Tuesday 18 October 2011

About Me

My name is James George Oakes and I have loved video games since as far back as I can remember. Growing up I was always drawn to the colourful visuals of the early 16-bit games (super mario all stars being my first game and the SNES being my first console). I was always curious as to how these magnificent moving pictures were created and fascinated by the depth of imagination that went into them.

I was born in England but moved to the middle east when I was 3 and continued to live there till I was 18. Experiencing life in such a different habitat was an interesting experience and allowed me to gain a much greater perspective of the world. Navigatting the interior of a pyramid in Giza, Egypt and exploring the vast city of Dubai are amongst my most insightful experiences. I am of English, French and Indian heritage, but I don't feel my origins have played a significant part in shaping the person I am today - I would probably credit that to people I've met, places I've been, books I've read, music I listen to and films I have watched. However it can be argued that video game producers today posess the ability to create a virtual emulation encorporating all of these concepts into one coherent experience.

Another huge factor in my life is the art I appreciate and the work I produce myself. I love traditionalist art techniques and recognise Leonardo DaVinci as possibly the greatest artist to ever grace history. His highly accurate workings on the human anatomy fuel my own love for the intricate shapes and personality of the body. I especially love to draw faces as I feel a single facial expression can tell an entire story about what the person is feeling. I also prefer art, especially encorporating people, not to be too "pretty", as I feel it simply offers a shallow representation of the subject matter. I find grotesque imagery to be far more real and thought-provoking.

My dream job would be to become a character design artist for a gaming company such as SquareEnix or Konami. I am unsure as to whether SquareEnix would want me as the characters of the Final Fantasy series (a personal favourite of mine) tend to be pristine and particularly lacking representations of what real people are like. I would love to produce intriguing characters that were faulted, visually and mentally but also entirely unique.

The skills required for such a job position are: having an excellent grasp of building anatomy partnered with exceptional drawing skills. A good feel for composition, perspective and colour theory and a good understanding of texture and surface quality. Extensive experience with digital painting programes as well as traditionalist materials and ofcourse, a vast imagination. Ofcourse self-management skills would also be an essential asset.

I believe I have good drawing skills but there is great room for improvement and the agency to learn more. I will also need to become acustomed with using digital painting programes and a graphics tablet, which I am looking forward to working with. I believe I also have alot of imagination but there is definetly more that can fuel it. I also believe I have good knowledge on what might appeal to the target audience and what might intrigue them. I am greatly anticipating the learning experience ahead of me and the oppertunity to improve myself.

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