3DTotal: You have mentioned quite a variety of different games in that list. Do you feel as though artists’ jobs vary greatly depending upon the project, or that the tasks remain quite consistent whatever the game?
John: An artist’s role can change from one project to the next. It all depends on what is required of them to do. There are some artists that are multi-faceted, but there are also some who are happy doing just one thing. But, there are times when a project is short on manpower and is in needs of shuffling the staff around for the good of the game. Some may be forced to work outside their areas of expertise, for the short term, just to fill in the gaps. This happened to me when I had to start up the effects team during “Resistance: Fall of Man”. I was stuck doing particles for a month and had to learn the tools that came with the job.
   
   

3DTotal: What skills do you regard as being important when working as a Concept Artist in your chosen field?
John: I believe the most important skill to have for a concept artist is to not be fixed to any particular art style. Granted we all draw and paint differently, but from my experience, it's the skill of adapting to styles that allows me to guide the art direction on multiple projects. These projects can range from realistic to cartoon-y, to even abstract. So having a branded style of my own can be somewhat of a handicap, at least I find. “Be like water, my friend”, as Bruce would say. Additional skills to have is to gain at least some experience in production because it will increase a concept artist's work efficiency. Wouldn't you rather paint over a 3D landscape rather than create one from scratch?

3DTotal: Can you describe the challenges and rewards of working on a title such as “Resistance: Fall of Man”?
John: We had many challenges during the production of “Resistance: Fall of Man”. First of all, we've never done an FPS (first person shooter) of that scale before. Even though Insomniac’s first game was an FPS, the technology has made leaps and bounds since then. Secondly, the Playstation 3 was a new technology at the time, and we had to spend a tremendous amount of man hours adjusting to it. What made matters worst was that our prototypes were all on PC, and we haven't

received any development kits from Sony until months before we had to ship. We had also not realized how immense the levels were going to be and ended up with lighting issues. The levels had to be divided into chunks so they can be light baked easier. Fortunately I wasn't the one lighting the levels, but I feel much pain for the person who did. Towards the end of the project, I was assigned to
 head up the effects team. Having no experience in that field, I had to learn fast and work with another tools programmer to figure out the process. Frustrated by this, I decided to gather every concept artist in the company, and involve them in the process. The effects needed textures, and what faster way to produce them than to have a bunch of skilled painters contribute their talents. Not long after, each artist managed to crank out a bunch of textures and place holder effects. It was nice seeing the team pull together and get things done.
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3DTotal: You mentioned “view paintings”. For any readers unfamiliar with this term, could you describe what they are and their application within the context of games?
John: A view painting is a paint-over of an in-game screen capture. The purpose is to illustrate what the player might see in that moment. In addition, it also provides the environment artists important information regarding the level, such as the time of day, colour palette, lighting direction, object placements, and so on.

3DTotal: Can you describe your job now at Sony Computer Entertainment America and the kinds of tasks required of you?
John: My current position at Sony requires me to use all the skills I've amassed over the years, and help guide the art direction of several projects at once. The job isn't that bad, in that in only requires me to provide written or verbal art direction, and to occasionally visit the developers for an art jam session.

3DTotal: When you talk about high level art ideas, do you always have to bear in mind the game engine and technical limitations of the type of game you are working on, or do you have the freedom to be completely creative and let the programmers and modellers worry about how to translate the imagery you produce?
John: The creation of high level art is the earliest step in any game’s development. Think of it as a brainstorming period where anything goes. Once enough doodles have been gathered, the Creative Director picks and chooses the artwork that needs to be fleshed out further. Essentially, the created artwork will serve to enhance the initial game design pitch document that will eventually go through the harsh judgement of upper management. Once a project has been approved, it gets funding, and a developer is assigned to it.

3DTotal: What do you see as some of the main problems associated with the way in which games are developed these days, and the pitfalls that many companies face?
John: The major problem I see with the way video games are made these days, can all be summed up to an imbalance of a team's strength. Games are no longer created in a garage with a single designer or a programmer. Instead, the production of a single game would require top talents with years of experience to fill the lead roles. Unfortunately, talent is hard to come by, and having a team that can pull it off on all fronts such as design, tech, and art, is surprisingly harder to find. I've seen teams that are too tech heavy, and lack the art and design capabilities to back them up. While I've also seen teams with phenomenal art skills, but are weak on the design and tech side. As a result of this, many developers poorly plan and execute their projects because they lack expert advice
    
 
 
 
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