Metin Seven

If people would like to contact you, how would you like to be contacted?

People who are interested to get in touch can find the necessary contact info at my website: www.sevensheaven.nl

What type of tools or media do you use?

My main tool is 3D. I am a 3ds Max aficionado since 1998 and sometimes I like to scetch first using Photoshop or drawing on a good old sheet of paper. But for the end result I usually model all my characters with 3ds Max and render them using one of my two favorite plug-in renderers: V-Ray or Maxwell.

Where is the place you would like to work or be an Intern if you had a choice?

Pixar, definitely! Moving from the Netherlands to the U.S. would be quite a decision to make, but if they actually offered me a job it would be damn hard to resist. But hey, I'm only dreaming here. :) I think Pixar has successfully recreated the quality, innovation and magic of the classic Disney days. I really hope they will remain able to maintain their current high creative level. The Incredibles is my favourite Pixar movie, Brad Bird is my hero. :)

Who do you think are the top character designers out there?

I'm ashamed that I don't know them by name, but the character designers at Pixar rule as far as I'm concerned. Especially the caricatural characters from The Incredibles (here I go again) and the imaginative characters from Monsters, Inc. are top of the bill in my opinion. I've also got a weak spot for the farcical character designs of the Aardman studio. Furthermore the cute character designs of Eren Blanquet always make me happy and the whimsical characters of Steve Lambe never fail to make me smile.

What are some of your favorite character designs which you have seen?

Well, I think the dog from the Wallace & Gromit movie (not Gromit, but the other one in the movie) is such an utterly funny character design that only it's sheer appearance in any scene was enough to make me laugh. Speaking of great dog character designs: there's this cute and funny little white dog character in Disney's Mulan that had the same effect on me as the Wallace & Gromit movie dog.

What is your most favorite subject to draw? And why?

I've got an affection for cute robots, though I immediately have to mention that I'm not very charmed by the characters from the Robots movie. I do like the cute robot design from the Hitchhiker's Guide movie. The reason I love to create robots is because their segmented structure is easier to model, allowing me to focus on shaping a character's appeal rather than having to spend a lot of time creating a seamless model. Besides I love anything industrial and robots fit into that category.

What inspired you to become an Artist?

That's actually quite a difficult question, because there have been numerous different influences that together formed my inspiration to become an artist. First of all I've always loved to devour comics and to draw my own characters and comics. In my adolescent days I was a complete computer games fanatic and subsequently I started to create graphics for commercial games, which I continued for about ten years, from the late Eighties to the late Nineties. In the early Nineties the Dutch Comic House agency gave me the opportunity to work together with top class artists at their studio, which was an honor for me and very inspiring.

What are some of your favorite website links that would be relevant to this Blog?

Well, I hope you don't mind this shameless plug, but I'd like to invite you to my online character development project www.figurefarm.com , where you can view my 3D character designs to date. It's my dream to one day see my characters materialized as toy figures. Furthermore, here are the URLs of the people I mentioned in this blog: www.pixar.com (obviously), Eren Blanquet's blog: eblanquet.blogspot.com, Steve Lambe's blog: lambey.blogspot.com and last but not least the Comic House agency's online portfolios: www.comichouse.nl