Meet Jovanny Zapata | 3D Character Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jovanny Zapata and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jovanny, we’d love to start by asking you about lessons learned. Is there a lesson you can share with us?
The most important lesson Iv learned over the years has to be to have patience and not give up. Over the years it was difficult to find jobs, especially starting out and taking things set by step and pushing forward in what ever way you can even if you only make a few improvements is still progress. sometimes we do not get a quick result and that’s when perseverance is tested and improved.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
A lot of the time we hear about how some people got into the industry through a moment of luck but what we hear about less is the amount of effort it takes to have the ability to make use of that moment of luck. my path into the game industry is similar to many others who had to work hard to get a chance to break in. Fortunately my family had my back and supported me and if it was not for them I might have gotten in to the games industry until much later in life. The first year or two were rough, I did not have much luck finding work and the one opportunity I did get during this time did not pay me at all. despite my set backs I continued working on my portfolio everyday and foster friendships with other artists online through twitch and twitter. Eventually I was able to apply for a position I wanted and as it would happen one of my friends worked there and the rests of the artists had become aware of me through my twitch streams and my social media presence on twitter. After I was lucky enough to work at Omnom workshop I was able to find more contract positions until I eventually ended up working at EA. The biggest factor was definably meeting new people, learning from them and pushing my career forward with each new contract gaining experience as I went. everyone I met was important and I owe my success to them. If not for some of the people I met I would not have learned about some of the roles I took and some actually helped me land my roles. the biggest lesson I learned over the years would definably have to be patience and perseverance and to treat everyone with respect. It does not take a lot to be kind to those around you and I find that connecting with others is one of the most important and fun things about this career. The people I always see succeed In this career path are always those people who are highly driven and motivated kind individuals who are usually a pleasure to converse with if the chance comes up. what I want people to learn from reading this is that if you can keep going towards your goals even if its slowly, you will get your chance. its about patience, learning over time and fostering connections with other people.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
That’s a tough question, I’m not very out going. However I think the best places are the places you go with a good group of people. for example you will not catch me going out alone to go bowling or to karaoke, but those are some of the best places Iv been to with friends and made some of the best memories. If my friend was coming to visit Id love to take them out to go out and have fun with other friends and do anything they might have an interest in.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
A lot of my success comes from the incredible community of artists pushing through on twitch and twitter trying to talk to each other all throughout the internet and I have a very special place in my heart for all the people I met through my time on twitch and on twitter, however there is a guy I met while in college that years after we continue to speak about art and he’s one of the guys who helped me out with my career starting out, his name is Gavin Fischer and has been a great friend and at times co worker.

Website: https://www.artstation.com/sculptguy

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jovanny_zapata/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jovanny-zapata/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SculptGuy

Image Credits
The little wizards concept artist was Nicholas Kole, The overwatch fan art concept artist was rmparfait and for Rabasin it was Khoa Việt.