Born in Osaka, Japan, and growing up in the suburbs of Paris, France, gives one a unique multicultural background springing from the best of the Eastern and Western worlds. Our September 2024, Rising Star!, Keita Ikesue, (KeitaFarEast), is such a person. 

In this case, it has meant Ikesue, whose home is back in Japan, is comfortable living and working with multiple skills and talents. 

She graduated from art university majoring in music composition and has studied various fields of art since she was in school. In addition to composing music, she has worked as a stage director, in film production, and theatrical stylist.

Until a few years ago, much of her job was composing, and the other was in an art business for Japanese nightclub workers. The business involved a wide range of artwork, including makeup, styling, photography and design work which required her to also learn CG art skills.

Since COVID, and the weak yen bringing economic strain on the Japanese economy, the nightclubs, which are important to Japanese business, have seen a sharp downturn.

Ikesue is now working primarily from home, publishing 3DCG content to sell overseas in addition to meeting the demands of a mother.

Q&A

What are your favorite programs or tools for work and what is your typical workflow for a design?

I frequently use Blender, Marvelous Designer, Substance Painter, and Photoshop. Sometimes I use small tools like Ultimate Unwrap3D and Materialize as an aid.

My basic workflow

1. Decide on a concept
2. Design the overall image
3. Create morphs or objects tentatively
4. Find and set the best rendering and lighting
5. Create morphs or objects again under the environment set in step 4.
6. Rigging, creating corrective morphs and additional/adaptive morphs
7. Texturing
8. Scripting for ease of use
9. Creating promo images

I use Marvelous Designer for 80 percent of the clothing creation, and Blender for most of the morphing other than clothing. I tend to do texturing the classic way in Photoshop rather than doing it smartly in Substance Painter or something similar.

What part of 3D design work do you most like doing and can you tell me about your design style?

First, I value "realism" the most. In the last 1-2 years, though Generative AI has grown dramatically. I think it's hard for a machine to beat human craftsmanship. I always aim to create works "more realistic than AI."

Secondly, I am very proud of the sophisticated fashion and trends of East Asia (Japan, Korea, China), so I create work that conveys that.

My favorite parts of 3D design work are thinking about designs related to fashion trends, and the layout design as post work of the promo images. I like to post Instagrammable images.

How did you transition your interest in digital art to becoming a vendor?

When I was creating experimental 3DCG as part of image editing for nightclub workers, I ended up with something of higher quality than I expected, so I thought maybe I could sell my works as a vendor.

What are your favorite projects to create and what has been the most successful for you?

I don't know yet. There's a lot to think about that because the things I like, the things I'm good at, and the things that sell well are all different.

Are there other artists that influence your work or have mentored you?

Not a specific artist, but East Asian Instagram influencers always inspire me with their latest lifestyle, fashion styles, and photogenic styles.

Why did you make the decision to become a vendor at Renderosity?

This is because, compared to the official DAZ, I feel that the Renderosity staff are very responsive, honest, and trustworthy. Also, compared to other sites, Renderosity has a high level of transparency and a strong name value, it suited my feeling.

How has Renderosity made a difference or helped in your growth as a vendor?

Seeing the Renderosity staff always working on marketing, with a strong desire to improve, gives me motivation as a vendor to create even higher quality products, and I am learning new skills every day.

What are some products you want to create in the near future and what goals do you have in mind as a vendor?

-Male Character (In Progress)

-East Asian-style Makeup Merchant Resources

-Buddhist statue for G9

-Works related to traditional Japanese culture etc.

I will continue to create works steadily until AI surpasses humans, though I'm not sure if this can be called the goal. I want to share the kind of work that is in demand.