Artist Spotlight: Filip Hodas
Filip Hodas has been on our radar for quite some time. His surreal 3D compositions have earned him a huge following in the design community, with his Instagram currently boasting over 200,000 followers. It’s not surprising. His work transcends perception and interpretation and his use of 3D modeling is ground-breaking. Having featured him as one of our 20 Creatives to watch out for in 2017, we decided to find out more about this phenomenally talented and truly incredible digital artist.
ADOBE STOCK: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your creative background?
Filip Hodas: Hi, my name if Filip Hodas, I’m 24 years old digital artist based in Prague, Czech Republic. I’ve been working in the creative industry for the past 7 years. I started off as a graphic designer doing posters for gigs my friends and I played at. Then it kind of grew from there and I started doing visuals for bigger events and companies. In 2015 while I was working in agency here in Prague I started getting into 3D graphics in my free time, which was something I always wanted to do. I did one image every day to get better and to learn as quickly as possible. In the beginning of 2016 I went back to freelancing, but this time I mainly focused on 3D and it sort of worked out.
AS: So how did you get started in digital art professionally?
**FH: **It was while I was at a university. I wasn’t really enjoying what I was studying and my motivation to finish school was fading quickly. After one and a half semesters I decided to quit and was trying to figure out what to do next. Only thing I was able to do, that could turn into real job, was doing images in Photoshop, so I decided to give it a go and started offering graphic design services to friends among DJ’s and promoters. I didn’t earn a lot, but at least I did something I was enjoying and quite soon I did several posters every week. Then I started learning Illustrator and ‘expanded’ into logos and other printable materials (brochures, stickers, covers..) I even did some web design and digital drawing/painting at one point, but those didn’t really work for me, so I focused more on the rest and simply kept working.
AS: What are your perceptions of stock images, and do you think the perception is changing?
FH: I used to use stock images quite a lot while I was working in the agency I mentioned (the company also did calendars and diaries and at least 60-70% of them were just from stock photos) and I never really thought about it too much to be honest, I just used them. I feel that a lot of commercial work wouldn’t even be possible without stock photos – hiring photographers and models, renting all the gear/studio or paying people to travel across the globe just to get few photos would be so expensive, that a lot of companies and entrepreneurs could never afford it. Even in more creative work stock photos are essential for resources in matte painting, photo manipulations or even just for textures. I myself don’t use them too much, but I think it’s only a matter of time before I get some job that will require very specific kind of environment or something I won’t be able to reproduce without stock.
AS: How would you describe your style?
**FH: **Frankly, I don’t really know. I kinda throw stuff together and hope for the best. Usually I try to combine realistic looking things or environments with something surreal, bizarre or even just slightly different.
AS: Where do you find your inspiration?
FH: I don’t usually have much time to go outside, so I’m stuck with the internet and books, but there still so much amazing stuff to be found there! I try to avoid getting too inspired by people from the same genre/style, so I usually look for photos, sculptures, books, paintings, drawings. Often it’s just a little detail that starts this chain reaction of ideas.
AS: What are you excited to work on in 2017?
FH: Since I don’t plan too much ahead, it’s hard to say! I’d love to focus on fewer, but bigger both personal and commercial projects and do some collaborations with other artists. I’d also love to get more into motion design, that will probably take a while though.
AS: And finally, what music are you currently listening to when you work?
FH: I used to listen to drum and bass a lot, but in last couple of years I slowed down to minimal/experimental techno, deep house and pretty much any slower electronic music. When I’m working, I prefer more atmospheric tunes with slow gradation and gloomy or melancholic tones.
