided to start creating a portfolio mainly focused on 3D, which led me to work on the movie Justin and the Knights of Valor where I was able to model, among others, two of the main characters of the movie, Legantir and Lara. I also supported production with scenario modeling, layout and fixing, which gave me the opportunity to explore other fields and learn a lot.

Months before the production of the film ended, I decided to investigate on my own and try to make an independent video game together with a programmer. Making a video game was what I had always dreamed of. It wasn’t easy because the production of videogames is far from the production of animated films, but the most important thing about the experience was that we managed to finish the project, Duncan and Katy, although I discovered that I still had a lot to learn.

Since then I have had the opportunity to join different video game companies in very interesting and disparate projects, such as Albion Online (Sandbox interactive), Bubble Witch 2 (King), Moomin: Puzzle & Design (Rovio), Flatworld (Guinxu), and others.

Creative rollercoaster

When you start working for third parties, the time you have to dedicate to training and personal projects begins to diminish. Any free time is good to start with something that interests me, whether it’s modeling a piece of fanart of something I like or experimenting with new techniques and workflows with personal projects. I need to feel productive and I know it’s a problem because when I’m not doing things I feel guilty, but over the years I’m starting to understand that rest is necessary and important, too.

Sketchfab

The following example is a model I made for the “World of Warcraft: Legion Fan Art Community Contest” challenge on Sketchfab more than 6 years ago. It was the first time I created a model with a projected normal map and I wanted to complete it with some animated elements. It was a very rewarding experience and all the feedback I received on the forums was very helpful.

“Elf guy” is a character design by Toni Reyna that I modeled during a course taught by Dylan Ekren. I wanted to improve my understanding of character silhouettes and the execution of cartoon-style male anatomy. It was a way to get out of my comfort zone and a model that I am very proud of.

This last model, Ursula, is one of the most complex that I have been able to do during my free time and one of the ones that has given me the most headaches to pose. She even had her own Art Spotlight where you can read more about the process of creating her.

Sketchfab has given me the opportunity to show my work in a different way. Video renders of 3D model turns-arounds usually take a long time to render with specific engines, but with Sketchfab, the viewer can see your model from any angle they want by checking the specs that are available like the wireframe or the available maps. The model inspector helps viewers to understand your work and your processes much better.

My future

Although no one knows exactly what the future holds, I wish I could have much more time to dedicate to personal projects and creating my own brand, creating assets for video games or animation and helping other people to fulfill their dreams of entering the world of 3D art.

If you wish, you can follow me on other social networks and drop a message!

Twitter / ArtStation / LinkedIn