ImagineFX_Issue_148_June_2017

ip Bernie
wrightson
We pay tribute to the
celebrated, supremely
talented comic artist,
whose stunning line art
brought Swamp Thing
and Frankenstein’s
monster to life.
Page 23
drumming
up Business
Rodney Matthews’
home studio contains
a set of custom drums,
based on those that
have appeared in his
art. We’d have asked
for a life-sized dragon…
Page 24
smoke gets
in your eyes
Tan Hui Tian reveals
how to paint smoke
and then, like all our
Q&A artists, goes
above and beyond by
creating a smokebased
fantasy beast.
Page 28
Industry InsIght
AnnA
HollinrAke
The video game concept artist
talks about VR’s possibilities
“I like painting traditionally so I’m used to
manipulating colour as a substance. It’s
great to find that feeling in VR,” says Carlos.
As a concept artist, do you
need to work differently
when developing for VR?
You’ve always got to be more
conscious of how your asset or
scene is going to be viewed –
everything gets scrutinised from
all angles and viewpoints! But
that’s very much the case for
working with games as a whole.
Have you used apps like
Oculus Quill to concept VR
games and entertainment?
I haven’t commercially but in the
time I have spent in them I see
enormous potential for creativity
with tangible 3D space. There’s an
element of fluidity and dance that
I see transferring over to gestures
within the medium, not to
mention the benefits of not being
sat down all the time!
What opportunities does VR
hold for digital artists?
VR is at the forefront of new
technology, and that’s always an
exciting place to be. Everyone is
figuring out the best approaches
together, not to mention problem
solving new challenges.
world that you’re creating. It took me a
few days to fully understand and utilise
the third dimension, but now it’s
difficult for me to go back to a
standard 2D canvas.”
When you first start painting in VR
there’s a learning curve. Goro says
that the biggest challenge is to learn
the third dimension, and understand
where your hands are, because the
Ric tells us how he got
started: “Oculus Story
Studio commissioned
me to do an illustration
for them and I wouldn’t
let them stop letting me
use Quill since.”
Oculus Touch controllers enable you
to manipulate objects in the VR
space. “A lot of people, including me,
had trouble with that in the beginning
but it doesn’t take long for people to
get used to it,” he says.
“The tool itself is intuitive and easy
to understand, but having basic
understanding of shape and volume is
definitely a plus,” he continues.
If you could offer one piece of
advice to artists considering
taking up developing for VR,
what would it be?
Spend time working out which
platform appeals to you. Each one
has different benefits, and there’s
a considerable financial outlay
depending on which headset you
go for. Define your goals early so
you don’t overwhelm yourself
with new tech!
Anna works at Climax Studios
based in England. She’s also
created concepts for short
films and board games.
www.annahollinrake.com
June 2017
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