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Today we’d like to introduce you Oliver Wetter, a talented artist and illustrator, available for graphic projects such as book covers, concept & genre art, and private art commissions.Oliver is known by the tutorial Making of Helaya which he created excusively for Painting.Dtuts.com

Oliver, please, tell us a few words about yourself

My name is Oliver Wetter, I´m 32 years old, born and raised in Trier / Germany. Together with my spouse, our daughter and two cats we occupy a house in Konz near the grand duchy Luxembourg, where I have located my studio and working label Fantasio fine Arts

When did you start doing digital painting? What was the reason of choosing this occupation? Did you start it as hobby or your aim was to build up a career in this field? Did you have any art related schooling?

In the beginning I did not intend to work towards a CG-related occupation. I was always passionate about art in general, and in 2003 thought that a study at the Ibkk-arts-center in Bochum / Germany would help to turn my passion into a profession. I started with digital painting around 10 years ago, my first equipment was a PC, Photoshop 7 and an antiquated Artpad II tablet from Wacom, a pain to work with, compared with today’s blessing of pressure sensitivity. Computer were not that powerful at this time, but to some extend I managed to achieve similar results in physical and digital airbrushing at the time when I study.. 
Later I found that I made more progress in digital painting than with the traditional equivalent and gladly my mixed-media endeavors were supported by the arts-center which, me thinks, was what helped me to improve vastly.

Looking through your rich portfolio I have noticed that you are working in many art directions. Where do you get the ideas for such amazing works?

Thank you, its definitely something that keeps me sane to self-assign with new styles and directions sometimes. I´m just trying to find different ways to approach a specific way of creation. This ensures that over time I better my skills with other works as well. The thing about inspiration is that I keep staying active in communities like deviantArt where I get inspiration and discussion through other artists work on a daily basis, I don´t want to limit me to just a local demand or trend in styles, this and the fact that I make the time in between commissions to try my hands on various styles result in such a wide variety and love for different expressions.

I think it will be interesting for our readers to learn about your work “When worlds collide”. Where did you get inspiration and ideas to create this artwork? What stage was the most difficult for you? How long did you work on it?

I would say; while its stylistic inspired by high fantasy, my intention was to put the fantasy cliche a bit into question. Wherever possible I try to mix the common with the uncommon, in this case the impossible presence of the “Ninja-assassin” who breaks into the realms of fantasy. 
The most difficult part was to find the perfect balance; in terms of composition, to make it look like a surprise and equally dynamic but also to keep it serious and not look like parody. I love to give an entrance into a work similar to an architect, yet the fine artist in me strives for the happy accidents.
I´m happy when as result a story unfolds in the viewers mind. Experimenting with various compositions in the first place allowed me to later focus on the fancy parts like the symbols, coloring and so on. All in all it took around 10 hrs for the composite and another 15 hours for the painting / coloring process. And since you asked me about this particular work, I´d like to take the opportunity and thank these folks for inspiration and the permission to use references: http://9mm-stock.deviantart.com/, http://kittyd-stock.deviantart.com/, http://arya-dwipangga.deviantart.com/, http://asvison-stock.deviantart.com/ and http://www.sxc.hu

What kind of work are you doing now? What characters, ideas and themes are prevailing?

As for publishing works there are about 2 audio book covers and 3 book covers just finished, and one in progress but it´ll take a while until they hit the shelves. On the personal side there are two “fantasio-girls” in the making, one of the more “polished” styles I foster. Another idea I have is again a photomanipulation, a dark themed work based on a sculpture that is rather surreal and, yes, another tutorial for dtuts is in progress.

What work do you enjoy more: personal or commercial projects? When you are working on personal projects what type of work do you like to do?

I enjoy both! When I do personal works, its not that I decide if I want to do a painting or a sculpture, its rather that I gather ideas and sketches and approach personal projects in the way of an art-director and then decide with which medium I will go to achieve that specific outcome which represents the idea in the best possible light.
The work “when worlds collide” is a good example of what I do like in personal projects; let the happy accidents reign and experiment with different angles and pivots, whereas in illustration it has to be totally clear upfront how the final work should look like – totally opposites, that’s what makes the job so intriguing!

Are you a perfectionist? Does it take you long to achieve that final perfect image you are happy with?

First question: Definitely yes! But its not that it takes long to achieve that final perfect image, its more that on a certain point I can´t leave it be – most artists will know that feeling – when you think this is going to be good it just begins to even make more fun to work out details and so forth, just for the sake of not yet leaving. Another thing, digital artists may have to deal with, is that there is no physical boundary; while a traditional work on board limits how often you can scratch or erase, the Wacom does not, this fact invites to work longer on a piece than necessary, sometimes.

Have you any tricks and your own “know-hows” which you gained with experience during your work? What do you think is the most thing in creation of any work?

I heard a lot people have different tricks to help them start painting freehand, such as brushing some rough clouds onto a plain board to help the imagination.
what I find helpful, especially when dealing with cover assignments, is to do thumbnail sketches; around 4-8 little squares or rectangles reflecting the desired format and then starting to force different angles and perspectives of one idea to fit into this shape and later pick the most appealing one.
Also its helpful to start digital painting based on such a little thumbnail scan to work out a plain color scheme and then make the size bigger later for adding details is something I found extremely time and space-saving. Other than that in the tutorial I have packed a lot of “know-hows” that helped me make the “digital” process easier.

How do you manage to combine your personal life and work? Do you have any hobbies? Is it easy for you to find the time for your family, friends?

If you´d count just the working time of creation, that would definitely not cover more than 30-40 hrs a week. But the additional workload like promotion, acquisition, portfolio updating and staying in touch with the art community is something that does cost an average of the personal time. Quite recently I had a conversation with Dave Davidson, also freelancer and we both see it as kind of a mmorpg-game, where others play world of warcraft, do we play the game of our live in a massive-multi-online-role-playing-game. The more I think about this comparison the less I find any differences, except that we get even paid for leveling up, others would do just waste their time if they´d play to such an extent as we do. With my wife I´m organizer and DJ of a monthly local party-event, called “tortured-souls” and when I´m not “playing” or Dj-ing I spend time with my family, friends and take part of the local and regional art scene. My hobbies are: computer, oldtimer and occasionally partying with the desert creatures.

You are a mature, experienced artist. What can you say to inspire those newbies who are just starting to work in CG?

I think everyone who has read until this question can draw a conclusion by their own, but for those who just watch the pictures and want a wrap up, there it goes:if you are passionate about art, don´t ever limit yourself to CG, its a tool a modern one but it still requires handiwork, endurance and technical skills.To get recognized it needs additional persistence, a lot of patience and occasionally a 36 hours day. If you want ever to be a professional in the field of art, believe in what you do. It can take a while to find out what you really want, it can even take a lifetime to find out that its not what you really wanted, so enjoying every little bit of what you do is the most beneficial thing.Last but not least, I have to refer to a very important quote: “You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work.” Randy Pausch.

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