Digital sculptor/3D character artist Damien Abdool is living his dreams, with his name rolling in the credits of record-breaking Hollywood movies
After finishing A Levels in Guyana, Damien Abdool moved to Toronto, Canada, where he pursued a post graduate 3D programme at Humber College where he graduated with honours. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Vancouver where he furthered his studies at the Vancouver Film School and once again graduated with honours.
In an interview with Guyana Times Sunday Magazine, Damien said that growing up, he was always fascinated by fantasy in whatever form he could find: comic books, movies, video games, to name a few.
“My father,” he recalled, “was the main culprit in getting me hooked. He would always tell me stories and draw pictures of superheroes and creatures. As a son I tried my best to copy him, and found out that I had a natural aptitude towards sculpting and drawing.”
This passion, fuelled by his father, led him to become a recognised digital sculptor/3D character artist for film and videogames in the glitzy world of Hollywood. His job ranges from replicating very realistic humans to entirely animated creatures, with 3D software.
“If I had to boil it down to one thing, I would say I enjoy problem-solving. It can come in many forms when you do 3D, whether it is applying some artistic theory to enhance the quality of a model to finding the most efficient way to construct something. I also just love sculpting!” the artist mentioned of what he loves about his work.
The young acclaimed artist, who has been into the digital art industry for seven years, has worked with Digital Domain, an American visual effects and digital production company, for almost two years on gargantuan movies such as “Jack the Giant Slayer”, “Thor” and soon-to-be-released science fiction action film “Ender’s Game”.
He went on a hiatus from films to work on a project with Microsoft for the X-Box One. After completing his work for Microsoft, he then decided to return to Digital Domain to work on the highly anticipated “X-Men” sequel, scheduled for release next year: “X-Men: Days of Future Past”.
“I can’t tell you exactly what I’m doing until it’s released. All I can say is that my usual role is character art. To work with such a big production is great! I work with a very talented team on something that inspired me so much as I was growing up. “X-Men” has always epitomized amazing fantasy for me,” the artist said, enthused.
He disclosed that he had the pleasure to meet, on a few previous occasions, some of the acting talent involved in the productions he worked on. One such instance was during the production of “Fight Night 4” and “Champion at EA”, Damien felt privileged to meet international boxing champions Shane Mosely, Sergio Mora and Lennox Lewis – just to name a few.
The artist noted that he enjoys any production that challenges him and allows him to further himself when it comes to character art. He added that he would like to take all that he has learnt and apply it to some of his own creative story driven endeavours.
“For me inspiration comes in many forms. Listening to an amazing musician, watching a great athlete or something totally unrelated to art, inspire me to try to be as good as I can at what I do. My parents always stood by my decision to be a professional artist and I think that really gave me the drive to follow it through. A lot of the challenges associated with my job have been encountered by commercial artists alike for a very long time. Luckily, careful observation of theory, technique and trends throughout the industry prepares me for any challenge,” he related.
Damien’s encouragement for youths who want to follow a similar path as he did is to “Find what you love and practice it until you are blue in the face.” (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
