Ian and I did manage to escape and take an educational field trip that I thought would benefit me in my seminar research. It is so much better to go look at art than it is to look at it on a computer screen. So we packed up our bags and headed to DC to see an exhibit at the Smithsonian Art Gallery entitled, "The Art of Video Games." I was really excited to see some concept art in real life, especially from games that I have played. I was lucky enough to snap some pictures and the artists names to research them for my blog. So here it goes:
6. Adam Adamowicz
Adam is a concept artist living in DC. He works for Bethesda working on famous titles such as Fallout and Skyrim. Above are concept sketches from 2005. One is of the locations in Fallout 3 and the bottom most creature is a monster he designed for the same game. I could not find out any information on his educational background but he apparently spent a "lot of years surviving on odd jobs from driving an icecream truck, building haunted houses, fabricating window display sculptures,to apprentice tattooing, and yes, as a cake decorator for a bakery specializing in erotic cake designs" (from his personal blog).
I was heartbroken to find out upon researching Adam more that he recently died earlier this year. Well,...there goes that whole researching a "working artist in the field" thing. He is very recent and I had looked forward to his concept sketches for more Fallout games to come. Artist #6?
7. Chris Metzen
The top image is a Forest Troll concept from the game World of Warcraft, done in 2000. The one on the bottom is an early Kerrigan concept drawing, from the game Starcraft, in pencil from 1997.
Chris Metzen is a concept artist for Blizzard Entertainment. He has provided work for Blizzard's most popular running games: Diablo, Starcraft, and World of Warcraft. I also learned that he has provided voices for some characters as a voice actor! He holds the title of Vice President of creative development for Blizzard. Chris Metzen says that his style is "heavily influenced by Walt Simonson's and Jim Lee's penciling styles for form" while preferring the "costuming, themes and general feel of Larry Elmore and Keith Parkinson's fantasy paintings." I love the loose sketchynes of this drawing style and I was really excited to find concept art for one of my favorite video game characters (Kerrigan).
8. Thomas Jung
This concept drawing is of Northshire Abby in World of Warcraft, done in 2000. Thomas Jung, whom now works with Stray Bullet Games as an environment artist, drew this work for Blizzard Entertainment. He has educated at the college level in concept design at the Art Institutes of California-Orange County. He served as the Art Director in 2003 and 2004 for the school. He is known for his works in big titles like: Diablo II, Warcraft III, and World of Warcraft. It's a shame he is no longer with Blizzard, especially since the release of Diablo III last month.
Well we had a lot of fun in DC, especially at our exhibit. If you get the chance to see it, it was totally worth it (and free!). I believe it will be in DC until September.
Oh and here's a picture of me with my blog background,...minus Darth Vader :).
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