Matt Rhodes on the Importance of Visual Storytelling

It’s not every day that I get to meet an artist who has worked for a developer for more than a decade, but as it turns out, Matt Rhodes was already working as an intern for BioWare in the latter half of the 2000s, toiling away to bring Jade Empire to your Xbox. The then intern was given the opportunity to work on the first installment in the Mass Effect trilogy, paving the way for him to continue on and ship six AAA productions with the Canadian developer. Matt is now an Art Director, so it’s clear that his years’ worth of experience paid off, in the interview, he writes, “My role is to support and defend the art team, cultivate and promote the visual direction of the project, and to foster a culture of critique.” Adding that at the time of this writing, he’s just starting with his Art Director role, but that this explanation encapsulates the methodology of other art directors who he hopes to approximate. And I sincerely believe in his ability to do just that.

Interview with Senior Character Artist Colin Thomas

Colin Thomas is a Character Artist who’s currently based in Los Angeles (US). He’s go more than six year’s worth of experience working as an artist in the entertainment industry, and has worked as a freelancer as well as in-house at various studios. He has contributed high-end models for cinematic trailers as well as in-game use. He has been working at Naughty Dog as a Senior Character Artist for nearly three years.