Interview – Talcik & Demovicova

Name: Juraj Talcik

Location: Bratislava, Slovakia

Age: 28

Agency founded in the year: 2013

Specialized in: Visualization and Interior design

Website: talcikdemovicova.com

We’re excited we were able to interview 3D artist Juraj Talcik this month. In the interview Juraj shares with us the beginning of the agency Talcik&Demovicova he runs together with his life partner Veronika. They both have a background in Architecture and are passionate about creating high-end 3D visualizations. As their mission statement reads on their website: high-quality is non-negotiable and so should be your expectations.

How would you summarize the core of your agency?

We focus on high-end, no effort spared production. Making things slowly and very thoroughly. Whether it’s architectural visualization, or designing and set dressing the spaces which we’ll render afterwards. We work with a select number of clients and like to establish a long term relationship with them when possible.

Who are the owners of Talcik & Demovicova?

We’re a couple that established our studio first next to our living room with broad plans for independence in both creative and bussiness endeavors (including waking up midday and starting up the computer still dressed in pyjama). Veronika is a certified architect, while I’m a college dropout from the same studies. We both loved making images of our imaginary creations during school. I used to borrow laptops from every friend and classmate on my dormitory floor, so that I could render more and faster. Also functioning as the guy whom you would ask for help at the same time. Eventually someone offered to pay me a small sum to render his project and a lightbulb hit in my head. The livelihood was born.

Outside of the rudimentary beginnings we both deeply love architecture, photography, interior & product design and how our job lets us combine all of these together in a seamless blend. To be a successful visualizer you need to be a jack-of-all-trades and that’s much easier if you love all those trades to begin with.

Which of your works are you most proud of and why?

We’re always most proud of the latest one. That is, three months after it’s finished and I can finally bear to look at it and not contort my face in horror at seeing all the shortcomings. We like the works where we successfuly realized our creative vision and the results show it. Something we can accomplish only with full trust from the client.

Two of such are Impremta Garden and Nivy Restaurant. They’re both very different in both the resulting aesthetique and the process behind it. In Impremta Garden – done for Whyte Lilja Architects – we were given the interior design brief from the architects and our creative part consisted mainly in finding the look and experimenting with light in these grand spaces. It’s an unusual project with a blend of contemporary design inside an old building at the centre of Paloma, Mallorca. It has tall ceilings and very interesting historical windows which don’t let quite as much light in compared to modern glass walls. But because of this ‘constraint’, the light appears a lot more sculpted and the earthy color palette came into focus.

What important lesson would you share with starting agencies (or starting artists)?

Two things spring to my mind: craft your own niche and seek broad inspiration outside of the industry. Both CGI and construction business are booming around the globe. But as with anything, instead of competing with everyone, focusing on something unique that’s very authentically yours, will yield you better chance of success. What that could be, is worth finding out for yourself as it will serve you really well in the long way. Following your heart (with some rational restraints) pays off.

With inspiration the suggestion is to always explore. Don’t just look at what everyone else is doing. While this can be useful for a base comparison of where you stand, it’s important to branch out. Look at other creative disciplines, and even better: try them yourself. Obvious and popular targets are photography or painting, but it can be anything. For us it’s traveling. It’s a deeply enjoyable activity and during the adventures I consciously focus on examing the world around. Seeking interesting compositions within natural scenes or cityscapes and following the light and material behavior. Especially with a camera in my hand, which can reveal the light in a different way, so I can replicate it in later work.

What are the agencies you look up to in the industry?

No reason to play tough, I have my fair share of heroes and they played a part in picking this up first as hobby, then as a career. Don’t want to omit anyone (it used to be a solid long list) inside the industry, so I’d rather share one of my heroes from outside the industry (coming back to my earlier statement). Fernando Guerra is my favourite architectural photographer (or just photographer in general). Not just because of the premium way in which he captures the spirit of the building, but also because he built this impressive and massive portfolio of work over a decade. I am very inspired by people who succeed in realising their vision in both creative and business part, leaving behind a solid body of work and an admirable legacy. I also recently found out he owns three Porsche 911s… so there’s that :- ).

What do you think of Human Alloy’s models?

I love the focus on quality. There are quite a few ready-to-use 3D human scans on the market but they are barelly usable in the far background. Yours truly come close to where it will eventually looks indistinguishable from photos when used right (with the help of tricks). But there are still improvements to be made. Particularly the face and hair, which (while arguably the best on the market) can still go a lot further.

What are the things you’re looking forward to in the near future?

We have a few things under the cover on which we’ve been working past months. Things that are connected to what we do, while also branching out. We like to keep busy and grow personally in more ways than just being single niche experts. Warrants and looking forward towards the next great project wasn’t enough anymore.

We’ll post the first one rather soon :- ).