Daryl Clewlow and Simon Ible, both Senior Artists working for Blitz Games, went head to head in a battle of what inspired them to do art and their history of what led them to being game artists.
This was a magnificent idea, I hope to see more of it from other companies. Not only was it entertaining but it was also so informative and gave me a new perspective on the difference between being a game artist and games in general.
For me, I wanted to be a concept artist because from about the age of fourteen I knew I wanted a job in games. This started out with wanting to make the stuff in levels as I thought that was what it was all about. Then at fifteen I realised there was an art side to it as well and after doing a year of ICT I couldn't be happier that there was another way into the games industry.
So my inspiration were games themselves. However with Daryl Clewlow and Simon Ible, neither of them were inspired to be game artists because of games. In fact, they weren't inspired to be game artists at all. Both have had several jobs ranging from magazines to the film industry going from 2D to sculpting and now work on games. I bet neither of them are avid gamers as well. They create art because they love it. That to me is a powerful statement. One I hope to say some day. Not because they love hacking and slashing, or racing around a track; they do it because they fucking love to draw/paint/sculpt and it doesn't matter what job they have, so long as they're being creative.
When I first heard a game artist state he didn't play games, or that he didn't really like them or for even fellow students to say they don't really play games it just amazed me. What led them to this choice of career if not for games? It's simple, what other course allows you to create random shit and then passes you for it? These people just love art. Simple. They want to work on games not because they love games but because that particular industry is where their style and interests best lie.
Same could be said for me however I love games with a passion some might even describe as psychotic.
Getting back on track. These two artists came in and shared their inspirations with us, this was equally amazing. None of them were inspired by artists like Frazetta or Howe, the 'greats' of fantasy art. Instead, they were inspired by artists like Franz Messerschmidt, Kristo, Don McCullin, Ron Muek and Ryan Woodward. As well as a couple painters of which I can't recal, which is because out of the artists I did remember, none of them are famous for painting. They're either a sculptor, animator or photographer. This opened my eyes as I've only been looking at paintings and paid no mind to sculptures or photography because I'm gona be a 2D artist, right?
Right. Nevertheless I should broaden my view of art and try to think like not just a painter, but a sculptor and photographer. I need to be able to capture a scene in one frame for drawings, and have an understanding of how to generate something in 3D for, well, 3D.
I be stumped.
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