Welcome... to fun and games!
Leafing through this issue, the word ‘epic’ resounds – and not just because we put it smack bang on the cover in big letters.
Video games have always attracted the wildest of imaginations, and with gigantic titles like Total War: Warhammer, Fallout 4, League of Legends and World of Warcraft (all represented in this issue), studios are hiring armies of visionary artists to map out and fill all corners of these brave new worlds. If you’re wondering where the studios go to fill their ranks, the Gnomon art school is certainly one source, especially with its new Games Track course starting to spit out highly skilled, industry-ready creatives (see page 48). Blizzard’s Laurel D Austin’s path to senior concept artist was a combination of working up the ladder and embracing her weird side. Some of the amazing results for WoW and Diablo III can be seen on page 56.
As studios morph into complex organisations befitting their behemoth products, they become distinct entities. Visiting Riot Games’ Santa Monica headquarters, I got to see its unique character – and culture – myself: a seemingly impossible mix of collaboration, focus and fun, all on a grand scale - head over to page 38 for more.
As ever, the workshops come from a range of insanely talented artists, but for a kick off I’d start with Total War: Warhammer lead artist Sandra Duchiewicz’s awesome cover tutorial on page 64. A truly massive six-pager for a decidedly epic issue. BOOM!