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The Scourge Project belonged to the Spanish company Tragnarion. I joined the company as a senior character artist, later moving to a lead character artist position. The project was a third person cooperative sci-fi game based on the Unreal 3 engine. My task was to create an "Echo Squad” unit – a group of unique mercenaries who stood against the corporation and its experiments with alien technology. When all the main characters were done, I had an opportunity to create many monsters and alien creatures. The work on this project was most enjoyable as I was given a chance to realize all of my visions from an initial thought through to design, models, textures and shaders, up to the finished characters in the final product. It was also my first experience with the Unreal 3 engine and my first of many relocations abroad, so I value this experience as the best so far.

Designing a character or practically anything these days is very problematic – most of the great designs have already been used and processed. In most cases, there is some similarity with an existing and well-known design. This usually leads to a strong criticism of copying/duplicating/plagiarism. There is no other way than to use all of one's skills, get all the inspiration possible and try to come up with something more complex, interesting and new for the audience (client, CG forum etc). However, there are clients demanding a specific style (Gears of War, for example) and at that point there is no more creativity.


I think my workflow is pretty standard. My first ideas and visions of new characters start with a search for particular elements on the internet. These elements are usually essential for the character – armor, weapons, hairstyle, historical drawings and the photographs of old civilizations and their technology. I always try to think first about the reasons why the characters should have this and that in terms of logic. I would say the essential thing is the historical background; what the character has been through and has experienced. When I'm inspired enough I start with the 3D base modeling, UV, ZBrush detailing, maintaining UV for stretching and sculpting, generating all the maps, exporting models into 3ds Max, light setup, basic shaders and then after all this the texturing can start. I like to do everything continuously and move on to the texturing part of the model/shading when I am happy with the quality. Then I can move on to another model.


Rather than being interested in the film itself, I am more interested in the company and the bunch of people working together, sharing their know-how and growing together. I prefer darker fantasy/sci-fi movies like Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy, Aliens, Predators, Event Horizon and Pandorum.

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