MEET THE ARTIST JM Blay

The Spanish creative talks us through his foundational moments in 3D, a typical day running his own studio, and the tools used to create his work

With more than 20 years of experience in the creative W industry, JM Blay has worked on movies such as Dungeons & Dragons, The Hobbit and Guardians of the Galaxy, video games including the Call Of Duty series, and music videos for artists like Paul McCartney and Lady Gaga.

He is the creative director and founder of Blay Studio, a production company and creative studio based in Valencia, Spain, and has collaborated with renowned studios and agencies worldwide. In that time, Blay has developed projects for a host of companies including Netflix, Marvel and Sony.

He holds a degree in fine arts, a master's degree in audiovisual communication, and a PhD in motion graphics. Blay's work has also been recognised in specialised magazines, and he has given lectures at festivals and universities worldwide.

Do you have a background in 3D design or are you self-taught?

At university I studied art and audiovisual communication. 3D and motion graphics is something I started learning by myself during my final year of university. When it comes to 3D, I started with 3ds Max and used that software for a couple of years, but I abandoned it because, at that time, it was really tedious and complicated to learn. This was before the internet. Later on, when I was doing gigs as a motion designer, I started playing with Cinema 4D (C4D) and it blew my mind. I've never stopped using C4D since I opened it for the first time.

How do you keep things fresh?