Steven Stahlberg is most certainly a forerunner as concerns 3D character modelling. His vision of beauty and respect pervade the creatures he gives birth to.Steven Stahlberg is one of the artists who put his stamp on the digital world and especially that of 3D models. He is indeed the first artist who sold a digital character to a famous brand, Elite, in 1999. It’s a fact he likes to make fun of as the Internet bubble has long since exploded, and there isn’t much left of all the financial speculators’ visions. Today, the actual evolution of this art escapes finance predictions and reducing Steven Stahlberg to this event wouldn’t be fair. This precursor won the Honorary Mention Price d’Ars Electronica in 1998 and more recently the Maya Masters Award. His career path is rich with vivid, sensual, almost erotic illustrations.

IT’S ART - You and Robert Chang are among the illustrators who give sensuality to women without being vulgar. Is it something you're conscious of? Can you speak about your relationship to sensuality/women/eroticism?

Steven Stahlberg - Thanks, I don't think it's conscious. I guess it's probably because I respect women, and see them as equals.

I.A. - You're working with 3D or 2D software, but when I watch carefully at your artworks, I can't really see that it's been done with one of these tools. So I'm wondering what motivates you to use 3D or 2D tools?

S.S. - First comes the vision - the initial idea and also priority. The vision and priority is to tell a story, communicate a feeling. I try to stay very close to the initial idea of story and feeling, rather than get into lots of technical showing off. I pick the tool that can serve best, not to make people go "Wow, he did that with Tool X!?!? Oh, my God, so much hard work, etc." It's like building a model of the Eiffel Tower using toothpicks. Maybe it’ll take you years, but at the end what will you have? A technical "show-off" piece which doesn’t communicate anything, except that someone had much spare time and nothing better to do.

I.A. What does 3D bring to you artistically that 2D can't?

S.S. - I use Photoshop for hair, clouds, smoke, background and so on. I use Maya for lighting and perspective of tricky objects such as anatomy. I think that 3D can show me much better what a body might look like in a particular pose with a particular light. I can also play with the pose and light in a fast and interactive way that's impossible in Photoshop. And intricate textures and repeating objects are much easier to handle

I.A. - You've also worked on facial animation and done an impressive work, especially in little subtle movements. I was puzzled when I saw this animation, completely astounded by its quality, but always thinking about the technical part. Do you think there's a place for art in such an exercise? Why?

S.S. - Thanks. But the technical part isn't good enough, neck movements, skin shading, modelling, hair, it could all have been improved a lot. Art would come in during the writing stage. This one wasn't written though, it's rather a sort of documentary. It really happened like this. The actress was relaxing during a break and she told us about her real life.

I.A. - In some rare cases like in 'Road Trip' Or 'Coming Home', your artwork is more about a pure composition artwork than a true figurative one. Could you tell us how creating such pictures represents a different challenge and a different goal?

S.S. – It’s perhaps not that different. I'm still telling a story which is supposed to evoke a particular feeling in the viewer. The only difference was that I had to think more like a matte painter or landscape painter..