Architectural Visualization Jobs

The Tomorrow 2019 Challenge is coming up next week and before that, I’m very happy to share with you this interview with Nazarii, the first winner of the Tomorrow Challenges. From a dream in the boy’s room to a place in one of Europe’s most well-reputed visualization agencies. This interview tells about his journey before and after the Tomorrow 2017 Challenge.

Nazarii, let’s start with a bit of a background about you before the Tomorrow 2017 challenge. Your way to ArchViz up to the time just before the competition.

Since I was a teenager, I’ve been interested in 3d and design. It all started –with my interest in radio-controlled vehicles. Along with that, I watched a lot of National Geographic programs about engineering. I was so inspired seeing how designers created cars in 3d. This caught my interest, and soon I realized that I could create a 3d model of radio-controlled vehicles even before I got them. I started to explore different 3d programs, first Canvas 3d and then Blender.

After two years of messing around with Blender I had learned modeling and simple rendering. Between ninth and tenth grade I was obsessed with CGI, I couldn’t spend even a day without touching 3d. But after all, the only thing I’ve learned so far was modeling and simple rendering. Therefore I started to lose interest by time, and after I entered architecture school, my focus had shifted to architecture.

In University I continued doing renderings for my projects, and on my fourth year, I took an ArchViz course from Submarina. They inspired me a lot. I didn’t know much about ArchViz and found it unreal that you could make renders and get money out of it, it was like a dream.

After three months I finished my first portfolio and went to Submarina office with a printed version. They appreciated it very much, and I got the job the same day. I cannot express in words how happy I was. It was so exciting to work and learn from these guys.

And that’s the way it was, how I became engaged with ArchViz.

The Tomorrow 2017 Challenge

With this background, Nazarii heard about the Tomorrow Challenge and decided to compete.

I didn’t think I had any chance competing and winning this challenge. I hadn’t participated in any competitions before, so for me, it was to try something different than a commercial project.

When I won, it was mind-blowing for me. It was the best thing ever – getting rewarded without expecting it.

The Process

Nazarii describes how the beginning was slow and frustrating. He was struggling with finding good references and a mood for his entry.

At that time I was pretty busy with my job and university studies, so I didn’t have much time to spend on a competition project and especially not on modeling. Therefore it was crucial to have a very straightforward work process with the least amount of experimenting and procrastinating during the project. It had to be straight to the point process. The solution was to use explicit reference for composition and lighting. Once I found this, I started with modeling half of the facade (it was the only one remaining), shading and lighting.

After some experimenting with the light, it becomes pretty clear to me that I should go for the autumn morning mood since it makes the image soft and it suited the architecture.

After Nazarii had won the Tomorrow 2017 Competition he was offered a place at the Tomorrow Stockholm office. He decided to join Tomorrow and moved to the capital of Sweden.

Honestly, I expected it to be easier. I couldn’t believe I would miss my family and friends as much as I did. It was hard in the beginning. One important conclusion I came to was that the people you are surrounded with are more important than comfort and welfare. At the same time, I wasn’t very social and didn’t take the time to meet new people and make friends. However, after one-year things changed and I started to get more friends and got used to the Swedish system and society. The only thing I still can’t get used to is the food and the Swedish winter (laughing).

The atmosphere at the office has been very helpful. Everyone is very kind and friendly. For example, we have fika once a week while we discuss the images we have created. Fika is a Swedish word, which means to have a break with coffee and sweets.

At the office, we also have a tradition of making dinner with national cuisines, so you should learn how to cook if you aim at winning the competition!

Nazarii decided to share some secret advice for people who are joining the upcoming competition.

Don’t work hard, work smart!

You should focus on the whole thing instead of drawing out details. Make a plan before you start to work.

Good luck to all of you joining the Tomorrow 2019 Challenge!

ArchVIZ BIZ, Competitions, Interviews