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GLBShe’ll Take ZBrush Over Law Books Any Day: An Interview with Ida Faber
0Article by Jerry Bonner
Ida Faber is a 3D character artist who grew up in Europe (Latvia), but now resides in Asia (Thailand). As a result, her dazzling 3D models have a distinctive Asian flair that most Westerners struggle to capture.
Recently, she took time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions for us.
JB/RH = Jerry Bonner/RenderHub
IF = Ida Faber
JB/RH: When and/or what was the revelation that you didn't want to be a lawyer and wanted to be an artist?
IF: Initially, I went to university because it seemed like the right and secure thing to do. But after six months of studying, I realized it wasn't for me. I had always enjoyed spending time on the computer playing games. I wasn't interested in the lectures, I had nothing in common with the people at university, and overall, I felt out of place. That's when I started looking into what professions existed in the game development industry. The idea of creating characters appealed to me the most. After talking with my mom, we decided I would finish the academic year to be sure that 3D art was really what I wanted to pursue.
At the same time as studying law, I enrolled in online 3D courses. It was hard to manage both, and as you can guess, I gave preference to 3D. By the end of the academic year, I had basically abandoned my university studies and managed to land my first 3D client, earning real money. Leaving university wasn't a surprise. I'll put it this way: going to law school when you're obsessed with video games is a bad idea. I don't regret choosing creativity in the end.
JB/RH: Do you miss studying law at all?
IF: Not at all. Right now, I'm happy working in the gamedev industry. I look optimistically toward the future, and I dream of creating my own game one day.
JB/RH: Your work is heavily Eastern/Asian influenced. What is it about that style and/or aesthetic that "works" for you rather than a Western (or even a European) style of art?
IF: It's because I grew up with games and anime that had Asian aesthetics. The most influential game for me was the MMORPG Perfect World, and later ArcheAge. I spent hundreds of hours in those games, and it feels like my brain is now permanently programmed in that style. Even though I grew up in a European countryLatvia, I always felt drawn to Asia, and eventually even moved to Thailand.
I especially enjoy creating cute and beautiful characters. One of my favorite works is Kitsune Yuna, which reflects that blend of grace and softness. I also love the Spirit Blossom skin line from League of Legends, it's incredibly beautiful, especially Ahri's kitsune design, which deeply inspires me.
JB/RH: Who do you consider to be some of your major influences?
IF: I don't really follow influencers, but there are artists whose work had a big impact on what I want to create. Shin JeongHo is an artist I randomly found on my very first day of learning 3D, and I instantly fell in love with his style. I love absolutely everything about his work and I'm always excited to see what he'll create next. His quality is top-tier, and I hope to reach that level someday.
Huifeng Huang is another popular artist whose work I really admire in terms of both style and execution. His pieces are always super polished and beautiful. I know he also teaches many artists, and their work turns out amazing too. You often see them trending on ArtStation.
JB/RH: Why is being strictly freelance, rather than working for a company or studio, appealing to you?
IF: I often get invited to work at studios, even by major companies. But I love independence, I simply can't live by a schedule or plan, and strict deadlines cause me a lot of stress. I'm also an introvert, and having to talk to people every day would drain all my energy, while communication is crucial in a studio environment.
Working with stock platforms is a solitary process. I upload my work whenever it suits me, and if someone likes it, they buy it. However, it's hard for some people to stay organized, you have to work fast and maintain high quality, or it won't be enough to live on. Some people find it easier when they're told what to do, and after the workday ends, they can relax. Stock work is more like running your own business, your mind is always on work, even during vacations, because everything depends on you.
Talking to fellow stock artists, I've seen a range of "mental states." Some people look for studio jobs while working with stocks, and when they get one, they leave. With such high competition, it's hard to stay afloat, but I've found an audience that appreciates my work, and I managed to hold my ground. Most of my buyers are returning customers, and I'm really grateful to them. I always try to help, answer messages, and sometimes even record helpful tutorial videos. Thanks to them, I don't have to look for studio jobs.
JB/RH: I saw you mentioned previously that you had a "mentor" guide you early on in your career. What do you think the benefits of that are? And for those who would like to find a mentor of their own, how would you recommend finding one?
IF: Like many others, I started with online 3D courses, but they don't always provide the direction and knowledge a person really needs. Maybe this will comfort someone it's okay to drop a course. I'm one of those people. What matters is that you keep practicing 3D.
I continued learning on YouTube, but I felt lost when it came to putting everything together to make a game-ready character. I knew how to sculpt, model, retopologize, unwrap UVs, bake, and texture, but I couldn't bring all that together into a fully finished, rigged character inside a game engine.
I would look at other people's works and reach out to artists whose style I liked. One of them agreed to mentor me for a fee, of course, and he taught me a lot. The pipeline I use today is still based on what I learned from him, though I've refined it over time. With each new project, I try to improve something. Recently, I reworked my skin shader, and with my latest model, I updated how I construct the eyes.
I think people should first learn the tools on their own, via YouTube or courses, and then look for a personal mentor whose style resonates with them.
JB/RH: What are your top five video games of all time?
IF: Rimworld
Maybe a bit unexpected, since this game has nothing to do with my style or 3D. I've spent thousands of hours in Rimworld. I love going back to it and replaying it from time to time. It's a survival strategy and colony simulator, and to me it feels a bit like observing ants, which I also love. I even have several ant colonies at home in formicariums. That's also one reason I love Thailand, it's a paradise for insect lovers like me.
Kenshi
Another survival game, similar in vibe to Rimworld, but with very different gameplay. You can explore the world, recruit people to your team, and build your own city. I really enjoy the music from both games and often listen to it while working. Soon I'll be releasing a collection inspired by Kenshi - Dystopia.
Ark: Survival Evolved
Dinosaurs are a childhood love for many people, including me. In Ark, you can tame dinos and other creatures, ride them, build bases, and explore maps. I like playing on PvP servers, raiding other players, and breeding creatures to get stronger offspring. A really funny story happened when we were trading with another tribe and one of the players looked very familiar and it turned out he was using my model Stellar Rogue! That's how I learned that the game has mods, and one of the most popular ones features my model. I was extremely flattered and surprised to see my creations in-game. Players love them and they fit right into the world.
The Binding of Isaac
Another game I return to often. I enjoy building different loadouts and being surprised by the final result. The lore is also super interesting, I love the biblical themes and characters. My favorites are Azazel and Cain.
League of Legends
I always follow Riot Games' art - like many people in the industry, I'm amazed and inspired every time they release something new. Aesthetically, I like characters like Ahri, Lux, Soraka, Kayn, Thresh, and Sett, but I actually play totally different ones: Ziggs, Veigar, and Swain. I already mentioned the Spirit Blossom skin line - it's phenomenal. All the characters with those skins look amazing, and they inspire me a lot. I also enjoy TFT and the Arcane series by Riot.
JB/RH: What are some of the tools/programs/apps you use on a daily basis? What are the biggest pluses and minuses of each?
IF: My toolkit has grown over the years in 3D. Currently, I work in Maya, ZBrush, Marmoset, and Substance Painter. For engines, I use Unreal Engine and Unity to prepare characters for actual use in games.
Some additional tools worth mentioning are Fibershop, Marvelous Designer, and Cascadeur. I use them less frequently, but they're powerful and can take your models to the next level.
- ZBrush - The absolute leader in sculpting. I use it almost every day, and it's so well-known I don't need to explain much.
- Maya -Another industry standard. It was my first 3D program. You can still find some of my early works on Sketchfab, like the Droid model I made at the end of a hard-surface modeling course. I now spend half (if not more) of my time in Maya doing retopology, UVs, cleanup, rigging, skinning, blendshapes, posing, and even animations. It's very versatile. People ask why I don't use Blender or 3ds Max - simple answer: I learned Maya first and I'm used to it. All tools are just that - tools. It's the artist who makes the difference. The downside is the steep learning curve and occasional bugs/crashes, but that's common with most 3D software.
- Substance Painter - An industry standard like Maya. Everyone I know uses it. It's similar to Photoshop. Even after years of using it, I still learn new things. You can also bake maps in it, but I prefer doing that in Marmoset.
- Marmoset - I use it for baking. It's very intuitive for adjusting shells so they don't overlap, customizing cages, and testing settings in real-time. I used to render in Marmoset too, but after upgrading my PC, I switched to rendering in Unreal Engine, which gives a richer, more realistic result.
- Fibershop - Super handy for making hair cards. Before, you had to struggle with XGen or manually paint textures in Photoshop, now there's a fast and high-quality tool. Everyone I know switched to Fibershop. I even have a tutorial video showing how to make hair easily.
- Marvelous Designer - Famous for clothing creation. I mostly use it for base garments, then move to ZBrush for detailed sculpting. I actually taught my mom to use Marvelous Designer, and she's doing great with it. We made the Vampire Girl dress together.
- Cascadeur - A young but amazing animation tool. I love experimenting with animations. One time I got inspired and made models and animations for ants just for fun. Right now, I'm preparing a female animation set with interactions and locomotion for my characters.
JB/RH: As it seems to be the hot topic of the day: What are your thoughts on AI and AI generated art as a whole?
IF: Like many artists, I get a bit annoyed seeing AI-generated content everywhere. Sure, the field is developing and might produce decent results in the future. But as for AI-generated 3D models, they're low quality right now. From afar they might look okay, but up close you'll see tons of artifacts. Technically, the topology and UVs are a disaster. Some think you can just use an AI model as a base and refine it, but honestly, cleaning up that mess might take more time than just making it from scratch.
The TikTok trend "AI makes art accessible" really upset me. I completely disagree with that statement. If you truly want to create, you can draw in the sand, creativity is available to everyone with any tools.
JB/RH: What advice do you have for those looking to break into the 3D art world? Those who want to do and/or work on similar projects that you have?
IF: I could give the typical advice like "never give up" or "believe in yourself," but I'll offer practical tips that actually helped me:
- Grab a calendar like Sculptober, where there's a different theme each day. Set a timer and limit yourself to one hour per sculpt or model. Focus on making a solid blockout in a short time. It doesn't matter if it's sculpted or modeled, the key is doing something new every day. Compare your first and last piece, and you'll be amazed by your improvement.
- Your goal in the beginning is NOT to make a perfect beautiful model - it's to learn the tools. Your first ten models will be weak. Now ask yourself - if you obsess over a single model for a month trying to make it perfect, how long will it take to get to ten models? And in the end, it still won't be perfect. So get those beginner models out of the way, learn the tools, and get into our amazing industry!
Follow Ida Faber on ArtStation, YouTube, and Instagram to see more of her incredible work.
