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3DTotal: Could you tell us a little about your background and how you came to be where you are now?
John: I was born in Palermo, Sicily in 1981 with a Swedish mother and Italian father, however they separated when I was four years old and my mother and I moved back to Sweden. When school started, I was always drawing more than listening to the teacher, and it wasn’t until I applied and entered an upper secondary school that specialised in media, like TV, Multimedia, Film and 3D, that I got to use my drawing skills to create and visualise. I was introduced to Adobe Photoshop, and found out that you could paint with it. After leaving school I got a job at a games company, and after several different jobs at different game companies I moved to London to work on films. Longing to go back to Sweden, I eventually returned and tried my hand as a freelancer. It worked pretty well and I’m still doing freelance work now, mostly for games companies. |
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3DTotal: Concept art for video games seems to feature quite a bit in your galleries. Was this a conscious decision, or was it just that these were the most abundant jobs that came your way?
John: Concept art for games worked best for me; I think it’s mostly thanks to Epic Games and the super-hyped XBOX 360 game, “Gears of War”. I don’t know why I haven’t done much concept art for films, but I guess it’s because I started working with computer games from the beginning. The film job opportunities I got required me to work “on site”, but I believe I work best here in my little grotto.
3DTotal: Why do you feel you work best in your “grotto”?
John: The best thing with working from home is that you basically can choose what hours to work. If I get stuck, can’t paint, or if I’m lacking inspiration, I can take a walk and come back refreshed and finish the job, although this requires some discipline. The worst part is not having colleagues in the office to talk to. |
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3DTotal: Could you describe your approach to one of your digital concept paintings and the general procedure you follow?
John: The first step in painting a concept image is to gather references and material that inspires you. A certain “hunger” is required to do a good job on a painting. After that I either start on a line drawing (if the perspective is challenging), and then I try and get shapes down with different colours. After that I work out the actual form of objects and landscapes from the first rough shapes. Being able to go back and change things is always a must, since the client probably wants a few changes here and there. It’s hard but it’s important to keep as many things as you can in layers.
3DTotal: Do you ever abandon any paintings mid process and re-think them, or do you just experiment with the structure until they work?
John: Sometimes I do a much better job if I start over on a new canvas; it’s sort of like the second time you bake a pizza - you know what you did wrong when you baked the first one. There have been a few occasions when I’ve had the luck to save a painting by working on it until the problem was solved.
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3DTotal: ‘Gears of War’ was acclaimed for its visuals, but what inspiration did you draw upon for the concept art?
John: For the Gears of War project I received small descriptions of the actual image I was supposed to paint - sort of a short story of what was there and why it was there. That was enough inspiration for me and luckily my style fitted the project well. Many of the designs are inspired from old Roman architecture and buildings in Stockholm, many of which have green oxidized copper roofs and dark brick walls. |
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