Interview: Redrobot3D

This is our first interview on Nextgenporn. We’re talking with Redrobot3D, who is a true veteran in the world of 3D Adult Content. It’s a real honor to be taking to this artist. As we’re longtime fan of his earlier work like ‘Patient 33’ as well as more recent productions like ‘The Bitcher’ and ‘Red Riding Service Escorts’. Redrobot3D’s work is always a fine line between mainstream and doing stuff just a little bit more interesting to keep his work interesting and contemporary.

What got you into 3D in the first place and how difficult was it to break into?

That’s a bit of a funny story. I actually went to school and got my degree in Sequential Art from the Savannah College of Art and Design. I had grown up reading comics my whole life. One of my very first memories is my dad taking me to a comic book store way back in the Early 80’s with my brothers. I’ve grown up on comics my entire life and have over 10,000 in our family collection. Some of which are my dads that go back to the mid 60’s.  Being around all those stories left an impression on me and I always ended up creating, writing, and drawing my own comics growing up.

One of my goals in life was to draw comics for the big 2 (Marvel and DC). I had portfolio reviews with editors from both after graduation, but at the time wasn’t good enough to draw professionally. (Although looking at the terrible Tumbler style art coming out of those studios now I bet I could land a crappy low paying pencilling gig if I wanted).  Year after year I went to conventions and shows trying to land gigs but nothing was ever happening on that end. I was getting gigs drawing adult comics for some superheroine bondage theme websites when one of my clients told me to check out a program DAZ3D. She knew some artists that were using it to create reference shots for their books.

Early Poser made comics in the past but they in my opinion weren’t very good as the tech was still in its infancy.  It took me a good while to get used to the program but then I was using a very low powered PC and rendering time would take hours for just one image. I didn’t have any means to queue my shots so I would have to spend days rendering my images one by one. Very time consuming. I think having a strong background in traditional illustration and story-telling gave me a bit more of an understanding on composing my shots and setting up stories.

Around 2012 I was getting good enough that a few adult comic sites started commissioning me to do some very early comics for them. One was Adventureboundcomix (no longer up) and another was Blacknwhitecomics.com, which I believe is still running.  Around this time I met future 3DX artists Supro on a video game babes forum and heard the name Miro being passed around.

I was beginning to find steady work with the 3DX stuff and began building a name for myself. Learning more about the program and basic 3D modeling work. Around 2014 I started going full time with comics with “The Heist”, and “Livecasters” both of which started out as commissions from a long time client.

What’s the biggest change you’ve seen over the 10+ years that you’ve been doing this?

The biggest changes have to be the access to the tools that are needed to create amazing 3D. As prices have gone down on personal PCs more people have access to higher and more powerful 3d programs. People are able to set up whole rendering farms using online tutorials and are putting out quality 3D movies from home. Voice actors are able to make a living now running at home recording studios. Crowdfunding has helped a lot as people can pay directly to the content creators of their choice. There are jobs now in the 3DX field that didn’t exist 10 years ago. I think it’s an amazing thing!

When you’re feeling burned out, how do you recharge?

I usually get a little burnt out on a project after it’s done or when I’m working with a really difficult client.  It takes me a few days to get that spark back and that usually comes after i’ve done a little bit of gaming and side projects not related to 3DX, such as drawing and digital painting.  Sometimes I’ll get that spark after I see a particular model or set come on the stores and I can see an entire story being set there. After that it’s just coming up with a great idea to go along with it! 

Where would you say most of your inspiration comes from, and do you admire any particular artists?

I’d say my biggest influences come from mainstream comics from the mid 90’s to the 2000’s. Over the top action, characters, sexy women, etc. Stuff that don’t do in mainstream characters today as its been taken over by  SJWs. I grew up reading books by Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, J.Scott Campbell, and the late Micheal Turner. I wanted to be like those dudes in terms of my books. Sadly it wasn’t meant to be. However I do plan on getting back into drawing and painting when I feel my 3DX days has run its course. I collect a lot of art books from the masters as well.

John Singer Sargent being one of my favorites. I also have a lot of concept art/digital painting books in my collections that I use for inspiration. 

In terms of my 3DX counter parts, Miro, Supro, Blackadder, Kayleyss, Gazukull, Chimera46, CrazySky3D, Miki3D are all fantastic artists in their own right and I’ve been fortunate enough to call them my friends the past couple of years. Their feedback, help, and guidance have been tremendous life savers.

The Bitcher is a huge set! Roughly how long did it take to finish it and what kind of challenges did it present?

My sets usually take 2 weeks to do. I had actually started “The Bitcher” last summer and it sat unfinished in my library as I moved to other projects. It wasn’t until December that I went back to it and fleshed out the entire first and third act of the story. I had wanted to create a custom UI that would’ve mimicked the actual look of the Witcher game to go over every panel, but I ran out of time. Maybe in a special edition I’ll do that. The challenge was creating a story that felt that it could exist in the original Witcher world, but with a sexier twist. Then making dialogue that was similar in style to the game’s. 

What kind of setup are you running and what software do you mainly use?

I have a modest machine. Nothing crazy fancy. I’m still using a 3 year old GTX 1070 in my machine as I haven’t gotten around to upgrading to the newer RTX2070 Super card yet. However this summer I am planning on building an all new machine so I can start getting into animation and visual novel work. 64gigs of Ram, Liquid Cooling, duel RTX cards, etc.

What’s the craziest request/commission you’ve done?

One of the largest commissions I did was a 150 panel monster for a client over in Europe. It took me nearly a year to do as the client kept changing their mind. Also during the project DAZ switched over to the IRAY engine and then client had me restart the whole order using the new rendering engine. As I’ve gotten better at my work I’m able to filter out what kind of projects I want to take on. People know what type of work that I do through my galleries, site, and releases. So they get the gist of what type of stories I take on. Occasionally I’ll get someone that tries to get a project that is way outside my comfort zone in terms of content and I’ll politely tell them no thanks or refer them to another artist that does that type of work.

However the craziest project that was ever pitched to me involved the son of a very prominent (and wealthy) Central Asian political family. I won’t say which as they are extremely powerful and some of the richest people in the world. I was contacted by an intermediary that was interested in having a personal project done for the son.

The book would’ve been a sexual biography of their mother who was involved in a lot of sexual exploits throughout her political career.  It would’ve taken me over a year to complete and I would’ve been flown out to their private estates in London, Dubai, etc to check out in the locations that I would use in the book. It would’ve been a combination of 3D, digital painting, and live action reenactments. I went back and forth between the intermediary and the son for almost 2 years trying to get this off the ground. Eventually they passed on it when they said my price was too much. But being that I would’ve had to sign numerous NDAs with the family after it was completed my price was more than fair. Also I could never say that I worked on the book, had any contact with the family, nor sell it anywhere. 

 C’est la vie.

If you had one piece of advice to give aspiring 3D artists, what would it be?

Don’t treat 3DX as a full time job. Have other hobbies outside of it. Learn modeling skills that will help to set you apart from others. Build a name for yourself through marketing, branding, and creating an unique look that people will recognize. Yes 3DX can be a lot of fun, but it’s also a business. Keep track of all your expenses, and remember that it can be written off on your taxes. Also have great customer service. Treat all your clients with respect and courtesy. Don’t talk back to them when things get heated as these people are taking their hard earned money and giving it to you. I’ve had clients going on 10 years now that I can always count on when things get hairy money wise. Those kinds of people are hard to come by. Have a back up plan in case the 3DX stuff doesn’t work out. There are a lot of people getting into this field and it’s getting crazy competitive. You have to make yourself stand out. I think one of the reasons I’m successful at this still is that people know when they’re buying a Redrobot3D comic they’re getting a good story as well great erotica.

What does the future hold for Redrobot3D?

If people continue to buy my books and support what I do, I see a long and fruitful career in 3DX. I want to expand more into animation and interactive books this year as well. Maybe even get into some adult gaming.  Outside of 3DX I’m always working on my digital painting skills and am in the beginning stages of writing a semi-biographical book about my experiences working as a night club DJ for 4 year during college.