Benjamin Brosdau
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Benjamin Brosdau was born in Luebeck, a small town in northern Germany. This story begins with his voyage towards working in CG in a way that might be considered unusual.
Way before Brosdau was working in the darkened studios of a Computer Graphics studio he worked as automotive mechanic under cars. Tuning engines and changing lube. He also spent quite a few years in the medical arena working as a technical assistant in the field of neurosurgery.
"While still being employed at a car workshop in my home town I developed a love for video games in general, racing games specificially. Many were the days (and nights) I spent in front of the TV. It really was 'Generation Playstation,'" explains Brosdau.
As soon as he laid eyes on 'Gran Turismo' in 1996, he was left completely in awe. "I decided I wanted to create something similar at some later point in my life," Benjamin admitted. He went back to the car workshop. It took a few years to dig back. He tried many different software packages on his first real computer. This is where he rendered his first Phong spheres.
He never actually attended a school or course, deciding to learn it all the hard way by trial-and-error, getting into the real paper book tutorials.
"I struggled through many hours but motivation never left me, and early on I developed a tendency towards environment in general and architecture in specific," he says. "Through one of my earlier works I gathered some attention and was eventually approached by pure rendering GmbH. I decided it was time to concentrate on CG completely and quit my other job. I started as a 3D generalist at pure rendering in Berlin and eventually became technical director of the studio." These days, just by looking through Brosdau's portfolio it becomes obvious pretty quickly that he strongly tends to work in the field of photorealism, leaning to the architectural styles. He loves to recreate the beautifully ornate and detailed furniture from the 19th century as a personal technical challenge. The most opulent styles of wood and leather furniture and fittings are the most challenging and this is what he loves best. 
The Chesterfield project is the most endearing job for him. "It grew on me and over the duration of months and I greatly enjoyed modeling and texturing all the bits and pieces in it," he explains. "It underwent a major overhaul after I posted it here on CGSociety, as I tend to never be really satisfied and immediately after I finish a project I become very critic about it.
From time to time I strive into the realms of character creation which, despite the -at least to me- daunting complexity, feels very rewarding during the creation and after a successful project is complete."
The HOVER project was in fact an architectural competition held by Ronen Bekerman running over a little more than three months. It was a WIP challenge so the process was beneficial to all participants.
It was crucial for the final submissions that the images should incorporate an element without visible support or construction.The rules were actually pretty loose in that regard so many different creations were conceived. I went for a slick realistic approach spending a great amount of time detailing and texturing, the actual concept/blocking was pretty much done after only a few days, yet the excution was very time consuming.
The hard work paid off in the end and I managed to win both the Grand Prize and the category for Best Modeling.
Sometimes Brosdau plans on creating something from a certain era of time or maybe just as simple as using/showcasing a certain type of material to full extent. Then the digging starts. He sifts through thousands of inspiration images on his hard drive and (of course) the Internet.
"I do all my blocking in 3D as well, moving boxes and shapes to get a sense of masses and volume and after that I start to detail the pieces individually," he says.
Benjamin regards it as 'absolutely crucial' to think all the steps through before actually starting in earnest. "I never just start modeling without a concept or plan in mind.
Naturally this is a must for complex animation with thousands of assets and shots, but I also apply this to the most basic objects I create. I always search for reference images. Naturally things are bound to change when you find out that things do not work in the end like you planned, or the 'not-unlikely' client input knifes through all concepts of order and sanity. Initially I at least try to think through the procedure and plan ahead. I am strongly obsessed with technical things so I highly appreciate believable shaders and lighting. That is of course only valid if the image is intended to look real. I also spend a good amount of time on framing and composition. It can really make or break an image. Next I would say is choice of colors and contrasts for maximum impact. In my opinion it should be apparent from the very first glance whether an image works or not." 
Brosdau sticks with the software that he became proficient with in the first place. In his case, this is 3ds Max. "I can also work just fine in Softimage and a bit in Maya but for my daily work I prefer to work inside 3ds Max.
The community is huge and there are countless plugins and third party render engines available," he says. He loves Next Limit's Maxwell Render for its GI and shader qualities. At work he uses V-Ray. "It's also an instant winner for its flexibility and speed.It should go without saying that Photoshop is also an invaluable tool as well," he adds.
Naturally the choice of colors is a very important aspect. Given that you are free from a client's demands, Brosdau tends to work with mostly desaturated colors for the general ambience and a single strong accent color usually attributed to the main object of interest. "Quite often I try different color schemes after a draft rendering in Photoshop with quick overlays," he explains. "It's all very subjective though and hard to describe in words, there's definitely a lot of gut feeling involved."
Together with texturing, this is definitely one of the two parts where Brosdau spends the most time on. "I have always been fascinated by creating atmospheres with light and shadows and it has a major impact on an image. From a mere technical point of view there are now various methods to deal with realistic or stylistic illumination, yet the core principles remain the same," he says.Back when he started to light images in CG, there was no built-in GI, AO, areashadows and all those other little helpers available nowadays. "I like to think of the time when I placed negative intensity lights under objects to achieve occlusion shadows!" Brosdau says then when lighting a scene, "you have to ask yourself what it actually is that the scene is about, and what message the image has to convey." 
"Should it be dramatic, cozy, frightening or maybe even otherworldly. At work, the core boundaries are often set by marketing decisions, so the playroom is a little more limited, but on my own projects I look for the best way to bring out the essence of the depicted objects, trying to utilize every trick to make that work. I know no restraints in this regard and use every trick or cheat (be it in the shaders or the geometry) to accomplish this," explained Brosdau.
Brosdau has no background in traditional arts, and rather than an artistic view on CG, espouses a slightly more scientific look. The research he does in the relationship of light and surfaces, render technologies not only gives Benjamin a unique and thorough view of his work, but keeps him fresh as technology progresses in the industry."I constantly seek to improve myself better my works with every iteration," he says. "Artistically, I'd like to venture a bit into the realm of science fiction, because the artworks of Nicholas Bouvier and Stephan Martiniere are an enormous inspiration to me in this regard."
Benjamin Brosdau
