MEET GIANT SWAN, H+ CREATIVE EXTENDED ROSTER ARTIST - Q&A with H+

Giant Swan is a sculptor and digital artist, building worlds in virtual reality. His work involves a cross-section of art scenes between both digital and traditional styles. Getting his name from a "loud and unashamed" song from punk and hardcore band, 'The Blood Brothers,' his art represents doing things your own way in a "grand and bombastic" attitude.

H+: Your work is unique and uncommon in it's technique. Tell us a little bit about the technology and how you got started.

GIANT SWAN: Curiosity and a willingness to explore lead me to VR creative tools in 2017, At around this point i was working a corporate job in logistics. In all of my spare time i was exploring the tools as the VR scene was small and collaborative, Artists would create and developers would iterate, Along these early days I found music was a deep inspiration to create while in a virtual endless space, so i gravitated towards tools that would embrace movement more and more.

Somewhere along that growth, I create a few works to bands music that i was catching at local shows, and then one day in late 2017 I get this call while I’m at work, one of the bands i had drawn too months before had seen my work and invited me to do their visuals for their Falls festival sets (One of Australia’s biggest music festivals) and before i knew it, Life kinda tapped me on the shoulder, What i was excited about at my home setup was even connecting to the people who were inspiring me. That opportunity kicked off the fire for me where I haven’t turned back since.

H+: What is your process for creating art in VR? Tools, software, hardware?

GIANT SWAN: Creating in VR has a wealth of accessible tools that all have their own nuisance, Tilt brush, Gravity sketch, Adobe Medium and Quill all have a place in the toolkit, but they all share a similar language too.

You start in an empty room, it is endless in every direction with the feeling of the floor being your only real reference to the ground.

For my process, from that empty space i fill it with sound and begin using as much movement as possible to start “recording” shape, i do this for a few reasons, VR tools can make beautiful assets, but they also aren’t always an optimal way to create efficient assets in regards to poly counts. In the spirit of that movement I lean into the freedom VR tools give you, In my opinion it gives you the ability to leave an organic imprint on 3D art, Digital works are so often compared to reality or judged on its perfection, with VR created artworks the opportunity to leave your mark as an imperfect human is really apparent.

As you fill a space with all these movements and shapes, sculptured forms grow into being an environment and then from there, perspective presents itself to be completely manipulated Also. At a point I’ll take my works into more traditional 3D rendering workflows to present them like blender and c4d.

H+: What is your favorite part of the VR art creation pipeline?

GIANT SWAN: Definitely the sculpting component, I love experimenting with form and pushing myself to create more and more intricate expressions , also the challenge of developing the tools and workflows for VR art is still something I get nerdy about a lot. There is just so much more to still achieve within the space.

Before creating art in VR, what kinds of art styles were you exploring?

Before VR, I studied 3D arts development for video games and failed. I digitally painted for years with inspiration from comic book artists, for a long time I was also into creating props and anything Icould keep my hands dirty with. I feel like I still borrow from all of these adventures still, it just took me a long time to find something that was really me.

H+: Are there any clients you are hoping to work with someday?

GIANT SWAN: At this point of my journey, I’m really excited to collaborate with ambitious innovators and clients who I can add to their culture through what I have to offer. I came up through the early days of the mordern VR and the NFT scenes, being at the tip of the spear is something I love exploring.

H+: Where does the name Giant Swan originate from?

GIANT SWAN: Giant Swan comes from when i was in my early 20’s and really into punk and hardcore music, This one band “The blood brothers” were to me, amazing.. but all my friends hated it, But damn if that music spoke to me, One of their songs “Giant Swan” was so messy and dramatic, it was loud and unashamed, like metal cabaret at the time.

Giant Swan represented to me, This attitude of doing things your own way, the playful nature of not taking yourself too seriously, while also this grand and bombastic figure. It’s an artist name i feel like I’ve made my own while also always growing into over the last 13 years.

H+: Are you working on any upcoming projects or would like to start soon?

GIANT SWAN: Right now with the NFT scene completely abuzz, I’m involved in multiple shows around the world this November, Work is showing in Milan, Montreal, Melbourne and NYC and while that is all going on, I also have my 4th solo Nifty Gateway drop, Something that is always a big stir on my schedule.

For more information on Giant Swan visit his artist page!