Industry Professionals Interview Prep:

 

Praveen Natarajan.

Lead Character Artist at Playground Games.

Currently working on ‘Fable 2’.

Former Character Lead at Pixel Toys and Ubisoft. Previous projects include Injustice 2, Mortal Kombat X, Batman: Arkham Knight and Skyforge

Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/paladinpraveen

Portfolios

 

Colleen Larson

Senior Character Artist at Naughty Dog San Diego.

Credits on ‘The Last of Us’ part 1 and 2 plus the remastered version.

Previously worked at PlayStation and Linden Labs.

Started in 2D art and progressed into 3D character art.

Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/colleen

 

Tom Parker

Principle Character Artist at Frontier Developments

Some previous works are Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, Warhammer 3: Champions of Chaos: Vilitch, Batman Arkham Series, Halo and Silent Hill.

Previously worked for Creative Assembly for 8yrs. Freelance before this.

Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/crazyfool

 

Sam Sun

Senior Character Artist at Respawn Entertainment

Currently working on Apex Legends.

Previously worked on Mobile game cinematics and in 3D printing miniatures.

Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/samsun

 

Jake Waddington

Senior Character Artist at Playground Games.

Currently working on Fable.

Previously worked for Ubisoft Bordeaux on Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint.

Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/jake_waddington

 

Yarrid Henrard

Lead Character Artist at Cloud Imperium Games.

Working on Squadron 42: Held The Line.

Previously worked on Squadron 42: Star Citizen, Hubris VR, Tom Clancy’s Breakpoint Ghost Recon, Just Cause 4: Dare Devils DLC and RAGE 2.

Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/yarrid

 

Isaac Pringle

Senior Character Artist at Mediatonic/Epic Games.

Projects worked on such as Lego Fortnite, Fall Guys, Runescape and Reboud.

Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/ipring

 

Chris Sulzbach

Lead Character Artist at Insomniac Games.

Worked on: Marvel’s Spiderman 2, Marvel’s Wolverine, The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood, The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor and XCOM 2: War of the Chosen.

Portfolio: https://www.sulzbunny.com/

Valentyn Minytskyi

Lead VFX Artist at Playground Games.

Currently working on Forza Horizon 5.

Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/valenua

 

 

Interview Answers

I asked several industry professionals the following questions:

• Can you briefly describe what a typical working day looks like for you?
• What do you enjoy most about your work as a character artist?
• Do you have any tips or advice for someone just starting out as a character artist?
• What have you found most challenging within the role of character artist?
• What would you say are the most important skills for a junior character artist to focus on?

And I received answers from 5 artists. 4 character artists and 1 VFX artist all working in AAA games.

The answers are screenshot below:

 

Colleen Larson’s Answers:

(Senior Character Artist at Naughty Dog – ‘The Last of Us’)

I had already reached out to Colleen in the past to comment on a really interesting interview she had done so I knew that reaching out on LinkedIn would be ok.

Chris Sulzbach’s Answers:

(Lead Character Artist at Insomniac Games – ‘Spiderman 2’)

I reached out to Chris on LinkedIn and he was kind enough to give me his email where he was happy to answer my questions. He also offered to give me feedback on my major project and so will keep in touch.

Jake Waddington’s Answers:

(Senior Character Artist at Playground Games – ‘Fable’)

I spoke to Jake on LinkedIn where he gave really detailed answers.

Valentyn Minytskyi’s Answers:

(Lead VFX Artist at Playground Games – ‘Forza Horizon 5’)

I also reached out to Valentyn on LinkedIn and he responded the same day with his answers. As he is a VFX artist instead of a character artist, I removed the specific role from the questions but kept the context the same.

Praveen Natarajan’s Answers:

(Lead Character Artist at Playground Games – ‘Fable’)

Praveen is a contact I had already acquired as he had been giving my feedback and help with specific skills on a previous project and so he was happy for me to email my questions through.

 

 

 

Industry Interviews Presentation:

 

Job Descriptions: