Zac Retz: The Nobility of Hard Work Brings Us Higher

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“Could we get much higher? Could we get much lighter?” We are a radio too, meaning we put the music on the pedestal right next to the stories we publish. Listening to “In high Places” sung by John Roy Anderson while reading through this interview clicked! We have just read that we can. Zac Retz is an artist who truly lives for his art, and our talk with him will give you a peek at his inspiring philosophy. Because it’s really the thousands of hours spent hard at work that will get us into the studios we dream about, and in his case, the practice helped him to become an art director at DreamWorks Animation…

Character Modeling with Adam Fisher

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Adam Fisher is a freelance character artist based in Perth, Australia. He is currently working on the Total War: Warhammer franchise, so you’ll have the opportunity to learn a little bit about his experiences at the Creative Assembly. Alongside that, he will walk you through the making of both his new piece—the “Vampire Noble”—and the Prime 1 Alita statue. Having worked with clients like Arkane Studios, Deep Silver Dambuster Studios, and Infinity Ward, Adam has a lot of industry-ready workflows that an aspiring character modeler can begin using right now. Some of you might even remember learning from his old timelapse videos on YouTube. Back in 2013, they were doing a brilliant job of inspiring a generation of digital artists to take up 3D, too.

Winona Nelson on Sharing the Ojibwe Tribe’s Stories Through Art

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Winona Nelson grew up in Duluth, Minnesota—a place where she’d spend the better part of her early life drawing and painting before moving away to study classical realism and art for the entertainment industry at the Safehouse Atelier in San Francisco. After that, Winona found herself working at both Flagship studios and Planet Moon Studios, giving her the experience she needed to become a successful freelancer.

Vadim Shchepilov About the Art of Ori and the Will of the Wisps

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Vadim Shchepilov was born and raised in Ukraine, which is where he’d spend most of his youth dreaming about becoming a graphic designer while working his day job. Once he learned to use Photoshop, he realized that this kind of software could be used for personal art as well, and like many others, he dived right in. After a couple of years’ worth of practice, Vadim became a skilful generalist, mainly because he already tried his hand at everything digital art had to offer back when he was still learning. Things like CAD, illustration and MEL scripting were all familiar to him. And if any of you remember our previous interviews with the artists behind Ori and the Blind Forest (2015), you’ll know that Moon Studios’ workflow is built on having everyone contributing to a variety of different things…

Greg Rutkowski on Rethinking His Approach to Art

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Greg Rutkowski has been our friend for five years now, but he’s been a friend to the online art community for much longer. This is why we’ve decided to invite him back for a catch-up interview on Vox Groovy this month. After all, many things have changed. He’s now a father to two daughters, he has a completely new outlook on art and life, and I’m assuming that we can all agree on the fact that the quality of his work has skyrocketed since our last proper sit-down with him. In light of this, we’re really excited to tell you about Greg’s shift towards a more traditional, oil-on-canvas-like style, and we think he may have voiced a popular sentiment when he spoke about how an artist can get tired of the artificial look that digital art often carries with it…

In the Studio With David Longdon

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Our first interview with David Longdon was published in the winter of 2018, and since then, both he and Big Big Train became household names for RVG and its most faithful listeners. Fast-forward two years and you’ll find us all here, having just finished the preparations for the publication of our follow-up interview with David, thereby marking the start of a new decade for Vox Groovy in a grand way.

A Wander in Search of Something New

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Scrolling through ArtStation’s “picks” section every week since the site’s founding has allowed me to make a number of observations about the entertainment industry and the artists who adorn it with its echoing aesthetic. Today, we only have time to talk about one; it seems that there is only a handful of “trendsetters”. These are the artists who can post a new artwork and watch as the community produces hundreds of pieces that were inspired by (or copying, depending on your point of view) their vision. This chain reaction paved the way for a peculiar relationship between aspiring concept artists and the industry they are striving towards as it is often defined by a game of catch-up. But there are others who, like the Old Masters, find inspiration through introspection and first-hand experiences in the world.

Cyberpunk Is yet to Reach Its Zenith

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The recent influx of cyberpunk works has led a number of people to think that its static vision of hi-tech dystopias must evolve if it means to survive, but this reimagining doesn’t seem like a good idea to fans of the genre. After all, the cautionary tale it offers its audience is only just beginning to be relevant now that a Blade Runner-esque world has become one of mankind’s potential futures. As Eddie Mendoza says, “I think that we are already kind of living in that cyberpunk era.” With this in mind, it might be fair to say that cyberpunk’s unchanging message is yet to reach its zenith—something that’s bound to happen if we ever begin to see its many worlds morphing into ours.

Thomas Rohlfs on Artistic Growth, Change and a Willingness to Try

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Whenever you ask, “what’s the top city for artists to live in?” There will always be a good number of people who’ll default to saying, “Amsterdam”. And there’s a myriad of real reasons for that. After all, the city houses the Van Gogh Museum, Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, and even Guerrilla Games, the AAA studio with one of the game industry’s strongest art departments. It’s a city that’s brought change into many artist’s lives, and as it happens, one of those artists is Thomas Rohlfs, a thirty-five year old freelance illustrator.

Into the Black with CMDR Dr. Kaii

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In 3302, the Elite: Dangerous community undertook its first major expedition—Distant Worlds. Together with the help of a great many volunteers, CMDR Erimus and CMDR Dr. Kaii were able to synchronize over a thousand ships and launch a voyage that would change the game’s community forever. Now, in 3305, a follow-up called Distant Worlds II is being planned. Set to launch on the 13th of January, this expedition boasts over 5,000 sign-ups and requires far greater fleet logistics than its predecessor. The 20 week outbound trip to Beagle Point will take thousands of commanders 65,000ly away from Sol in hopes of, among other things, constructing a Starport in Sagittarius A*. With the sheer number of commanders and Frontier’s official support, there’s no reason to believe that DW2 won’t be the game’s most memorable journey to date.