Hugo Sena on Growing as a 3D Character Artist
0Article by Filip Radivojevic
In this interview, we sit down with Hugo Sena, a France-based 3D character artist whose work balances technical discipline with a strong sense of curiosity and personal challenge. He shares insights into his process, influences, and mindset, offering a grounded look at building and sustaining a career in character art.
Introduction and Artistic Identity
For readers discovering your work for the first time, how would you introduce yourself as a 3D character artist, and what core artistic principles or goals currently guide your work?
Hello, my name is Hugo and I'm a character artist from France. I've been playing games for as long as I can remember and have always been interested in making characters. However, it was only around the age of 17 that I really started dedicating myself to it, first by drawing and then, a couple of years later, by joining a video game school.
For me, it's all about finding fun and challenge in everything I do. I think I'm lucky to enjoy working on most types of characters, whether monsters, cartoon, or realistic. As far as personal work goes, I'm always aiming for something that both motivates me and pushes me further. I think my personal pipeline is constantly evolving because I never settle on one particular approach and am always eager to try new things.
My current dream goal is to be able to work as a character artist on a mainline Final Fantasy, and even though it's difficult, it's still an objective worth aiming for.
Career Path and Professional Experience
Can you walk us through your professional journey so far, highlighting key milestones, projects, or studio experiences that played an important role in shaping your skills and artistic direction?
My journey has been a bit rocky. As I'm mostly driven by passion, I've always had a hard time settling on a specific style in order to fit a studio. This led to some difficulties in finding work in the early stages of my career. My big break came with Rogue Factor, a Montreal-based studio where I stayed for close to seven years. Being a medium-sized studio, I had to learn a lot and wear many hats, which greatly accelerated both my artistic growth and my professional skills as a game artist.
Art-wise, as I'm a big fan of Square Enix's characters, I tend to lean toward that style. I'm also a big fan of some Korean 3D art styles, so I guess it all seeps into how I create my characters.
Artistic Style and Character Design Focus
Your portfolio features a strong emphasis on detailed, expressive characters, often with a realistic or gritty tone. How did this stylistic direction develop, and what influences have had the biggest impact on your character design approach?
Expanding on art style, as I mentioned, it's mainly about what I find fun to make and what pushes me forward. I love trying various styles for exploration and challenge, but I tend to stay with semi-realistic work because it's closer to what I want to achieve.
I think we all have a game in mind that we'd like to make, and I'm no different. I like to develop characters within a specific universe inspired by many sci-fi books and series I've read and watched. Of course, there are elements that I consider "unique" to me. For example, I place a strong emphasis on curves, as it's a shape I really love. I think this can be seen in some of my work, where there are fewer strong angles and mostly curved shapes.
As for influences, it's very difficult to pinpoint just one. At this point, there are so many things I like and that motivate me that it's hard to settle on a single source. That said, one piece that has truly stood the test of time and continues to amaze me is Marat-ars' "NEOMA." It left a very strong impression on me years ago.
Artwork Breakdown: The Beast
In your artwork The Beast, the anatomy and raw physical presence stand out immediately. What was the main idea behind this character, and which part of creating The Beast proved to be the most challenging from an artistic or technical perspective?
Thank you. The Beast is another example of a fun-driven challenge. I think I'm at a point where, when I want to learn something, I focus on very specific aspects and even follow tutorials for one particular skill I'd like to add to my toolkit. For The Beast, I've always admired the work of Bruno Camara, and when a spot in his mentorship opened, I applied. What I was looking for was the gritty feeling he brings to his work and his approach to texturing. I created The Beast mainly for that purpose.
The challenge then was to find a concept that would allow for a wide variety of different materials to texture and sculpt, ensuring I got the most out of what I was aiming for. It was also a good opportunity to push my presentation skills, as I had never created any kind of environment to place my characters in before. I'm not an environment artist, so I can safely say this was a challenge for me, but I'm happy with the end result. I also took the time to better understand cameras and lighting in UE5, and I hope all of this new knowledge is visible in the final result.
Character Creation Workflow
How does your character creation workflow typically unfold, from the initial blockout and sculpt to final rendering, and which tools and software play a key role at each stage of the process?
I think I have a fairly standard workflow, even though it's always evolving. What's important to me is the end goal: I'm a game artist, so my work should follow a game-oriented pipeline. That's why I tend to do my final renders in Unreal, a game engine. Even though I always try to push the quality of my work, I think it's still important to use technology that aligns with your career goals.
As far as software goes, I use ZBrush for anything high-poly, Blender for my main modeling, retopology, and UV work, Substance Painter for texturing, and Unreal for rendering.
Portfolio Strategy and Presentation
Your portfolio is very cohesive and clearly targeted toward character art. What is your strategy when selecting which pieces to include, and what common mistakes do you see artists make when presenting their work?
For The Beast, for example, I think what I've posted is only about one tenth of what I actually rendered. When finishing a piece, it usually takes me a long time to render everything and decide what to post, as I tend to render, review the result, feel unsatisfied, and render again. This process can take quite a while, but in the end, I'm left with a wide variety of shots to choose from.
Of course, I always include the typical wide shot and front, back, and quarter views, but I'm trying to explore more options as time goes by. I think one of the hardest things for artists, especially newer ones, is learning to let go of old pieces. Everyone knows that a portfolio is only as strong as its weakest piece, and learning when to let go is part of the process.
We tend to have a biased view of our work based on what it means to us, but that doesn't mean someone else will feel the same way. This is especially true with older work, where nostalgia can set in and prevent us from seeing its flaws. That's why it's always valuable to have an external eye reviewing our portfolio.
Career Advice for Aspiring Character Artists
What advice would you give to artists who want to pursue a career in character art today, especially in terms of skill development, consistency, and maintaining the right mindset in a highly competitive industry?
My first piece of advice, and I think it's more important now than ever, is this: it's not a race, it's a marathon. I know there are a lot of incredible artists out there, and it can be tempting to spend 24/7 on your art, but that will quickly lead to burnout. Take things as they come, and don't feel guilty if you're not motivated on some days.
Go outside, socialize, read, watch movies, draw, listen to music, and so on. All of it will go into your brain's library anyway. You need to let your brain process information after a long day, otherwise it will get clogged. It's very similar to a computer. For example, watching tutorial after tutorial means very little if you don't give your brain time to sit with and absorb the information.
Be kind and be good. I'm not afraid to say that a good portion of the jobs I've had came not only from my art, but also from how I act and the kind of professional I am. When I was a lead, a good personality and strong work ethic went much further than pure art skills when evaluating a coworker. Art is important, but so is the person. You wouldn't want to be stuck for several years with a toxic individual, for example.
Also, never stop working for yourself. It can be difficult, especially when you have a full-time job and a family, to go back to the computer, but doing personal art will help you improve at your job. What I mean is that there will be less personal pressure attached to work-related art, and receiving feedback, redoing work, or even having it canceled will be less emotionally impactful. It might sound strange, but it's very important.
I've seen my fair share of artists who relied entirely on work art as their only form of artistic fulfillment, and when something went wrong, they felt devastated. Doing something for yourself helps you maintain emotional distance from company work and, in turn, makes you a better professional.
Follow Hugo Sena on ArtStation and LinkedIn to see more of his incredible work.