Alejandro Munoz interview
First, thanks for this interview, let’s start from the beginning: who is Alejandro Munoz?
You’re welcome! I am a sculptor not so young (crying), based in Madrid, Spain, for more than ten years. I studied Illustration, Graphic Design, Animation… and finished my training with the Fine Arts career. Maybe I made the way upside down, but that allowed me to get to these studies with more experience. At the end of this stage, I found that the country was in an economic crisis that has not yet come out, and finding work was not easy. So I resumed the miniature hobby trying to dedicate myself professionally to it, and thanks to the opportunity given to me by the people of Euphoria Miniatures, I was able to enter this market, at the beginning with very humble works.
Shortly after I entered Big Child Creatives, which is the art studio where I currently work and where I learned the secrets of the trade with the professionals who were here. And I keep doing it, every day learning a little from mates.
How did you get in touch with CMON? Was there any previous experience that particularly affected them?
I do not contact them directly to get the job done, but they work with Big Child and it is the team of sculptors that we have that is responsible for performing the sculpture work of the projects. In any case, the relationship with CMON is very fluid and it is a challenge and a pleasure to work on some of the biggest projects in the board games market.
What are the 3D models you made for CMON?
I have worked on several projects with them, highlighting A Song of Ice and Fire, where I modeled Jon Snow, Varys, Littlefinger, G.R.R. Martin and many other troops, some still out.
I have worked on several editions of Zombicide too, making figures for almost all but the first. Before all this I also made some figures of Rum & Bones, still in physical materials, because I didn’t use the computer yet.
You can see these works and others on my Instagram account.
How does the process of creating a 3D model for miniatures take place? Are there any “physical” limits, perhaps due to the press, that must be respected?
The process normally begins with the idea taken to 2d, part of the process that the concept artist is in charge of. Sometimes the client gives us the design made, other times in Big Child we do this work too. Once the idea is clear, the figure is usually modeled in T-pose, or at least the rigid parts of it. After the figure is placed, according to the client’s idea, the elements are repositioned and each part is finished detailing, especially those organic parts that change with the movement of the figure. One of the greatest difficulties of this work is that we have to be very clear about the size at which the figure is going to be printed.
The most common sizes are 32mm, 40mm, 54mm, 70mm … depending on this, the size of the details, the proportions of the body and the poses may vary. And it is very common to make mistakes here, and make too fine details in very small figures, or too dynamic poses in large figures, in which later there will be problems when the laws of physics affect the printed model.
You told me that you only made some models for Zombicide, how do you work with other modelers?
Normally at the beginning of a project there is a meeting between the sculptors and artists that we are going to work on, and we make clear the general lines to follow. We create a 3d modeling environment with the proportions, sizes and other characteristics common to all the figures in a project, and we split all the sculptors there. Then, during the process, communication is quite easy, since most of us work in the same physical place and we just have to turn the chair to see each other’s faces. At the end of the process, some sculptors are responsible for reviewing all the files to see that they follow these common lines and have not departed during the process.
What was it like working for an international company like CMON, on a global project like Zombicide?
Recall that today Zombicide is the board game that has raised more funds throughout the history of Kickstarter.
In my case, it was all very fast, I went from working for a small Spanish company, to entering BigChild Creatives and working with some of the best sculptors in the world, such as Hugo Gómez, from whom I have learned what I could to be at the height. Each CMON project is a great challenge, the demand is very high, but the public response afterwards is very rewarding.
Are you still working with them right now? Can you tell us something about your upcoming jobs?
Yes, Big Child is one of the studies that CMON relies on for its projects. All I can say is that you stay tuned, because very interesting products come!
In addition, I am working on other projects of the study, to continue increasing the lines of our own product. These works are more dedicated to painters of figures than to players, and the sizes of the models are larger and allow more detailed work.
If you are interested, you can find them in IG and Art Station, as well as in the pages of Big Child Creatives. Thank you very much for the attention and for keeping this hobby!
