Arild Wiro
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[17 July 2002] Arild Wiro is one of the hottest emerging artists in the 3D community today. 3D Festival interviews Wiro about his passions, inspirations and ambitions.
Introduction
Wiro: Hi, my name is Arild Wiro Anfinnsen. I was born 1978 in Indonesia but grew up in Norway and Switzerland. I got into 3D around '98 when I came across a package called Raydream 5 and quickly became hooked. The software was very simple and I quickly outgrew it. When I picked up the beta of Rhino3D, I was able for the first time to model whatever I wanted and it felt like I was in wonderland. I started using 3ds max R2 not long after and I've stuck with those two ever since. I started building an online gallery to show my friends (who mostly had no idea about 3D) what I was doing and through that got into the online 3D community. I learnt a lot during this time and I'm very grateful for the support I got.Right after art school I was contacted by Warthog, a games company in the UK that had just brought out Starlancer for Digital Anvil. Well, I couldn't believe my luck...still working on my portfolio, no reel and yet somehow I got into the industry. So in February of 2001 I made the move to Manchester and that's where I've been since.
Where are you working now?
Wiro: I work at Warthog just outside of Manchester. It was a midsized company when I started (around 40 people) but has now grown to one of the biggest games facilities in the UK with some 150-200 employees depending on subcontractors. They hired me in the first place because of the characters they had seen on my site so that is what I started to specialize in.
I ended up as character modeler, rigger and texture artist on Bounty Hunter (now Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter because Lucasarts also had a bounty hunter game going), a game for X-Box, PS2 and PC due out soon. After 8 months my scheduled characters were done and so I transferred to another project that I'm still in.
It's Wiro!
"BuB Outside" - Arild Wiro, 2001. 
Where would you like to be in five years?
Wiro: Well, actually I don't have a clue! I'm still fairly new to the industry so I'll just see where the wind blows.I think that my future lies in high-resolution 3D. I have a great time working on games and the atmosphere is very relaxed but my main motivation lies within creating imagery without compromising polygon count, texture size or resources.
But more important to me is that I can work in a small, creative team that I can have a laugh with which is the case right now. I wouldn't mind working on a film project but I'm not all too fond of the idea of being a small wheel in a machine even if the project is great.
Well, we'll see...I might take that back if the opportunity arises!
What inspires you?
Wiro: Sci-fi is definitely my main influence be it in films or comics. I know it's a beaten cliché in the CG world but I love the freedom I have in creating something from the start and also to give what's already a beaten horse a new twist (maybe?).I'm very influenced by the styles of European graphic novel artists (or BD - Bandes Dessinées) like Frezzato, Jodorowsky, Buchet... and this is starting to show in my personal work too I think.
I'm also inspired by several manga artists like Shirow Masamune, Yukito Kishori, Katsuhiro Otomo for their attention to great sci fi designs.
Any advise for those starting out in 3D?
Wiro: Always be open for criticism, also the bad ones. It's nice to have a pat on the back and an ego stroke but most often they don't help you at all. Don't be annoyed and defensive when someone tells you your work lacks or even outright tell you it's bad. It's hard and it hurts, especially when you've spent so long on that project but take a step back, maybe they're right and you have something to improve on. You'll get better a lot faster if you're open for criticism than if you only listen to the sweet talkers!Links
Second Reality (Wiro's homepage)3D Festival credits
Tito A. Belgrave
Leonard Teo
"Alien Pirate" work in progress, from the CG Talk 3D Challenge.
"Snow Scout", Arild Wiro, 2002.
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