Interview with Alessandro Sarritzu

Alessandro Sarritzu, also known as HitsuSan, professional Concept Artist.

Hi, Alessandro! Thanks for agreeing to do this interview! Let’s start out with a bit of general background: tell us a few words about yourself

Hello everyone! I’m Alessandro Sarritzu, also known as HitsuSan, professional Concept Artist.

How did you get started with digital art? When and what was your first work, tell us something about it.

I’ve studied concept art and digital painting from January 2012, before that time drawing was just an hobby for me. I found my first work 9 months later as a character artist for a small independent company and i’ve been working with them since there. Today I do environments like scifi buildings, internals and all that kind of stuff.

Can you define your working style as a CG-artist?

Ahh not really, no. You know, all the tools that I use for my job, like Photoshop or any other software, are just tools. The knowledge that I have is making me do my art so I can do the exactly same things with a computer, a traditional medium or just sticking together some piece of junk and plastic, it doesn’t really matter. So labeling myself as a CG artist will mean that I can do my job only with CG and that wouldn’t be the truth.

What are your major influences(music, movies, etc.)? Are there any artists who influenced you?

The whole videogame industry has influenced me a lot as an artist since I was a kid. I’ve always been intrigued about how things worked and I loved videogames a lot so I was intrigued by how videogames worked. Today I can’t really say that there is a particular artist that influences my work but there are a lot of professionals that I admire and they inspire me to do my very best to reach their kind of level.

Can you describe your typical workflow when you’re working on a project? Does it take you long to achieve that final perfect image you are happy with?

Oh my this will be painful! I don’t have a typical workflow. I change my workflow depending on the project and how much time do I have to deliver a concept. There are a lot of ways to reach an objective so I choose the best way that fits the task depending on clients requests or the task itself. In general I won’t work on a single piece more than 4 to 6 hours, sometimes even less and i’m happy with my work when my client is happy with the result. As an artist i’m constantly pushing myself to get better at what I do so I don’t aim for the final perfect image, I hope I can do better every day!

Have you any tricks and your own “know-hows” which you gained with experience during your work? Are there any skills and techniques you’d like to acquire?

Oh yeah, the greatest trick I can share to you is that you have to learn how to learn! When you learn how to learn there’s nothing that can stop you to become great in anything you like to do. As for me of course there are skills and techniques i’d like to acquire and i’m already working hard to do that, probably in the future I will integrate some 3d into my workflow if it helps me to achieve better results.

What work do you enjoy more: personal or commercial projects? Is it easier to work on personal work or client work? What kind of work are you doing now?

I don’t think it’s different. I didn’t had a chance to stop and work for some personal project yet but I will put the same kind effort I put in my clients works. This is cause I love what i’m doing, no matter what the project is, and I respect my client project cause I believe they are important as much as mine. Right now i’m on a client work, doing concept art for environments, buildings, interiors and this kind of things for a videogame that could be awesome so i’m doing my best every day.

How do you manage to combine your personal life and work? Do you have any hobbies? Is it easy for you to find the time for your family, friends?

It’s tough. I try to have time limitations to finish my daily work so I can spend the rest for my family and friends but it’s not always possible. When a company depends on your work to end important tasks for production milestones and this kind of stuff the amount of work to do increases a lot. Fortunately the persons that cares about me understands that and i’m really thankful for their support. I do have hobbies like freerunning and those helps me to be in touch with friends and stay healthy at the same time.

What software do you usually use? Do you use any external hardware such as a drawing tablet?

I use Photoshop CS6 for everything. Of course I use a tablet, I still have my Intuos3 from 2008! And I bought a Cintiq20WSX but I never use that hardware, it’s kinda wasted for now unfortunately, maybe in the future I will find a way to use that too, who knows.

Do you have anything to say to beginning CG artists world-wide?

Sure, the secret of success is… Nah i’m joking, I don’t know that, sorry! :P Just keep learning, get involved in communities, share your work and try to improve constantly. If you’re serious and you want to make a job of what you’re doing you need to learn how things works in the professional industry, do your best to get you up to the point where your work have a value for your clients and eventually you’ll end up being a professional, I promise.

Where would you like see yourself in the future, and how do you feel you will be growing as an artist?

I would like to keep doing this work, I really do! Maybe in the future I could end up art directing some project or leading a team of artists or maybe teaching, I don’t have any plans for this right now. All that I know is that I will keep doing my very best and I won’t stop growing as an artist anytime soon, that’s for sure!

Thank you for the interview. Anything else you’d like to say? Any closing thoughts for the readers?

Well, if managed to inspire at least one of you to do your best then I don’t have to say anything else! Thank you for reading and thank your for the opportunity to share some stories ;)

Find more about Alessandro Sarritzu
Portfolio:
http://www.hitsusandesign.com
Blog:
http://hitsusandesign.blogspot.com