1.Where were you born and where did you study graphic design?
Born in England and I’m autodidactic (a person who is self-taught) and didn’t study at a school. At an old job, they asked if anyone would be willing to learn Zbrush as they were thinking about getting it. So I bought a copy and learnt it at home after work hours. It was also around that time I learnt 3ds Max, Maya and Rhino 3d.
2. Where are you living now?
I’m living in Surrey England which is just outside of London.
3. Why did you become a 3D artist?
I collected wargaming figures from a young age and wanted to be able to sculpt the figures that I wanted.
4. Why did you get into 3D printing and how long have you been 3D printing?
I use to work in the toy making industry and old companies I worked for started to CAD bits up and send them away to be printed. So I’ve been working with the data and end product for a little over 10 years. I got my first printer about a year ago and have been loving it. It’s so much more fun getting to print stuff yourself rather than sending it off to be printed elsewhere.
5. What are your favourite things to 3d design and print?
I love doing Wargames and RPGs figures, whether that’s fantasy monsters or sci-fi robots I don’t mind I love doing it all.
6. What printers do you have at the moment?
I currently have a flash forge finder and a Wanhao Duplicator 7.
7. What is your favourite 3D printer?
I couldn’t choose between them. The detail on the Wanhao is amazing, but for doing big stuff cheaply the flash forge is great.
8. What software do you use for 3d modelling?
I use Zbrush
9. What about for slicing & supports?
I have always used flash print but I bought simplify3d recently and so use that as well now. For my Wanhao I use Creation workshop.
10. Why did you fall in love with our Monocure Resin?
I kept seeing really great results online and liked the finish so when I bought my Wanhao a bought 2 litres of the Rapid Grey at the same time, and have loved the results.
11. How do you post cure your models?
I use a super cheap UV cure unit meant for doing your nails.
12. How do you wash your models?
IPA and water. Just give them a little rinse in each and a tickle with an old toothbrush seems to do the trick.
13. Do you paint, spray or brush? If so, what is the process?
When I paint stuff I give it a spray with grey undercoat and then paint with acrylic wargaming paints. Depending on the sculpt I will sometimes use an airbrush sometimes just a brush.
14. What type of paint do you use?
I mostly use Vallejo and scale colour acrylics and a mix of brands when I use oils.
15. What advice can you give to a person starting out in Graphic Design and 3D printing?
If you want to sculpt I would say don’t give up. You will have to put a lot of hours in to get good but it’s really worth it. Start small do little add-ons and conversions and work your way up to full figures. With 3d printing be patient it can take a while to learn anything and don’t be afraid to ask questions on Facebook groups. People are more than willing to help out, it’s a really friendly community.
16. When you’re not 3D printing or designing, what do you do in your spare time?
It’s rare for me to be away from my computer and not be sculpting, but I do like RPG’s like Pathfinder, DnD ( really liking 5th edition at the moment ) Symbaroum, Eclipse phase. Tabletop games and Reading.
17. Where’s your favourite holiday destination and why?
I don’t get away very often, but I would say Finland as that’s where I proposed to my Fiance.
18. Where do you think 3D printing will be in 10 years time?
Wow, that’s hard to know, it’s come so far in the last few years. I would guess it will become more and more accessible to people. I think it will completely change the collectable and tabletop gaming industries as more and more people start making and printing the things they want. I have the feeling we are sat at the event horizon, and I can’t wait where it’s going to take us. I suspect we are on a cusp of a creative revolution.
19. Where did you get your nickname “Shadow”
It was originally because a friend & I were going to start a little company together called shadow miniatures. We were going to be selling metal casts of my sculpts. The shadow part came from the work of Carl Jung, so the unconscious suppressed darker side of personality. I thought it would work well with the darker, monstrous sculpts.
We ended up not moving forward with that and I changed the Facebook page to my personal artist page, but I wanted to keep that continuity so people knew it was still the same person running the page, so changed the name to Duncan ‘shadow’ Louca.
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