Games of Experience
The ultimate resource on:
Video game development
Name: Mike Fudge
Job Title: Senior Character Artist
Company: Double Fine Productions, “but I am not representing my company here. My comments are my own opinion.”
Portfolio: http://www.mikefudge.com
GOE: What is your video game specialty?
“My focus is organic character modeling, humans and creatures. My secondaries are materials, textures, lighting, rendering, and rigging.”
GOE: What is your prior education?
“I went to school for four years at the Academy of Art University.”
GOE: Can you give a brief description of what your job entails?
“I create any characters a game needs based off concept art approved by the art director. Aside from character modeling, I’ll do textures and materials, and sometimes rigging.”
GOE: How did you start out?
“I blame quake. I spent a lot of years playing quake, quake2, quake 3. A group of friends and I eventually got our hands on some level editing tools and had a go at it. I don’t think anything I ever made was all that great, but it was a lot of fun. Two buddies and myself spent countless hours dreaming up mods and levels and all this great stuff we wanted to make, but again, nothing much ever came of it. After some years of working crappy jobs, I realized I hated where i was heading in life. I knew that if i was ever going to be happy, I’d have to follow my dreams and do what everyone always told me was a waste of time, pursue art, professionally. So I enrolled in college.”
GOE: How did you become an artist, self-taught, or..?
“I started with bryce and 3dsmax on my own then took a class in softimage 3.7 at a community college. It wasn’t until years later that i went to school full time and really studied practical arts, illustration and sculpting, and 3d.”
GOE: Why video games, what do you love about it?
“Films are visually amazing, but I love that when making video games, you’re making entire worlds for someone to explore. I love old Origin games like Ultima and Wing Commander for this.”
GOE: What are your aspirations?
“High quality, flawless models. Thankfully games is a means to build some creative things. I’m blown away by some of the models in Darksiders and newly released Bluehole Studio’s Tera. I’d love to create models on pair and better than those games.”
GOE: What / who inspires you?
“Pretty much anybody on cghub and zbrushcentral. Alien 1452, Shunya Yamashita, Bengal. Art from Warhammer 40,000, District 9.”
GOE: How do you stand out in your line of work, what sets you apart?
“Haha, I don’t know if i stand out in my line of work. There are so many amazing 3d artists, it’s so competitive it’s almost depressing. After finishing a model I feel great! I’ll be so proud of the work that I did. Then I’ll look around the forums and it’ll take me down a notch and I’ll think, well, this was cool, but I’ll have to do much better next time. If anything sets me apart, I’d say it’s my competitive nature, and knowing how to work with hair.”
GOE: What kind of project do you enjoy working on the most? What kind of project do you still dream of working on some day?
“I know exactly what I want to work on, science fiction and deep space! Something in the vein of Aliens, Warhammer 40k, Pandorum, Blade Runner, Mass Effect, countless other great scifi. Something like that.”
GOE: What tips can you give to aspiring artists?
“Always work from reference. If you’re in school, don’t compare yourself to your classmates. Being good in class means nothing. Compare your work to employed professionals. If you’re not equal or better, you’re going to have a hard time getting in the door. Everyday, spend at least 4 hours working on your art. Eventually you’ll get good enough and someone will wonder why you don’t have a job yet. Always work from reference. Strive to become a better artist than what your studio needs.”
GOE: What qualities / experience / skills do you possess as an artist (this includes the software you use)?
“Mainly Maya, Zbrush, and Photoshop. Those are my bread and butter. Most studios have their own tools. Something like the unreal editor will help you get an idea of a studios tools. Bodypaint 3d is great to know for painting across multiple objects with multiple materials. Marmoset by 8monkey labs is an amazing model viewer, those guys have done the real time industry a huge favor.”
Founder of Game Thingie (gamethingie.com), she currently works as a game journalist to learn about the industry and get into game development after attaining her MscBA.