One million views interview with Powerup3dx

Congratulations on reaching the 1 million view milestone, Powerup. Your artistic pinup style has clearly drawn a lot of attention. Do you have a particular strategy in promoting your art?

Thanks very much, it's a bit of a crazy number isn't it. I don't really have a 'strategy' as I'm not really in it for the clicks or Patreon etc. Honestly, this is just a hobby and something I enjoy doing in my spare time to relax (though Daz sometimes has other ideas!). Of course I'm really happy that people seem to enjoy what I make though. It's gratifying to have so many positive comments and I’ll take the time now to apologize for not being particularly vocal/interacting with my followers as I should.

How long have you been making 3DX art? How did you get started?

I think it started at the end of 2016? Like so many other people who make 3DX, it was after seeing G4E and being utterly blown away at not only how technically impressive it was, but how beautiful it was. I Googled Miro and found Affect3d, where they mentioned Daz. The next thing I knew I had Daz installed and from then onwards any spare time I had I was experimenting with the software and then sharing some of what I made on Tumblr. I'm sure some of those early renders are still out there somewhere, but I'm glad I've managed to get a bit better since then! I do wince when I see them every now & again lol. You can see I had absolutely no idea what I was doing as everything was so aesthetically inconsistent. I had fun though!

Describe your creative process. What tools do you use, and what do you draw inspiration from?

I use Daz, as stated above, but other than that I'm a simple guy and only use PS for some touching up after the render and for the small amount of loop animations/GIFs that I've made. I attempted to learn Blender, but I just haven’t had the time for it to stick with me unfortunately, due to having a pretty demanding day job. I think I'll go back to it/give it another try though. As for inspiration, as you may have noticed I'm more into pinups than your typical story or large scenes (I'm sure to a lot of people's annoyance). I've always found pinups or portraits to be much more appealing, though pretty consistently you'll see the subject matter is usually hyper-femininity, specifically. I'm also fond of photography and am a big fan of people like Mike Ohrangutang or Mavrin etc. Oh and always loved J.Scott Campbell's work/girls, which you can probably(maybe?) see in a couple of bits I've made.

Experimentation is part of finding your style, and we’re glad you had fun through it. Is there something in particular that attracted you to a pinup art/photography style rather than a sequential art style?

I’m not sure really. I think it’s because I always wanted to make the image as perfect (to my eyes) as I possibly can and I think subconsciously if I knew there was a whole story to get through I would rush it. I'm aware of how stupid that sounds. I’m also easily bored and if my heart isn't in it - you can really tell with the outcome. This is still just a hobby for me, and I don't want to make it a chore. I really want each image to be something that you would want to put on your wall (maybe not, but you know what I mean). I really want to just make images you can get lost in/never tire of looking at.

Is hyper-femininity a subject that developed with your style, or is there something about it that drove your inspiration? I know that sounds circular…

I've always had a penchant for the classic blonde/blue eyed bikini-girl pinups, but I think it really started to get more of a theme when people were asking me to 'make the tits bigger!!1!' or saying 'she would look great bimbofied!' on Tumblr and DA. I started dabbling in the bimbofication side of things and before I knew it I had my own kind of style. My own personal taste comes out every now & again (more athletic/leggy), but they seldom seem to do as well (not that that matters really).

Do you listen to music or watch something in the background while you create? If so, what do you enjoy most?

Yes! I always have music on and listen to a vast swathe of different genres. Depends on my mood obviously, but from one extreme to the other, anything from Psychedelic Folk music (Kurt Vile etc) to down-tempo or trip hop (Massive Attack etc) or Jungle/breaks. Yes, I'm old.

What is your favorite fantasy that you can only show through your art?

Maybe exhibitionism? I'm not really into the extreme side of things tbh. Got a lot of love for futa/dickgirl and I know my followers like it when I branch into it - but honestly, Slushe seems pretty flooded with futa, which is why I kind of dialed it back a bit in the last couple of months. I love Futa content, but when you have nearly every single artist using the same prop/morphs, it can get a bit stale (no offense to anyone and aimed at nobody in particular).

Do you have any advice for artists and writers; generally, and specific to 3DX?

Yes, but I guess this applies to any form of creativity and ties into what I was saying earlier. As soon as you get bored it will come through in your work. So no matter what you do, accommodate your fans, but don't be led into something that doesn't fit you - it will show in your work and your fans like you for what you've already given them. If you manage this balance, they will stay with you and you'll still have fun. For 3dx specifically - and I can't say this enough, but lighting. Learn how to light your scene before you're getting into complicated posing and storyboards. All the gymnastic gangbangs in the world will still look bad if the lighting is garbage. Re Daz - it really is a case of 'trying every button/slider to see what it does'. Most people who've learned Daz will attest to this. There's no shame in it and it'll get you used to using it. I've had a number of very large pennies drop just doing this.

What themes do you want to explore in the future?

Not a theme, but I would like to get AniMate (the Daz animation tool) back out to have another go. The only frustration I had with this before was that it took so long, and my old PC was struggling for days at a time to render 60x images for a single loop. I've recently upgraded my PC, so might see if I can get back into it. MIGHT.

Anything else you would like to say to your fans?

Just to say thank you for all the kind words. I know this year has been rough for everyone, but for me it has been extra tough with some pretty serious things behind the scenes. All the messages here made me feel better and it seems to be a great community. Take care of yourselves and each other!

*Media highlight is by Powerup3dx