Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Hunter Martin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Hunter thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
Hello, thank you for having me. In short, it took me a very long time to learn the skills I use today! I grew up doodling, making comics, sculptures, and making art with whatever I could get my hands on. I worked my way up at an art college where I studied Visual Development and honed the technicalities of the trade. One thing I would have done to speed up my learning process would be to experiment more! To be bolder and less attached to a specific outcome! In my experience our own expectations and fears can hold ourselves back from growing. I spent many late night hours in college agonizing over the small flaws in my art and not allowing myself to see the bigger picture. The most important skills I learned were typically the ones that opened my eyes and mind to what art can be. Your personal voice matters, and the unique shape that only you can form from your art is the most valuable aspect. Technical skills are invaluable but your artistic expression and opinion matter the most because that’s what reaches people on an emotional level. The biggest obstacles for me were time and mentality. There doesn’t ever seem to be enough time which is perpetuated when we face stress, mental strife, and self imposed expectations.
Hunter, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m Hunter Martin, and I’m a Visual Development and Background artist! Though I’m still early into my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work on several ambitious indie animation projects like The Legend of Pipi. I’ve also done some freelance gigs and often collaborate with friends on their own short films. My inspirations are incredibly broad and include film, anime, fashion, classical art, animation, nature, and video games. Though my interests range vastly outside of art, they really seep through my work. This way, I can bring my own unique voice to what I do.
Growing up surrounded by nature, I would constantly daydream or play outside when I wasn’t drawing. In school I would be doodling or daydreaming endlessly about epic stories instead of paying attention in class. This led to some fairly interesting parent-teacher conferences over the years. My parents weren’t embarrassed at all and I think they recognized that I found my calling so early on in my life. As I got older I would continue to engage in creative hobbies and even made some crappy home movies in high-school. I had a hard time figuring out what creative field/track I should follow and it wasn’t until college that I had even found out about Visual Development. Dabbling in so many different mediums broadened my tastes as an artist and gave me a unique perspective on art. It felt as if my ventures into other mediums had culminated when I found out about Visual Development. I was actually enrolled in the Illustration program at my University and switched to Visual Development the first week of my freshman year.
Visual Development is a vast and somewhat vague creative field. Its definition can vary depending who you ask and whether it’s for 3D or 2D Animation, Live Action, and Games. It’s an umbrella term that covers things like Environment Design, Character Design, Prop Design\Prop Packets ( technical information that assists modelers/animators), Concept Paintings, and anything design related to Pre-Production for the entertainment industry. Background Design and Paint for animation wasn’t something I was taught in school, but I recognized that my skills lent themselves to it quite well. That’s the fantastic thing about Visual Development, it’s broad skill-set lends itself to specialized roles. I’m extremely thankful for The Legend of Pipi team for giving me my first shot at Background Design and Background Paint. It allowed me to grow and opened my eyes to a career path I now love.
I’m incredibly happy with how far I’ve come as an artist over the years. I’ve harnessed my skills, experimented with so many styles and mediums, and found my artistic voice! As someone who had trouble settling on a creative path I love that I found one that lets me do so many different things. I’m proud of a distinct range of styles and skills and it allows me to express myself and share that with others. I’m also deeply thankful for my art community and friends who bring out the best in me. They mean the world to me and I’m psyched I get to make art with them for a living.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The idea of ‘perfection’ is something I had to unlearn and something I think all creatives struggle with. Chasing a perfect outcome will eat you alive and you’ll come out of it none the wiser in my opinion. As an artist I spend a lot of time in my own head. I might be brainstorming, reflecting, or thinking about solutions to a current problem. Chasing perfection when it comes to art is like trying to fill a stomach that will never be full. That’s because ‘perfect’ doesn’t exist, at least not in the true sense of the word. I would spend hours agonizing over homework assignments trying to perfect them to chase that perfect grade. While this tenacity definitely sped up my growth it still did its damage! I often felt I was overlooking some other aspect of the assignment or lesson to be learned. The best advice I ever got about this was from my clothed figure drawing instructor. He told me “If the drawing I make is bad, I move on. If the drawing is good, I move on all the same”. He didn’t chase perfection, he simply showed up and put his pencil to the paper and remained in the moment. Chasing perfection takes you out of the moment and makes you focused on the outcome. Focusing on the outcome will make the creative process more tedious and far less rewarding. Stay in the moment and don’t miss the forest for the trees!
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
So many! There are so many free resources out there to help hone your skills. I learned more about digital painting from watching my favorite artists do process demos on YouTube than I did in my digital painting classes! There’s also a ton of online classes available for a fraction of the price most colleges offer. I would also say there’s incredible tools at our disposal now that really speed up the process. There are entire sites dedicated to fully 3D models of any object you can imagine. I use sites like PixelSquid to help me learn how objects work in a 3D space when I’m designing something. Don’t be afraid to leverage these kinds of resources! They’ll save you so much time and help you get back to drawing/painting faster!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.huntermartinart.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hunter-martin-210162231/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/huntermartinart