Chet Zar Profile

[hakkston]

looks amazing! :applause:

[roger]

I have worked with Chet on several films doing Makeup Effects!
Chet is a good guy and a great artist. It's good to see NT interviewing him! :thumbsup:

[JA-forreal]

His sculpture works are outstanding.

[kmp3d]

I don't think jealousy in this case would be a strong enough word to describe the way I feel. Tool is my favorite band... and will always be. I love that they have taken their music to the level of art rather than just a product to sell. Chet is one lucky guy. I'd give just about anything to meet the band... let alone make art for them.

[thx1138]

TOOL kicks a$$ :buttrock:

[superfly18]

He's got skills.

But i'm not much of a fan of his art. All grimmie and depressing, some of it even sickening.

But he's got skills.:p

[Terminator]

He must indeed have some incredible skills if cg talk were to initiate interview but the pics shown r wayyy too dark cant really tell whether they r good or bad at least for me anyway.

[onlooker]

Originally posted by thx1138
TOOL kicks a$$ :buttrock:

Got that right! :xtreme:

[Garma]

Originally posted by superfly18
But i'm not much of a fan of his art. All grimmie and depressing, some of it even sickening.


Agreed. But even though it's depressing, the setup of the scene is great, and so are the textures. The guy has a feeling for it. About the modelling, well it's good enough for this kind of art...

[roger]

I say the "darker" the BETTER! :p

[malcolmvexxed]

"zdzislaw Beksinski’s .... Phil Hale"

Two of my favorite artists

:buttrock:

[Matt]

I'm so glad this interview happened, and it was posted here for me to see.

TOOL is my absolute favorite band, forever. Seriously, there is not a smarter, more organized, and beautiful band on the planet. I doubt there ever has been such a band, besides TOOL.

"This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality. Embrace this moment remember, we are eternal, all this pain is an illusion."

Please, those two lines alone are better than the collective effort of all pop artists from 1997 to 2003.

[baldybaby]

I didnt think much of the art.

It is pretty basic stuff. We get reels with stuff like this on it all the time and they get tossed pretty quick.

Must have got the intterview cause hes in a band?

Agree with the person who said "the darker the better"... ;)

BB

[Matt]

Basic to a basic mind.

[cgjie]

Cool short film!where can I donwload it.It is really a interesting
work!
:drool:

[policarpo]

TOOL:bowdown:

[belly80naz]

Originally posted by thx1138
TOOL kicks a$$ :buttrock:

I'm with you!:buttrock: :buttrock: :xtreme: :drumrock:

[eFDay]

There is nothing that deserves a front page highlight here.
But indeed Tool is a great band.

[proton]

Originally posted by eFDay
There is nothing that deserves a front page highlight here.
But indeed Tool is a great band.


Wow...I would love to hear the types of projects your working on....must be killer!

[edaddy]

i think ppl are implying that Chet Zar is only a popular artist b/c of his association with TOOL ....

[Maximillion]

I have to agree that while Tool is amazing,:bowdown: the quality of Chet Zar's art lies in the concept not the execution--and even in that it is not consistent.

Good for him for hooking up with Tool, but they should employ artists with the same level of skill as they have to represent themselves.

Now the stop motion artists that Tool has worked with are PHENOMENAL.

[roger]

Amazing....
I have seen a lot of "bad - crappy" art here on the cgtalk forum and I never said anything about it......I don't think I have seen so many negative responses on one guy here before :shrug:
I think people should say what they want to say....but I guess I am one of the few who don't like to criticize other peoples work.

[Maximillion]

Well, I'd hope that if something gets posted here that people will offer their opinions regarding it or to get information on the methods behind it. Hence the "Forum" aspect.

And nobody ever became a better artist from 5 pages of "YOU ROCK!!!!:buttrock: :buttrock: :buttrock: "

It's in the skill of the artist him/herself to be able to sort through quality critiques and thoughtless comments to find things that people have said that can be used to improve their work.

But when you're showcased on the front page, people have high expectations, and are ready let you know that.

So, when I get some time to finish off the home projects I'm working on and post them I hope people critique it to death. I'll take the good stuff to heart and make fun of the rest;)

[Blackarts]

I have to admit I havent seen many TOOL videos, so this work is pretty new to me. The interview is an interesting read. As for the artwork, I find it pretty flat and dark, and a little on the abstract side. I also agree that technicallyt it's pretty basic. This is not necessarly a bad thing, and I can see how this style might suit a music video.

[chach]

do they call you baldy 'cause of your rampant jealousy?
have you guys seen the flash site this guy did with the cuttings? So dark. So disturbing. So potent. So...EFFECTIVE.

OK, you hold 'em down, I'll kick 'em in the ribs a few times. You guys are ruthless.

That site would be dissectional.com. the hot sh*t.

Say, has he gotten to meet or work with Alex Grey at all? How f'n sweet would that be?!?!?!

[William b. Hand]

I think his computer art falls FAR short of both his 2D and (especially) his sculptural work. I'm in agreeance with those who are disappointed by the CG stuff. It's "o.k." and there're some very cool concepts, but it's not what I would call noteworthy. After initially viewing his 3D graphics stuff, I was absolutely shocked to find his other stuff was so good.
(Anyone who didn't check it out, go look at "softspot" sculpture!)

[AJE]

His work reminds me of Dali mixed with Brom a bit, so it doesn't surprise me that it's a bit misunderstood. His art has a very specific audience of appreciation.
I can't say I am part of that audience.

Since art appreciation is entirely subjective, I can only look at the 3D work here from a technical standpoint. I think the 3D work has excellent textures, but the rest (lighting, modelling, etc...) of it seems relatively unimpressive to me.

TOOL is a great band (and APC), but I don't see the work shown in the interview as being that great.

(And for the record, www.dissectional.com blows. I hate it when a web designer sees fit to commandeer my monitor without giving me that nice little 'X' in the top corner to exit their pseudo-psychotic pretentious shock wannabe sites.)

Blah.

AJE

[Adam]

yeah not that i'm a great artist myself but this work doesn't seem very...um...good. The concepts seem simple and compositions are really boring and the models themselves don't seem up to proffesional level especially for working with tool (or any semi major company). Also the lighting is very flat.. I don't know Maybe it is just me (and a few others) but this seems just okay not great and therefore akward that it was interviewed by such a major company as newtek

Oh well as long as the majority like the interview I guess that is what really matters

[Adam]

oh and the above website is really really bad:thumbsdow

[William b. Hand]

www.dissectional.com is a good example of great work buried in a bad site. If you trudge through the slooow moving graphic interface, with its irritating spirograph designs and ho-hum anatomy illustrations, you'll come to further irritation in the form of floating script titles.
To see the painting or sculpture, you're supposed to pounce on the title with your mouse and click. Bothersome enough, but it often doesn't register your click and can take several tries in quick succession before the image (slooowly) slides into view. The images are small in the already miniature window, so detail has to be imagined by the viewer.
It's a nasty set-up.
There's really excellent work here but, sadly, it's been damned to this awful awful site. The artist has been done an exceptional disservice by this inexcusable presentation.
:annoyed:

[kmp3d]

I don't know I guess I'm lost here. Maybe I just look at art differently. Agreed the cg is simple, the lighting tends to be flat and dark. But his art still moves something in me. I grew up watching horor movies so I guess theres somthing in his compositions that really speaks to me. I always try to find something in other peoples art that I can draw upon and that inspires my mind. Its subtle gloom and darkness that seems to be the common thread in what he's doing. I think its that idea and feeling which makes his art moving and thought provoking. I like the abstraction of his compositions, where when you look at one of his images it's not completely clear exactly what it is. I don't think that Newtek granted Chet an interview simply based on his affiliation with a band. Chet's art certainly stands on its own. Close your eyes........ and open your mind.

[ThirdEye]

How did i miss a TOOL related thread? :surprised :surprised :surprised :surprised :surprised

[mattregnier]

totally aside from the interview, i'm jumping on the bandwagon and temporarily hijacking this thread.

OMG- that dissectional.com website is THE worst website on the net. flash = teh suck, then fullscreen = more teh suck, then navigation = teh worstest suck. i mean come on, whoever made that website reminds me of the kids that open photoshop and throw every filter on a new canvas and say it's a wallpaper. i couldn't even get to anything of any relevance because my browser would crash on that horrible interface. whew- hijacking over...

[Neil]

ok, i didn't wanna say anything after first reading through that interview, but i wasn't too amazed either. A guy with long arms stretched out... umm.. ok, not that amazing. Maybe i needa see it in motion or something, but there are plenty of other amazing music videos too.
That face with a tongue sticking out is of presentation quality? Looks like a simple texturing job to me.

And i know i'm gonna get flamed with "i looked at your work, and it's sucks too Neil!!" oh well, i mean if that's what i get in return for speaking out, then i'm ready to accept.

It must be a combination between the TOOL association and use of Lightwave.
Had that guy been a student showing a demo reel, there is no way you guys would praise him to this extent. And b/c this is an interview posted by a MOD, people are very timid to ever speak up.

[mattregnier]

I'll second that Neil, It's rare that any of the stuff out of the games/lowpoly section makes the frontpage, but yet I imagine if you were associated with some band like TOOL or used Lightwave you would have frontpage stuff :D It all goes back to it's who you know, and who knows you.

[William b. Hand]

"jumping the bandwagon"?
"people are very timid to ever speak up."??
:shrug:
Have you read the thread? I think we have a lot of company!

[chach]

I stand firm.
You guys are ruthless.
Almost any site with flash bites it when it comes to traditional HTML web design standards as far as taking control away from the user, linking, notation, upload time, etc, so, don't be such a hardass.
Also, I think you're missing the point of the website. It supposed to juxtapose order and chaos and the anatomy pics and geometrics are mostly philosophical references.
And, to be specific, I was particularly impressed with the interactive cuttings piece on the website. Sure, it may take a while to navigate to it, but, if you can find it, it is CLEARLY you guys' cup-o-tea. You can graphically slash the dood all day long.
BTW, I've seen Tool many times live over the years, and the graphics have always rocked, and, personally, I really loved the claymation/ stop-mo fx. The loss of that artist is a shame indeed. However, I saw Tool this year in Winston-Salem and Homboy's CG on 25ft screens in conjunction with Alex Grey's 2d traditional backdrops synched to the music made for the greatest show, and greatest crowd energy this guy's ever witnessed first-hand.

[mattregnier]

Less than Jake - whether it's a crowd of 20 or 20,000 now that's a crowd energy that will rock you. It doesn't matter how/who/what get's you going. The creator of dissection could have made that site just as effective and still kept the 'grim and confusing' look/feel to it. It still goes back to what you're trying to say and who your audience is. I would say that the way the site is layed out now that it instantly alienated me from wanting to look at it, too confusing of navigation. yup that's all-

[Matt]

Originally posted by edaddy
i think ppl are implying that Chet Zar is only a popular artist b/c of his association with TOOL ....

TOOL, while in my mind the best music act to come since the 1980s, is a highly visual group. Go to any concert, and it's 60% music 40% show. The recent tours for Lateralus found frontman Maynard James Keenan hiding in the shadows while singing, sometimes not appearing for a group of songs. Two large screens with visuals, mostly relevant to the songs being played at the time, and Osseus Labyrint, the body-art duo we all saw in their video for Schism, flailing around the stage, looking like odd animals.

When a lot of us think about the Aenima record, we think of dark, desaturated, blue environments with water reflecting on the walls, and odd shadows moving about. When I'm listening to particular songs, I think about the videos as well. A lot of the times, I take their songs very literal and visualize everything in my mind as it's being played out... Look at "H" for example. Good stuff.

Bottomline, if TOOL had Bob Ross as the art direction, they wouldn't be what they are. Chet Zar, Adam Jones, and Cam De Leon, Timothy Leary, Bill Hicks, Maynard James Keenan, Danny Carey, Justin Chancellor, Paul D'Amour... They are all members of TOOL, even if only four are on stage and in the studio.

[Maximillion]

The issue here really isn't the quality of Tool, and I fully agree that they are a very visual band.
The band "Gorillaz" while not even in the same book as Tool also consider their artist (Jamie Hewlett), that defined their visual identity, a full member of the band.
In this case, while Chet Zar does have the energy in his art that fits with Tool, and has been allowed to become a member, his work is not phenomenal, which Tool is. I have seen other art from other artists with a similar feel that is done to a much greater level of skill, and conveys much emotion to me.
Now obviously not all his work is bad, far from it. I even find some of his work(I haven't dived into hir 2d work) good.
The 2 things here for me are that his 3D doesn't live up to the quality of Tool, and in the same vein isn't as good as other work I've seen here that hasn't been featured on the front page.
I would say he was there because he is a part of Tool, and it was interesting to hear what he had to say since art is such an integral part of them, but not neccesarily on the raw quality of his 3D work.

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