At first, interior design was something that Victor Zastolskiy did for a living, but later on, it turned into a unique form of creative expression. Today, Victor is a successful Depositphotos contributor, whose works hypnotize and puzzle audiences.
Victor works at the intersection between several genres. He creates surreal interiors by combining photographs from his archive with 3D design. Let's explore some of his works, and discover how video game aesthetics, classic photography, and interior design concepts can coexist.
Although Victor's work might look like photographs, he doesn’t define himself as a photographer. His process mostly consists of image editing and 3D object modeling. As a rule, Victor only picks up a camera if he can’t a fitting image for his idea.
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According to Victor, there are three factors that shaped him as an artist. His extensive experience in interior design, computer game design, and his art-related education.
However, he does not believe that formal education is obligatory for the modern artist: “To develop creative thinking, you should read, watch, and listen a lot. I think that the comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus gave me more than a couple of years at the university.”
Victor’s main source of inspiration is other creatives, and they don’t necessarily have to be visual artists: “You can read O. Henry’s story and be so impressed that you’ll create a futuristic 3D concept.”
Sometimes, Victor is inspired by random photos he takes during the day. Accidental images can easily motivate him to create visual stories for his surreal works.
Elements in Victor Zastolskiy’s works are seamlessly combined, even though they don’t belong in the same universe. This approach to digital collage making creates a surreal effect. To achieve it, Victor has to carefully work through each layer of his image.
He starts off by selecting images and then moves on to modeling the scene in 3D. Afterward, color adjustments are made, and elements of the collage are processed. “I love making collages from different visual formats: 3D, photo, and scanned surfaces,” Victor states.
Zastolskiy often reinterprets legendary interior design concepts. He repaints them, experiments with furniture, or inhabits them with unusual subjects (for example, monkeys or fish).
The artist enjoys combining objects from different periods of time into one image. He says: “This approach gives me complete freedom for my ideas and designs. A series of such works is a favorite in my portfolio. I would like to focus on this approach in the future as well”.
Victor considers composing and finalizing to be the most difficult and time-consuming stages of his work process: “Working with the alpha-channel in 3D, clipping silhouettes from a photo, adjusting perspective and camera settings. Not to mention color, light, and shadow correction in 3D, or vice versa. In brief, this can be called composing. Probably the least favorite stage is cutting out another hairy animal from the photo with Bézier curves.”
One rule of creativity that Victor Zastolskiy follows is: Don't try to make something unique. According to the artist, absolute originality is impossible today. If you chase it, then you risk never starting anything in the first place.
Victor also admits that he is still searching for his style. He believes that this is a normal process, no matter how experienced you are.
Victor has always been interested in mixing artistic tools, styles, and ideas. He even devoted his thesis to this topic in university. He believes that “...even though it does not guarantee a result, the result is more interesting than the boldest idea. It’s like cooking: if you choose incompatible ingredients, your dish may end up in a trash can, or you can create a groundbreaking recipe.”
Depositphotos became an opportunity for the artist to share his surreal works with a wider audience, and to find those who appreciate his approach. In his portfolio, Victor presents new artwork, along with classical interior photography, 3D illustrations, and interior concepts.
Discover more of Victor Zastolskiy's extraordinary images, or start surfing the platform for stock visuals, audio tracks, and videos.
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