Proposal Draft

I will be making concept art for a science fiction video game using oil paints. The primary focus will be on environments, but I will also produce artwork of character designs and major props. I am expecting to spend somewhere between 6 and 16 hours on each painting and to finish one or two per week. A design document outlining key game mechanics will be written up and loosely adhered to. The enjoyment of videogames is essentially in the exploration of their aesthetics and mechanics, and the art will be designed to reflect that.

The artwork will exhibit a wide range of subjects within the universe of the game. A deliberate balance between archetypical and non-archetypical settings/props/characters will be employed across the work: earlier areas will have a conventional flavour, while later areas of the game will be more surreal. I intend to explore different ways of positioning the player in the world that goes beyond simply placing a figure in an area.
The work is expected to not only stand on its own without any explanation, but to supplement the overall design of the game as a pitch. The content will be carefully designed and executed in order to produce a pleasurable physiological response in the viewer. Ideally, these pieces will be engaging enough on their own to function in a gallery.

Artist Statement Draft

I’ve always been extremely passionate about creating virtual environments for video games. I’m attracted to the unique potential video games have to produce tension in players, and I’ve tried to have that sensibility reflected in the subject matter and visual style of my paintings. I am also thinking about ways to demonstrate the exploration inherent to games in the paintings as well.

Through these digital paintings I enacted an exploration of image production and conception techniques. I’m interested in harnessing the power of Photoshop to produce visual reference-points that can serve as the building blocks of designs. I am working hard to foster a capacity to produce artwork that not only pitches concepts for videogames or films, but also functions as strong paintings that would justify a gallery space.

As a painter I try to think of ways to produce paintings capable of competing with the more complex art forms. That ambition informs a more general aim of my work, which is to demonstrate conceptual spaces and possibilities rather than circulate simple ideas. In other words, I want to produce mysterious, ‘unsolvable’ paintings that invite solutions from viewers and provoke a creative response from them. I feel I came up short with these paintings, and my new goal is to finally fulfill these aims this semester.