Interview with 3D Artist with William the Third | MakersPlace Blog

For our first official Creator Spotlight, we sat down with 3D artist William Willoughby III, whose surreal futurism balances grave visions of the future with playful irreverence.

MP: Can you tell me about your background as an artist?

W3: I am a natural-born artist. I started drawing when I was about four years old. My art teacher back in elementary school gave us an assignment to draw something considered loud. Something about that type of creativity — to be able to just let my mind run — got me hooked on art. Ever since that day, I’ve been sketching, drawing, painting, sculpting, [making] music. I just started creating. And it’s been a journey. And lately, I’ve just been hooked on the 3D world.

MP: What is your creative relationship with C4D? I find that in the digital art age, things like C4D, Photoshop, or Unreal Engine can substitute for physical art terms that tie very closely to artistic identity, like “I am an oil painter” or “I am a sculptor who works with marble.” Do you consider yourself “a C4D artist?”

W3: There is a kind of grudge or controversy over, you know, between C4D artists versus Blender artists versus Maya artists. But all of this software is the same. It comes down to your workflow preferences. But C4D artists tend to have a certain aesthetic that just comes along with how the software works and the workflows we use. C4D is my favorite because it was such an intuitive jump over from Photoshop. I didn’t have to learn much — I could just start creating. 

MP: If you could teach the world about one tiny corner of the totality of your artistic influences, what would you turn them on to?

W3: To be honest, my most significant influence is Salvador Dali. Dali’s work showed me that I didn’t have to create things I see with my eyes. I can let my mind explore and create things ordinary people wouldn’t recognize. I’m fascinated by weirdness. And Dali brings that out in me. I just don’t like doing the same old stuff. 

MP: What is surrealism to you?

W3: It’s being able to bend reality, to take something normal and warp it to let the mind open up different doors. I believe that you can eventually create everything you can see inside your head in the real world. 

MP: Can you tell me how you think from one piece to the next? Do you revisit characters, or are your astronauts and skeletons more akin to models on which to hang your creative vision?

W3: I do dailies., and it’s difficult creating a new piece every day. I’m in my second year going on my third. I get burned out quite often. I find that having models, like my astronauts or my skulls, helps me to create in such a short timeframe. And it pushes me. It’s like, “Alright, I’ve already done this with the skull. What else can I do with this?” 

I’m always looking for where else I can take these objects…