Lighting Artist Stefania Hernandez from IO Interactive

This week we have a talk to another amazing Lighting Artist, Stefania from IO Interactive, who worked on the Hitman franchise.

Who or what inspired you to get into 3D art?

When my dad bought me my very first console, the Nintendo 64, I discovered I loved playing videogames. Some years later I was playing games with some of my friends and one of them told me how he was going to study video game design. At the time I didn’t know it was something you could study for and I thought it would be very cool to study something like that. I had also been taking some art classes and after some research I discovered there was a field for making art in videogames.

My love for art and games was what lead me to pursue a career in videogames and eventually I ended up becoming a lighting artist.

What are you working on at the moment?

Cannot talk much about it.

What are the best and worst parts of your job?

The best part of my job is getting to when the game is ready to get a final lighting pass that defines the final look. In the process there is a lot of technical setups that I also enjoy but playing with the colours and lights it’s the best part!

What does your typical workflow look like and what tools and software do you prefer?

At work I use our own engine Glacier 2. I do all the lighting, technical lighting setups and reflections inside our engine.

On my personal projects I sometimes use Unreal Engine or Unity 3D.

What key piece of advice would you offer to a 3D artist aspiring to work in the games industry?

If you would like to work in a big game studio, I think it is very important to specialize in one area (level design, lighting, environment art, etc.) and when applying for a position make your portfolio around that. Also, If you are just starting out don’t get discouraged if your first 3d models don’t come out great, sometimes it requires a lot of practice 🙂

What’s your favourite game and why?

I think I have a tie: The legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This one holds a special place in my heart because my sister and I used to play it a lot when we were little. I still remember playing it and being amazed at the story and environments that were incredible at the time it came out.

I will also include Fable, I really enjoyed playing that one, I think it is very memorable and I liked the idea that the main character changed depending on their actions.