Peter Popadič has been with us for over a year now, since TRM (Trade Race Manager). He is a hard worker and incredibly talented 3D artist, who's pushing the boundries of game development in all the right directions. Peter is one of those people whose dedication and will to endure helped them to reinvent themselves and reach beyoned the condines of their formal background. That also might be a reason why Peter's work brims over with creativity and inventiveness. What is he about to bring to the table? Don't miss the fruits of hard work of Peter and his team in Citizen Conflict Alpha 2.0!
Hi Peter! It’s good to have you here. Please, tell me about your beginnings in 3D art.
I’ve been fascinated by visual art since my childhood. Really, I’ve been sketching and drawing since kindergarten. However, at that time, I had completely no clue I would pursue the direction professionally. To be honest, I haven’t figured it out for many years to come. But looking back, I can say that, in a way, I’ve been involved in some sort of visual artistry ever since I picked up pencils and crayons.
So you always had that urge to create something artistic, I suppose. Hearing about your background, how did your artistic tendencies form you as you were growing up?
Everything art-related was just a free time passion for me—a mere hobby. I continued along in high school, but still, I clearly had no idea I could even dare dream of making it for a living.
So I re-focused my efforts on technical fields, I studied industrial engineering and even landed my first job as an engineer. Not much art involved, really. Yet still, I managed to stay in that job for almost two years before jumping into the role of the 3D artist.
What changed your mind about your job at that time?
It was all about numbers, analytics, and, you know, this tech stuff. But I really wanted to do something creative. Since I was always highly inclined toward visual art, suddenly, I started to have a clear vision of what I wanted to do for a living instead.
That’s impressive. How did you manage to reinvent yourself and land a job outside your field with no formal background?
My passion kept me going. Before getting my first job, which, in fact, was at QORPO Game Studio, I spent countless hours immersing myself in 3D design and modeling. Overall, it took me over a year of toying around with Blender, perfecting my own projects, before I got a chance to elevate my hobby to a full-time job.
Having a job and a truly high-demand hobby indeed calls for dedication and a good deal of time spent. How did you make it work?
Honestly, during that year and something, I spent restless hours challenging my graphic capabilities. To tell you the truth, in a year, I spent more hours with 3D art than others would have in 5 years or so. Fortunately, flexible hours in my previous job allowed me to come home earlier and practice what I loved doing until late at night.
Speaking of your self-starting efforts, what were the first projects you set yourself up for?
As I said, I literally locked myself in Blender. I started working with it, and I don’t intend to change anything about it - at least yet. It’s an incredibly great and powerful tool. Originally, I was working on graphic art projects just for the sake of my own self-realization. Continuously I started to share my work on social media, getting a positive response and building a sort of community of fans and followers.
That was certainly a push in the right direction. At that time, I was focused on architectural visualizations, that was the thing.
What was the breaking point when you realized for sure that you were ready to step it up and get a job as a 3D Artist?
Honestly, in the beginning, I didn’t even know that I could successfully pursue such a career professionally. You know, it’s kind of not-your-ordinary-job designation. But I gave it try, did my research, and finally stumbled upon job vacancies at QORPO Game Studio.
So that’s how you ended up working here?
That’s right! It was in February of the previous year. I knew that I want to work here since I first saw the hiring opportunity. For me, this is one of the once-in-a-lifetime experiences because I can limitlessly grow in what I love doing while working in game development. Being a voracious gamer myself, it’s certainly not an opportunity I would miss. As a kid, I spent long hours grinding on Tony Hawk and World of Warcraft - now I can dedicate my creativity to designing games myself, so it’s surely a huge thing for me.
I’m curious what was the first project you worked on at QORPO Game Studio. What challenges did you have here?
Although it might seem like yesterday, it’s already been over a year. We are a fast-paced company, so I’ve been through so much since. We’re developing at incredible speed. Just consider this. When I joined, we were working on TRM (Trade Race Manager), a racing game built in Unity Engine, which was nowhere near the quality standards we adhere to now.
With a switch to Unreal Engine and games like Citizen Conflict and AniMate, I can tell that the leap forth we’ve made is immense. Starting as a 3D Artist, working on environment props in TRM, I scaled it up as a 3D lead, focusing mainly on Citizen Conflict.
Besides your professional duties, what are you into in your free time?
There are several hobbies that keep me going. Along with my passion for visual art, I’m also a fervent reader. I’m mostly into self-development and motivational books - for instance, I like when I can learn to scale up my time management skills. On top of that, I enjoy novels, I'm delved into The Witcher series, I could also be called a sci-fi head, I really like that stuff. I do some sports and still play games, as I always used to. Right now, I’m hooked on ARP games, such as Diablo.
I also play guitar, however, right now, it’s more of free-time activity, nothing that serious. But I had a blues-rock band in College.
Lastly, I love drafting inspiration from other artists thinkers. My top inspirations are filosophycally inspirational person, Christopher Alexander or Charles Duhigg and Ben Bolton, who's I believe, one of the top designers, to name some.
Thank you for your answers.
No problem.
