Guardians of the Loz: Why a Hollywood Artist Creates Virtual Art in Second Life & Sansar

While some 3D artists are now taking their talent and brands from platforms like Second Life to Sansar, at least one is emigrating from a slightly larger platform: Hollywood. Nicholas Loizides, featured in the Sansar preview video above, has been working as a visual effects artist and modeler in the film industry for over a decade. You’ve almost certainly seen his work, because among the many movies he’s credited on, he did previsualization for the first Guardians of the Galaxy:

“I worked on the opening scene where Star Lord finds the orb and is chased out and takes off in his ship,” he tells me. “My duties were environmental, creating the planet surface using the artwork provided by Frame Store in London. [Director] James Gunn worked with us in the first month before production went to the UK — he just had specific direction to how he wanted the scenes to look and feel.”  

While building his career in Hollywood, he also began building his brand in virtual worlds, first in Second Life as “Loz Hyde”, owner and propietor of MESHWORX:

Pictured: Avary createdy by Loz of MESHWORX

“A friend told me that I would do well building in this virtual world where people actually buy your work,” he remembers. “So in 2006 I logged in for the first time. But was put off that all I had to work with was prims!!!  It was like building with Legos. It wasn’t until Mesh came to SL that I could produce things closer to what I do in real life. There is a huge learning curve for mesh and much different than prim modeling. I look around today and there are so many amazing artists in SL creating beautiful things in mesh.”

Last August, Linden Lab invited him into the closed Sansar Alpha program: “What made me want to be a part of something huge in the VR world?  Silly question! 11 years in SL and the chance to jump into a new virtual world in Alpha, with even more possibilities, would be a hard one not to jump into.  We are riding the wave at the moment, what we do now is new and pushing the boundaries of our imaginations. I feel a part of something really big and special, that’s what keeps me wanting more.”

Loz’s motivation to work in virtual worlds seems less about selling 3D content per se, as the expression itself.  “For me it’s not about numbers but quality,” as he puts it. “I just wanna design and make good stuff, and if people buy them, then great. This allows me to life a stress free life. Seriously, SL is a place to come and get away from real life, why stress out?”

So given the chance to work in a virtual world where his work may be enjoyed by tens of thousands, or on a Hollywood movie where his work will be seen by tens of millions, he can see advantages on both sides:

“Depends on the movie. But I actually love doing things for the virtual world where I am totally in control and create things I want to work on. Creating is kinda therapeutic. However, working on a big movie with a team of amazingly talented artist is a lot of fun too.” 

Pictured: Loz with Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg, courtesy of Loz

Comments

[Clara Seller]

"There is a huge learning curve for mesh and much different than prim modeling. I look around today and there are so many amazing artists in SL creating beautiful things in mesh.”

I think that most of us are faced with this difficult challenge of whether we are going to put our artistic energy into working on a Hollywood movie or whether we want do something more personalized in a virtual world. I usually choose Hollywood because I'm just a sucker for any reason to fly to my Malibu beach house and get out of the Upper East Side.

SL is a very good example of what will happen when the general public is allowed to free themselves from their bubble of poverty and ineptitude and embrace what's happening in the real world. We all remember the days when that little virtual world was sputtering along paycheck to paycheck trying to make it with quaint prim modeling. It wasn't until they finally gave the creative platform to "us", the professionally skilled, that we saw a huge influx of talent and choice. The floodgates were opened and the little SL chick got it's wings and soared to it's potential.

Lesson to be learned: we need to make higher mountains for people to climb if this new virtual world is going to be anything worthwhile. Because if there is anything that people love more than looking up at us and the beauty that falls from our fingertips, it's paying us to be their beacon of of light. The numbers don't lie.

[Kate Miranda]

"There is a huge learning curve for mesh and much different than prim modeling. I look around today and there are so many amazing artists in SL creating beautiful things in mesh.”

And it was in the same years that, with the introduction of mesh and the loss of non-profit pricing (later flip-flopped) that we saw numbers fall and the community change radically. Rather than the inclusive world of do-it-yourselfers 2006-2009 or thereabouts, there was a shift towards a world of consumers and sellers. I don't recognize the place anymore and it no longer feels like "home". I have almost no interest in Sansar, and they clearly have no interest in a community music series host that has been coordinating live music in SL for 11 years as I was turned down as a beta tester.