Gavriil Klimov, better known as Hexeract, an influential creative director who previously worked on titles such as Call of Duty: Black Ops III and StarCraft II. He rose to prominence with the unique perspective that he brings to the table that is without a doubt merged with his exceptional approach and hard work. So much so that he has become one of the most pinned artists in the concept design category on Pinterest. For people like these, there is always a story that attests to the steadfast journey to reaching the point they are today, and what Hexeract is - a name to be reckoned with in the design industry.
To draw a trajectory, for as long as he can remember, Hexeract has been into the world of games and computer graphics. His inclination towards this was triggered during his high school years when he got exposed to Warcraft, one of the best games to be made in the history of the gaming industry. It was then he began digging deep and learning more about this newfound passion. Soon, Hexeract found himself inspired by artists like Caravaggio, Dante, Syd Mead, Marcello Gandini, and Craig Mullins. Hexeract then enrolled in Art Center College of Design where he studied industrial design and entertainment design, landing his first internship at Pixar Animation Studios working on Toy Story 3 under Dice Tsutsumi. Now, this is where it all began - the journey of an artist who came to stay and disrupt the creative design space with his work for future generations to look up to.
Hexeract became well-known online in 2012 as a result of his extraordinarily intricate mechanical concept designs. His work was published on many magazines and front covers of industry publications such as 3D Artist Magazine and 3D Total. He's been recognized to push the frontiers of 3D idea design since then. It was not typical to develop concept design work directly in 3D when Hexeract began doing this form of concept design. Until that point, the industry standard for concept art creation was Photoshop. The majority of concept artists employed digital tools, however, some still used traditional techniques. Hexeract was one of the first artists to embrace 3D and do concept design directly in a 3D program, bypassing the 2D pipeline. Hexeract was also one of the first adopters of CAD for concept design, putting himself side by side with Vitaly Bulgarov as one of the original users, all the way back in early 2013.
What made Hexeract stand out in the chaotic industry was his choice of Fusion360 and other traditional concept designing methods which he modified accordingly, putting in his unique perspective to give birth to great works of art that are still praised by the industry experts. He spearheaded the concept design community into using 3D directly to design, something for which he is still appreciated.
Hexeract pushed the limits of design, inventing groundbreaking procedures that were later adopted by other artists. Students, aspiring artists, and professionals alike have examined his work for both workflow and quality levels achieved. Some examples of his work include Call of Duty: Black Ops III and IV, Horizon Zero Dawn, Metal Gear Solid V, and State Zero. Not only that, in his diversified career, Hexeract has worked with industry giants like Paramount Pictures, Guerrilla Games, Warner Brothers, Oculus Rift, Nike, and others. He was able to land such high-profile works because of his unique approach to design and aesthetics.
Hexeract encompasses a combination of various techniques, styles, and even genres spanning from pure mechanical design to surreal art. He explores topics of human decadence and dystopia through hard-surface designs mixed in with an element of melancholy.
As of 2021, Hexeract is a director at NVIDIA Corp, where he is working on the next set of tools for creators in order to spread technological democratization.
At NVIDIA he leads the team developing artist tools and workflows in Omniverse, which will enable the masses to produce 3D content and allow us to play in a digital twin of our world.
Hexeract is working on the metaverse's building blocks, with the firm view that democratization content creation is a critical step toward allowing millions of people to participate in the metaverse's construction.
His vision of the Metaverse is that anyone would be able to create practically anything and generate experiences with little effort compared to today. A Metaverse is a place in time where if someone wants to execute an idea – digitally – they can, without having that many obstacles. Hexeract believes that the next Fortnite will be created by a kid in their bedroom and he is hard at work with the rest of his NVIDIA team to make sure this toolset will be available to them in order to be able to execute their idea. Hexeract has revolutionized the 3D design industry and is now using his abilities to enable the masses, in what will forever revolutionize the content creation industry.
