Jimmy Duda is a fantastic concept artist with years of experience in the entertainment industry. In this interview, he discusses his solarpunk project Symbiont World and offers insightful advice to animators and other 3D artists in various career stages.
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Hi Jimmy, can you please tell us a bit about yourself?
I was born in Poland, stayed a bit in the USA as a student, but I have lived most of my life in Berlin, Germany. This is also where I’m based now with my beautiful wife, our two kids, and our two (very naughty) cats.
My wife and I met at university while we were both studying architecture. However, I never wanted to build townhouses. I was much more interested in creating castles in the sky. I first changed my focus to architectural visualization and then worked my way up to become a 3D generalist and, later on, a concept artist.
I have been working in the 3D industry for about seventeen years now. Over the last decade, I have worked mainly as a concept artist in films and video games. Before that, I had many other roles, such as 3D artist, illustrator, storyboard artist, art director, VFX artist—and the list goes on.
Why were you so attracted to animation?
It started when I was a little kid. Growing up in socialist Poland, I couldn’t see many cartoons. The first time I saw a Disney animation was in the nineties, and I was blown away. It was stunning, funny, and vivid. I immediately fell in love, but I had no idea that you could actually work in this field. I was just a kid who was constantly drawing in his sketchbook.
Being creative was always a part of me and where I truly felt at home. At university, I was lucky to attend a 3ds Max course. When the internet became more accessible, I dedicated all my time to learning everything I could. Nowadays, I mostly use Blender.
With time, your visual approach has evolved from realism toward a stylized aesthetic. What influenced that shift?
When you work in the entertainment industry, your style is heavily influenced by the types of jobs you find. At the beginning, I was primarily working for advertising and VFX companies. Clients and projects changed frequently, forcing me to jump around stylistically, but the work was mainly realism-heavy 3D. When I got to work on more stylized projects like the trading card game Disney Lorcana, I enjoyed it deeply. It felt so freeing and brought out these other, more positive sides of me.
Working in 3D is a beautiful thing. If you get to work in this field, you are already lucky, since most people don’t even like their jobs. There are so many things that inspire me, like games, nature, and the ocean. There is only so much time to digest it all and express it. As complex creators, we can be interested in different things at the same time. I find that the more realistic work I do commercially, the more stylized my personal projects are—and vice versa. It’s the circle of life; well, the circle of art.
In 2025, your beautiful short film Symbiont World was released. Why did you decide to create a solarpunk animation?
I had this vision of a solarpunk world. It first came to me years ago, when I didn’t even know the term. I had just become a father, and we went on a family vacation to visit the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK. It was incredible to see this gigantic greenhouse structure with different biomes coexisting and flourishing together in harmony. It looked like sci-fi, but it was also very real. I thought of all the cyberpunk I knew, which is usually very dark, and wondered, "Why not create an optimistic version?" I was thinking of my daughter and wanting to give her some hope against climate change, deforestation, and everything else happening to the environment.
In 2014, I did my first solarpunk illustration. This was the beginning of what came to be the Symbiont World worldbuilding project. Whenever I had time, I came back to this world, did some sketches, and explored themes like renewable energy, engineering, sustainable technologies, nature, and landscapes. People started to gravitate toward the project, inviting me to give lectures, create solarpunk illustrations, and even design a solarpunk architectural visualization. Other people created their own fan fiction, and the project kept growing organically.
When Nvidia contacted me and asked to feature my work on Earth Day 2025, I told them that I would gladly show my new short film. The only problem was that I had only two months, and at the time, nothing more than one scene. I had no script, no protagonist, and no animation. Besides that, of course, I had lots of client work, family obligations, and other things going on.
How did the film come together?
The time restriction actually helped me. I focused on how to get the most out of my existing skills so that I wouldn't have to learn anything new. For example, I decided that the main character would be sitting down the whole time, meaning I wouldn't have to rig her completely. I came up with her little helper to introduce some interaction to the film, rather than just having her observe. There is only one environment, and because stylized art is somewhat simplified, I managed to render it all in Blender Eevee.
Many of the models you see in the film are assets that I had lying around on my laptop for years. Blendkit was also a huge help; I use it all the time in client projects. I love how it is integrated into Blender so you don’t have to constantly switch between software. For the music, I found a royalty-free piece and tweaked it a bit. Basically, I took all the ingredients I could find and put them together.
What are your plans for the Symbiont World project?
At the moment, I can’t share too much. I can say that there are going to be more animations, characters, technologies, and landscapes. What I truly want is to combine it all into a more cohesive creation—whether that means an art book, a longer movie, or a video game. It is too early to tell, but the idea is to pour a larger portion of this world into one project. You can follow some of these developments on my Instagram account.
You also offer a course focused on stylized animation in Blender. What are you hoping to teach?
The concept for the Focal Point School course came directly from the Symbiont World project. It teaches you everything from the ground up. Throughout the process, you basically create a complete Symbiont World scene while learning how to develop an idea, create sketches, and navigate the different Blender departments—such as shading, coloring, and animating—while building a story.
If you are a concept artist moving from 2D to 3D, this course is a great place to start. It is also highly beneficial if you are new to the 3D industry and want to learn Blender. You can either download my fifteen hours of tutorials or take the full online course where we meet, discuss, and exchange feedback.
Do you have any advice for beginning 3D artists?
Before you even touch Blender, learn English as best as you can. Most clients will speak English. If possible, relocate to a major industry hub. Remote work is possible, but clients prefer you to be accessible. If you can’t move, you simply have to be even better.
Be a nice person. Don’t be afraid to ask questions when you don’t understand something. Don’t be afraid to show crappy work-in-progress. Screw anxiety—just send your work to everyone. Get the worst feedback possible and act on it. Feedback is what will make you better.
Also, we have to be realistic and realize that AI is going to be a part of this world, but it won’t be everything. It will at best be an additional tool; it’s not the end of the world for artists, and it won’t replace you. So, don’t worry, be resilient, keep creating for a better future, and let your passion lead you.
