Collaborating with kids to create adorable monsters

The Monster Project brings kids’ sketches to life in full 3D. Artist AJ Jefferies tells us about the role V-Ray for 3ds Max plays in these fun collaborations. 

In our conversation with MDI Digital's 3D artist AJ Jefferies on CG Garage, we learned a lot about his artistic journey and the hoops and hurdles that led him towards a successful career in CG illustration.

As well as dedicating his time to regular projects for adult clients, AJ enjoys working with young ones. We caught up with AJ to have a chat about an exciting collaborative initiative, "The Monster Project," in which professional artists reimagine magical creatures drawn by kids. Keep reading to learn how the playful scene was created with tyFlow and V-Ray for 3ds Max.

How did you find out about it and get involved?

AJ: Katie initially started the project back in 2009 or 2010, but it was just her, going into schools and drawing her versions of each kids’ monster. She decided to widen the net a lot and reached out to artists from all over the world via the internet.

A very talented artist friend of mine named Timothy J. Reynolds tweeted back in 2014 that he was taking part in it that year. I’d never heard of it before, but looking into it and seeing the work Katie was doing to bring all these people together meant I immediately contacted her and asked if I could join in. Thankfully, she said yes and I’ve been taking part ever since!

What's the creative process of going from a crayon sketch to a rendered 3D image?

AJ: Over the years my creative process has changed a little but the key thing for me is trying to understand the essence of the kid’s monsters and then trying to build a fun, one image story or world around them. Sometimes those scenarios and worlds come quite quickly because the kids have included elements for me to draw upon, sometimes I just let my mind wander off and see what it comes back with! 

I always start with a lot of sketching, thumbnailing ideas and  compositions to see which ones leap out to me as a good fit. I also have to keep in my mind that whatever I’m designing, I will then have to model, texture, and light. So the longer I spend on the idea for the illustration the less time I have to actually bring it to life!

Once I’ve settled on a solid approach, I’ll start blocking in the scene in 3ds Max, and modelling the characters, usually in ZBrush. I’ll start rendering things fairly quickly, partly to think about the lighting and mood but mostly so I can see how the composition of the scene is holding up and then drawing over the top with any notes or changes I want to make further down the line.