An independant designer with a real passion for racing and trasportation design is extending his design capabbilities with strata and exploring his passion for racing. Kip Kubisz is doing some great automotive previsualization and implementing 3D in his clients design projects. His abilities have really helped him stand out in his market.

SS: You have a real bold design style, were you formally trained at a school or university or did you develop your skills and style on your own?

KK: A bit of both actually. I studied technical drawing in High School and having those drafting skills is a great asset when designing in 3D. I was a student at the Atlanta College of Art now part of S.C.A.D. which is where I first took courses in computer graphic design. There I learned the basics in Illustrator and Photoshop. In the 3D realm I am self taught. I first tried 3D w/ Adobe Dimensions in the late 90's while working for a Print Company as a Graphic Artist. It was very basic but really got me interested in 3D. Next I bought Bryce and worked with it everyday for a year or so to get to where I was comfortable in 3D. I used Bryce for several years before trying STRATA. I have been working with it for 3 years now and learn more everyday. I have always seen a bold style in my work, that is just my personal preference of the type of art I like to create, and it works great when designing cars.

SS: Looking at your website, you have quite a lot of print work you have done. How do you find ways to incorporate 3D design in your print projects?

KK: I enjoy working in 3D and take every opportunity to incorporate it into print work. Again I like the bold styling and it shows up in my print work too. What I can achieve in 3D works well w/ that style. Of course not every project is best suited for 3D but I may still use some 3D elements in the background or Text styling.

SS: After looking at your transportation illustrations on your site it’s obvious you love auto racing. What got you started designing these futuristic formula race cars in 3D?

KK: I was drawing trains and cars by age 4, based on what I saw on the street and on TV at that time. I must have drawn a corvette 1000 times by age 11. I got excited about race cars because they are the cutting edge of design & technology, well maybe not NASCAR, but I am a road racing fan and have been watching Formula One, Le Man Prototypes, Moto GP and other racing series that showcase the newest, most innovative machines. My cars are just my idea of what the next 10 years or so might look like based on the evolution of their designs.

SS: I have to ask, what do you drive?

KK: My fiancé crazy from drawing so many cars, and a Mazda.

SS: With automotive advertisers going more and more with CG cars for their ads have you seen more interest in the pre-visualization of cars?

KK: I think so. Car developers enjoy showing of what they can do and developing a 3D model is a great start without the cost of producing an actual prototype. I think that there will be a lot of great designs on the way in the development of alternative fueled transportation. It is just a hobby of mine to develop these conceptual vehicles but I would very much like to be a part of that revolution if my design catches the right person’s eye.

SS: Hot rod magazine had an article a while back about custom car pre-visualization and how it was playing a role in the design of custom cars. Have you been able to pursue anything like that with your work??

KK: Not yet, those clients who are willing to invest are not readily available in Lubbock, Texas. Again, if the opportunity was offered I would love to have the work. That would be the ultimate compliment, having someone like a design enough to produce it, wow.

SS: What made you choose Strata as your 3D app of choice?

KK: I find Strata very comfortable to work in and very intuitive if you have a knowledge of other graphic apps. As I said earlier I worked in Bryce for years and was able to produce some good results but was unable to do precisely what I wanted sometimes. Strata has a much broader spectrum of tools and options to add much more detail. Complex shapes are also much easier to achieve in Strata as are great lighting and rendering effects.

SS: How do you start one of your car or airplane projects; Sketches, Illustrator, Photoshop or just jump into Strata?

KK: I usually have a good idea in my head of what I want to do and usually just jump right into Strata. I like to start with a shape and tweak it until it is what my minds eye had envisioned. I like the evolution of the design in that way, it really keeps me interested in what I am working on. I often go through 20 body shapes w/ similar styling before I am content.

SS: Do you have any big projects in the works you would like to share with us?

KK: Nothing big but my latest personal venture is a Trike - 3-wheel concept. Mercedes Benz produced a concept for “Life Jet” maybe 4-5 years ago. I had been tooling w/ the same idea for a couple years but since I am not an engineer I could not _gure out how it could be achieved. Well they beat me to production but their version, in my opinion, lacked any style. Mine is a lightweight, electric fuel cell powered, electro magnetic propelled Trike. Just an idea that I liked and a project to keep me out of trouble. Looks fast!

SS: Do you have any tips for those out there that would like to get into transportation pre-visualization?

KK: Learn 3D software! I was always frustrated trying to draw a car from different angles that would actually look that way from those different views. 3D gives you full control to work out the problems and refine your designs. Then you can look at the piece from any angle to make sure that things are fitting correctly. I spend hours making small changes to models, but in the end when you are ready to render the outcome is well worth it. Your models will look as if they could actually be produced.

SS: Is there anything you can add that would be good for the strata community to hear about your work or working with strata in general?

Strata has a great community of fantastic artist to draw from. The tutorials and online tips are a great source as are the models that you can use, I have gotten good results by downloading models to use in background scenes. I wish that there were more models readily available though.

You can check out more of Kip's work at his website www.kipsite.com