Simon Kounovsky is a 3D artist who works under the name ‘axonbody’. His work creates dreamscapes with mystical, furistic backdrops, blue tones and metallic objects. Outside of motion and video design, he also works with sculptures and installations. Kounovsky has a background in filmmaking which he draws from heavily; all of his work is created from the movie he builds inside his head.

What initially drew you to 3D art?
There are many reasons, but the main one that got me hooked on that medium is probably this idea that there is literally no limit to what you can achieve and how far you can go in the detail; all you need is an internet connection and a computer and you can materialize anything you have in your mind without any compromise because you control the output from start to finish. I also realized pretty fast that I could make a living out of it and work from anywhere so that’s also a drive to keep learning and getting better at it.

What does your creative process look like? Where do you draw your inspiration?
I briefly studied film theory at university some time ago but what I learnt there opened my eyes on many levels, so I’d say my creative process is definitely rooted in filmmaking. I constantly have all theses images, scenes or concepts that morph into a movie playing on loop in the back of my mind and most of what I produce, whether it is 3D, sculptures, installations, always has a place in that narrative. All the environments I build in 3D would be sets for certain scenes, all the sculptures I do would be artefacts that escaped and made it into real world, and so on. That movie - and even the title it would have - slowly mutate through time depending on what I’m going through in my life and my long term goal is to eventually blend all these elements into an actual feature film, once I feel I’m ready for it.

What are you currently working on?
As always a few ongoing commercial projects; but also some video works I’m really looking forward to show to the world; there is this one that we did with Yuen Hsieh, where we basically explored the connexion between ancient legends and the modern world trough CGI and VFX. Very photorealistic and figurative, probably the most I ever achieved, so I'm really hyped about releasing this. I also shoot a lot of real life footage in post industrial sites around Czech republic lately, that I use as a starting points for my 3D landscapes and narrations. This is part of a long term project that's finally arriving in its final stages and that will be presented under the form of 30 second chapters, released progressively over a few months. But more on this very soon.

What does the future look like for you and your work?
I’m currently working on something between a creative platform and a decentralized collective that would allow me to bring my creative process closer to in real life fields that are important to me like, science, ecology, politics and support structures for certain groups of the population, while being a vector of collaboration between people that wouldn’t otherwise connect because of how society is structured. I feel there are a lot of ideas that are not heard enough even though they are in everybody’s mind, and creating some kind of catalyzer through real life actions - events, environmental solutions, publications, lectures, etc. makes real sense to me, given the current state of the world on so many levels.