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Today we have another community interview with the very talented Holopointz. Holo is an amazing 2077 photo artist you may have seen some of his rendered images floating around the Twitter or some art sites. He was kind enough to share his thoughts with us about 2077, his craft and him doing the spicy side of art for the game. With that said the gallery at the bottom of the article will contain some of his NSFW art. Be warned if that is an issue for you. Hope you find this as insightful as I have, enjoy!

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First can you tell us a little about yourself, where you grew up and what attracted or inspired you to get into this art form?
I grew up in the Pacific Northwest in the United States. I started making short films and websites as a kid, spent a lot of time PC gaming playing things like Delta Force and Warcraft 3 so video games and visual media have been something I've been passionate about for a long time.

How did you learn this form of digital art?
I made my own visual effects and graphics in programs like Pinnacle studio as a kid but didn't get serious with 3D software until 2010 when I first downloaded Zbrush. I researched all of the available 3D software at the time and I landed on 3D Studio Max. I just found it a lot easier to learn than Blender at the time. I did a lot of character sculpting and motion graphics in those programs by searching YouTube for all the videos I could find on 3D studio Max and 3D modeling. I guess you could say I'm self-taught but really I learned from the vast library of tutorials available online.

What drew you to cyberpunk 2077 or/and the cyberpunk genre as a whole?
Cyberpunk 2077 has been a decade long love affair for me, from the time of the first announcement the game just spoke to me. I was always a fan of Star Wars growing up so the sci-fi, futuristic, grungy, and neon-lit insanity of Cyberpunk instantly drew me in. I also felt like the visuals, music, and production value of all the trailers for the game were so well done, they really inspired me.

What message, to you, does the cyberpunk genre imply or relay to you as a viewer, fan of that aesthetic?
For me the message that I take away is to never give up hope. There is always a chance no matter how small and you only lose for sure when you give up trying.

What keeps driving you to continue making content for 2077?
I think I am in love with the characters and the world itself. Night City is my home away from home and what really drives me is wanting to see more of these characters beyond what we get to see in the game. Especially when it comes to the romances, one in particular, female V and Judy. I consider Judy's questline to be one of the best questlines in gaming and as story crafters CD Projekt did such an amazing job of making you feel like you are there that you become V and the characters in V's life feel like real people to point that when the game ended I couldn't just say goodbye to them and move on, I had to see more.

What tools do you use to make your art? How long does it take to go from idea to posting a pic? What's the process?
I started my journey in 3D with 3D Studio max but switched to Blender a few years ago when I saw how far it had come and studios started opting to use Blender over the Autodesk suite and Cinema4D. That's when I was like maybe I should give this another shot because it had become so much more user friendly then when I initially tried it out and this time it clicked for me. As far as the process, usually I am listening to music or playing the game when an image or a question will pop up like what does V do in that time period when you skip time or sleep? Or what did it look like when Judy was first arrested and how did she meet Evelyn? How does the romance extend beyond Laguna Bend? I spend a lot of time just studying the game world itself to better understand the aesthetic of whichever area or scene I'm trying to replicate. Then I'll start exporting things from the game into Blender and blocking out the scene. After rendering it I will do some minimal editing in post usually just some color grading, sharpening and stuff like that.

How long have you been doing this art form?
I've been using computer programs to make animations, graphics and logos since I was a kid but like I mentioned before didn't start getting serious with trying to learn 3D modeling software until 2010 and made the switch to Blender around three years ago and it wasn't until the actual release of Cyberpunk that I began making my own R34.

What attracted you to doing the spicy side of digital art?
I don't think I was necessarily attracted to the spicy side as much as that just came with the territory of Cyberpunk. I mean it remains one of the only games to my knowledge to openly show women with dicks in the game world, and I'm referring to the infamous Mix It Up poster as well as the numerous other sexual themed ads and shops. The sex and exploration of sexuality in the future is really a core component of Cyberpunk 2077 so R34 just fit hand in hand with my love for the game and storytelling.

What about the 2077 characters specifically got your interest? All time favorite NPC in 2077 and why?
I think the exploration of life and death and the possibility of an afterlife and whether technology will offer a form of the afterlife through something like the relic and cyberspace or even serving an eternity in a "digital prison" to this day is fascinating to me. I am also really fascinated by the mysterious 'Rogue AI's', I have a theory that you actually get a glimpse of them during the scene in Cyberspace with Maman Bridgette. You can see these obscure figures almost like tentacles trying to break through the firewall holding them back. As far as my favorite NPC that would be Judy. She's the best friend you can ask for, she may make rash decisions at times but she's a person who's going to fight for her friends no matter what. It doesn't matter how hard life beats her down along the way she always gets back up and carries on. She may wear her heart on her sleeve but at the same time she isn't going to take shit from anyone.

I've seen a lot of memes from artists that imply if you do vanilla art you will hardly get any notice, but if you do spicy art you'll get tons of attention. Do you feel those memes are accurate for better or worse? What are your thoughts on that?
I actually haven't not seen these memes but I can understand the sentiment. I think anything in visual media is becoming more and more saturated as the tools become more accessible so as more people turn to digital art it will become more and more difficult to stand out. For me, it's not something I really think about I just make things that make me happy and hopefully other people can get some enjoyment out of them too.

For those artists that don't want to get on the spicy side of things what advice do you have to be successful?
I don't think I'm qualified to give advice to anyone but that's a boring answer so the one thing I will say is find what you are passionate about, the saying if you love what you do then it isn't work is absolutely true and the only way you will rise to the top of a craft is if you truly have the passion for it and I think this applies to anything in life.

And my most controversial question... Which of the following labels would you assign to whom? ;) Marry, BFF, FWB(friend with benefits), Hate, Kill

Johnny: Hate
Judy: Marry
Kerry: BFF
Panam: FWB
River: Kill

And finally what are the socials folks can find you, and do you do commissions? Any last words you'd like to share to the community?
Thank you for your time! Thanks for the questions, I enjoyed answering them! I will do most commissions if it's Cyberpunk related so it can't hurt to ask! You can find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/hoIopointz or email at holopointz3D@outlook.com and discord at http://discord.gg/PtGQddbtPr