Have you ever been curious about the experience of working as a Games Artist in the dynamic and challenging gaming industry?
Our Games Artists are undoubtedly some of our most industrious employees, as they are constantly creating new graphics to meet the demands of the industry. Their skill and talent are truly exceptional, and we had the pleasure of interviewing our Junior Games Artist, Louie Jordan.
Can you tell us about your role as a Junior Games Artist at Storm?
Absolutely! The role of a Junior Games Artist can be very versatile and offers lots of variety in regard to day to day activities. I’ve found it to be a very diverse role and definitely the most exciting role I’ve worked in.
I also think that it can be very dependant on the artists own skill set as to what their daily focus may be – as someone with a background in 2D animation and character design – a lot of my work involves designing and animating characters/symbols.
As cliché as it may sound - every week presents a new challenge and new topics to tackle, which keeps me engaged and genuinely excited about all our projects.
How long have you been a Junior Games Artist for Storm?
I’ve worked for Storm for just over a year and a half now.
Where did your interest in Game Art come from?
Since childhood I’ve had a huge interest in both gaming and character design. Potentially due to being raised in a household where both my parents worked creatively, I was very lucky that I have always been encouraged to develop my creative skills.
What does a typical day look like as a Junior Games Artist at Storm?
It really can depend on the project and where we are in that current project cycle. My favourite parts of a project are the first few weeks of development (where you’re still exploring the many directions it can go in) and then the final week, where you reflect on the journey the team has gone on to reach the final product. It’s extremely rewarding being able to look back on how a project grew into fruition.
What characteristics do you think benefit this role?
Aside from having a passion for working creatively - I think you must be able to listen, be patient and open to feedback. The illustrative aspect of my role is incredibly exciting to me, however it is also a very personal skill to have.
Being able to be open to feedback and listening to others, will only ever help you develop your skills in the long term and can also be a great path to enhancing the project itself. On the contrary, self-confidence is often something that many artists struggle with, and so a balance of understanding the need to being open to feedback and how that helps you grow your ability, can really help the project be the best it can be.
What is your favourite part of being a Junior Games Artist?
As a role I’ve found it offers a lot of freedom in utilising my skill set as well as allowing me to diversify and learn new skills almost every day.
Seeing my characters come alive in the games is amazing to me. As someone who loves seeing imagery come to life, it’s always fun to see my characters existing in a space for people to enjoy them.
What challenges do you face as a Junior Games Artist?
I try to approach my role and new projects from a problem-solving angle. I think that has helped me a great deal with solving a lot of challenges my role could present.
There is a certain amount of consideration that must be made when creating artwork within a studio environment, as there are many different teams working together on the same project who all have valuable thoughts on how a project could look and play (Developers, Project Managers, Creative teams etc.).
Eventually you start to develop a third eye for identifying solutions to challenges you may not fully understand as an artist.
Have you got a favourite character that you’ve helped to create?
I think my favourite at this moment in time is the character for Lucky Money. He was my first real character project for Storm and I’ll never forget how excited I was to see him on the posters at ICE.
Finally, what is your favourite game of Storm’s?
This is a tough one, and maybe I am biased, but my current favourite is Lucky Money.
Do you think you’ve got what it takes to be a Games Artist at Storm Games?
We are always on the look out for enthusiastic, hard-working and friendly employees to join our ever-growing team!
Email over your CV to megansheldon@stormgt.co.uk, we look forward to hearing from you.