Meet the Masters: ConradJustin

Hi! I am Conrad Justin, born 30 years ago in Poland. And here is how 3D art has brought me to Sketchfab.

Fast-paced shooter

It all started in 2012. I played the game Xonotic – a fast-paced FPS with crazy movement. This movement was an inspiration for me to begin creating levels for video games.

Catharsis (2013) was one of the CTF (capture the flag) levels I made for Xonotic

Movement was everything. It determined spacing for jumping, width of catwalks, scale of rooms, height of pillars… Every time I changed the geometry of a level, I would launch the game and playtest it! Jumping around, dancing and flying through the level while making trick jumps was pure joy. I think this kind of beginning was perfect – I could learn the foundations of level design and have fun at the same time!

The downside of making levels for the old game engine was that I was limited to very simple geometry (we called it brushwork) and small rooms. This was a good lesson on how to achieve more with less but unfortunately all levels were cramped and claustrophobic.

SilentSiege – my best map for Xonotic. All surfaces are done with a simple geometry forced by the old engine

At one point I wanted to create more complicated geometry and more open spaces so I started making my own models and moved to a more advanced game engine – Unreal (back in the day it was called UDK). A lot of fun was gone as I didn’t playtest as much because making bigger environments took a lot of time.

Environments

Creating environments – no longer chained to simplistic shapes I needed to think of the layout, shape distribution, details, color, lighting but most importantly – world building.

Tent Camp of the Airship Fleet – environment I created in Blender and UE4

Player perspective was everything. Knowing how to captivate the player and how to guide them through the environment became my obsession. Geometry, color and lighting needed to be distributed in a way that was clear, meaningful and beautiful. Players would explore environments I created and discover stories I told.

Sketches and final environment of the Steampunk Town in UE5

At one point I discovered Sketchfab and started using it as a testing ground for my environments. Sketchfab allowed me to create small dioramas that could be explored from all directions. They would contain the essence of the bigger environments.

Artistic appeal

Since on Sketchfab people see models from every direction (unless the author limits the camera movement, which is silly) it is 3D artists’ obligation to make them look good from as many angles as they can. After all, it is 3D (not 2D) art! But nobody is going to appreciate all the angles if they don’t click on the model in the first place! How to attract people to explore 3D art?

Idea is everything. Thumbnails need something that attracts attention, appeals… Since I have no experience modelling anime girls I decided to realize the ideas in a form of small, contained dioramas with vibrant color, strong contrast and expressive style. Every time I make a scene for Sketchfab I am at risk. People might simply not care to see it.

Luckily my art was noticed by the wonderful staff who invited me to join their ‘Masters program’. Together we created the movie Spark & Bibi – one of the biggest projects Sketchfab has ever seen. And there is more to come!

Thank you for taking a while to explore the right hemisphere of my brain.

If you want to learn more about 3D art – check out tutorials on my YouTube channel.

Want to learn more about the talented and diverse group of Sketchfab Masters? Click here.