New Rule

This evening I got an incredible phone call—Vic DeLeon, environment artist at Bungie and my mentor from GDC 2007, when I was an IGDA Scholar. Winning the scholarship was amazing enough, but you can scarcely imagine my astonishment that someone with this kind of status and reputation was going to take me around the conference. It remains one of the seminal experiences of my young game industry career, and I am forever indebted to him. He’s a great guy—an incredible guy, really—and I followed him around like a dog (a very attentive, if softspoken, dog) for three days and nights. Needless to say, I learned more about how the industry works and how to move in it in those days than in all my months at SCAD. I handed out portfolios to insiders in places like Epic and Big Huge; I met industry legends like Tom Buscaglia and Marc Mencher; I even got to meet my game design idol, American McGee (Twice! And he remembered me!) and didn’t succumb to a “fanboy moment.” When I returned to school for the Spring quarter, I had the best possible advice for how to land a job as an environment artist: if kept working and listened to Vic, there’s no doubt I would be employed by now. I came very close.

Then I left for the summer to go work technical theater in New Hampshire, came back to take Applied Game Design and create Cowboy Cave, and spent a lot of time in the company of Brenda Brathwaite, and my journey towards the Dark Side was complete. What with all these activities and changes in focus, I had fallen out of regular contact with Vic—to my lasting shame—so you can imagine my surprise when my phone rang and showed his name. He needled me good-naturedely about going over to the Dark Side (it’s not the glamour, I promise!); we chatted a bit about new designers and the hardships they face, and a little about his new mentee for GDC ‘08. He suggested I put my most recent environment work up on my portfolio site (it’s still there, linked in the nav over on the right). I thought it a very touching thing to say… to think he still cares about my work and my career, after a year has gone by and I’ve been letting the contact slip. Truly, I am fortunate in his friendship. Whoever he’s got this year will be, too. I hope that kid knows what he’s got

But Vic is absolutely right: I would do well to remind you, my readers, that I once was—that I still am—an artist, and that I had a fairly strong portfolio this time last year, with some good work done in the time since. I’ll be updating that site soon, I promise, though I may have to remake it if I can’t find the original files. And I promise I’ll do you proud, Vic, even if I won’t be in working in Maya most of the time

Tags: General, The Industry //