Featured Member - Joe McMullen aka Pepewan

[bmckain]

1. Hi Joe, thanks for taking time to do this interview. I’m pretty sure most members will know who you are but for the record and as always, sticking with my format; would you mind introducing yourself and tell us something about you, your hobbies, favorite movie, where you work, that sort of thing

My name is Joe McMullen, I'm a Production Graphics Specialist for NET Television, Nebraska's statewide PBS station. When I'm not doing that, I'm spending time with my family, watching movies, playing video games, woodcarving, or, oh yeah, working on the computer at home (because apparently I don't get enough of that at work).

2. When did you decide you wanted to be an artist and what inspired you to that end?

I don't know that I ever really "decided"...I've always been drawing or carving or writing or something. Once, when I was in 4th grade, I was doodling when I should have been paying attention to the teacher, so she told me I would not get to go outside for recess, that I would have to stay inside and draw. I couldn't really figure out why that was supposed to be a punishment, but I was more than happy to go along with it.

3. I don’t know many who actually studied broadcasting. How did that play into you’re making the transition to 3D?

My degree was Broadcast Production, so basically learning to be a camera operator, a producer, a director, or whatever else was necessary. I had an internship at Cox Cable, where they had just gotten a brand new Video Toaster 2.0; I was the intern, therefore I had the most time available to follow the tutorials and learn about all the aspects of the Toaster, including Lightwave.

4. You started on the Video Toaster, that brings up old memories. Tell us how you worked with LW and the Video Toaster and what it was like.

At first, I did a lot more with Switcher and Paint and CG; Lightwave was more for fun, or for making still backgrounds, because we did not have the capability to save animations (at the time you needed a single frame recorder for your tape deck). Once we got a DPS clip store, I took off; I was making animated opens, countdowns, station ids, whatever I could.

The Toaster itself was a lot of fun; it could be aggravating at times, but it had a whole heck of a lot of bang for the buck.

5. So you didn’t really get any formal 3D or graphics training? How has that helped you or worked against you in your career?

I took several art classes in college, but no, no formal "graphics". I think it would have been useful to take a few more commercial art-type classes, but I don't think that's necessarily worked against me. The art classes and the broadcast classes were both important backdrops for learning (self-teaching?) 3D.

6. Can you tell us a bit more about your current job and the type of work it entails?

My primary function is designing, creating, and operating the graphics packages for our shows, be they studio or remote, talk show or sports, taped or live. Being creative is only part of the job; being organized is essential. There are several hundred pages that could be called up during a sporting event; I need to know where they all are. More importantly, I need to organize everything so somebody else can run it if I'm not there.

When I'm not doing the live graphics, I get to work on animations, print ads, truck wraps, documentaries, whatever else is called for.

The good part about my job is that I'm not always stuck at my desk, and I'm not always stuck out on the remote truck. I get a nice variety of projects, and I have a good amount of leeway in getting those projects done.

7. What has been your most enjoyable project?

My daughter.
Screw computers, she's the best.


8. Of all your 3D work what is your favorite and why?

Uhhhhhhh...I think my favorite is still the Charleston. Not my best model, not necessarily the best design, but still my favorite.

But I really do like my Viper...

Not really my favorite, but definitely challenging: I recently upgraded one of my CG packages to all 3d objects. Built the objects in modo, exported them from Lightwave, imported them into Chyron and resurfaced, and then built those hundreds of pages. I had to figure out some new procedures, fix some new problems, but I think it turned out really well (and now I'm looking forward to tweaking and improving).

9. You’ve been fairly prolific in SciFi; what other types of work have you done and like?

Well, off the top of my head, I can't think of anything else. When I'm doing personal/hobby work, I do sci-fi because it's fun, and because I enjoy it. I'm not really trying to get a job, I'm just enjoying myself (and learning some new things here and there, which I can take to work).

10. Any spoilers for us as to future projects?

Not really.


11. As a longtime member of F3D what advice would you give the serious hobbyist regarding 3D in general?

As in "I seriously want to do this as a hobby"? Seriously enjoy it. If you can't do that, don't bother.


Thanks Joe, I've enjoyed the interview and it was fun to get some insight into your world.

[Mikala]

Great to see you interviewed man!
Have followed your work on the ST (Hidden Frontier) web series. Great stuff.
Keep on creating!

[Davide_sd]

great interview, and your charleston and viper are top·notch!!!

[PepeWan]

Thanks guys!

[deg3D]

Fun read, nice work, Joe, and good to see ya as a FM, eh.

deg

[japa]

And, for future enjoy, you don't will make a detailed Liberator, from Blake's 7? It was my favourite ship, when I was a teenager.