Robert Blanda, known to the Renderosity community as Cybertenko, spends his days working for the Czech Prison Service.
"Fortunately I am working on public relations in the press department doing mainly PRs and promo materials and a magazine," Blanda said.
Even from his vantage, he sees similar problems in the Czech justice system that plague U.S. jails, like chronic underfunding and low paid staff.
"It is clear that the work with prisoners is largely underrated, underpaid, and there is not enough money in the system ..., but this is certainly common problems for any prison service at least in Europe," he said.
To take his mind off his day job, Blanda joined Renderosity in 2006. It took Blanda three years to bring his first product, the Bohemian Watermill, to the marketplace. Even though it only sold five pieces, it was a dream come true.
"I've been dreaming about 3D modeling for much longer time but the beginning was difficult for me," he said.
First, he had to find a good program to learn with, which wasn't easy.
"I managed to cross this 'cursed border' with SketchUp and later with Hexagon," he said. "It may be shame that I started particularly Hexagon, which is the 'most buggy' program I know, but it is still my most frequent program to work with."
He also brings his dreams to life using Substance Painter, calling it "this digital miracle."
Blanda finds inspiration is the world around him, both past and present.
"Since I have studied history and history of art, various pieces of past still excite me most, the other sources are movies, games, books, and so on. I have periods when i am fascinated by some cultural phenomenon or historical events and this mirrors in my modeling at the same time."
Blanda has a long list of things he would like to model, but sometimes inspiration strikes, like with his model of Gibbet of Montfaucon.
The building was used as the main gallows for the kings of France from the late 13th century until 1629. The three sided building was eventually dismantled in 1760.
Reconstructed images of the Gibbet show it as having three stories with 45 compartments from which individuals could be hanged or displayed after execution.
"On a Monday I noticed reconstruction of this building on the internet; and I was so fascinated by cruel and macabre utilitarianism of this building. By Friday of the same week, I had sent the model at Renderosity for testing," he said.
Blanda's model captures the macabre majesty of the building made for nightmares.
He also draws inspiration from the world around him. Blanda calls Prague his hometown but the capital city of the Czech Republic, Prague only makes one appearance in his art.
"I manage to pay tribute to this nice old city at my store only by single item - Golden Lane - which is cute little street at Prague Castle," he said.
And he doesn't stick with architectural models, he has created various steampunk-themed items, like one of his top items, a Steampunk espresso machine.
"I like various sophisticated machinery and that is why I like to make weapons and vehicles, he said. "And I'd like to do much more with clothing, but the poser rigging is killing me, interiors, various lesser known historical items and so on."
Until the rigging falls into place, Blanda will continue putting out the high-quality models he is known for.
