First up, tell us
a little bit about yourself:
My name is Rhys Davies and i'm 21 years
old. I love anything to do with old style video games and more
importantly the graphics they used. I'm also quite interested in
different styles of buildings and I love creating my own using
Isometric pixel art and general digital art.
Where do you currently
live and work?
My current residence is in Adelaide, South Australia.
I was working in Melbourne for a while last year as a Junior Artist
but have since come back to Adelaide. I've been doing contract
freelance work since i've been back.
What equipment do you use to
produce your illustrations?
This may come as a shock to many but
I really only use Microsoft Paint that comes with most versions
of Windows to create my artwork. I do though use Photoshop to save
out each piece and give it transparency when needed. I also use
Photoshop to adjust contrast and colours if it's needed. At the
moment i'm working on a desktop PC using Windows XP.
What kind of
work environment do you have?
The past year or so has seen me working
at Kukan Studios in the heart of Adelaide. I was on a contract
basis with them and both parties thought it would be best if things
could easily be discussed face to face as projects progressed.
My main work environment however would have to be my office at
home.
Your work is 2D and can be labelled ‘Isometric Pixel Art’.
Can you briefly explain what that is?
Isometric Pixel Art is a certain form of Pixel Art that
uses an an axonometric projection. That is, it's a 2D representation
of a 3D object where all angles between the projection of the x,
y and z axes are the same. It's basically a 2D scene constucted
at a certain angle to create an illusion of 3D. The illusion is
usually created by using different shades of colours between carefully
angled lines.
What lead you to start creating Pixel Art?
I personally started
learning to create this type of artwork when I was about 13 years
old. I discovered an application called Klik & Play
that let the user create their own games using a simple drop and
drag system. After a while of getting used to the program I was
getting sick of using the library graphics that came with it. I
decided to 'attempt' to create my own graphics, with a small amount
of success. From then on I simply practiced and refined my style,
getting tips from other people whenever I could.
More importantly
I also studied how the art in older games was different to mine,
and how I could improve to get it looking better. As for the Isometric
art. My friend and I were in an IT lesson back when I was still
finishing school and we happened to discover a small group of Pixel
Artists called Eboy. We naturally were amazed by the detail and
scale of their work and decided to give it a shot using our bedrooms
at home as a starting scene. From there it kinda went crazy and
I was pumping out different scenes like there was no tomorrow.
I got hooked you could say.
Did you have any formal training?
In terms of pixel art, no. I did have a small amount of
art training as a child but it was mainly life drawing and paintings.
I'm self taught when it comes to computer based artwork.
What do
you think were the major influences that helped develop your style?
Definitely Eboy is probably the number one influece that
I had back in the day, and probably still do. There have been various
other artists that have given me ideas and helped me see where
I may have gone wrong in my work so I could improve it. There's
just too many to list at the moment, but I can say it was more
than Eboy.
What is the most rewarding aspect of what you do? The
most frustrating?
Easily the most rewarding aspect of finishing a piece
of work is showing it off to people at the end. Little do most
people know that it usually takes me around 4-5 days to finish
even the smallest scenes. I just have to get them looking right
to my satisfaction and that can take a long time... The most frustrating
on the other hand is the time spent creating a scene to be just
right. The angles used in Isometric art are really a handful sometimes,
and it can take a while to get used to them and how things are
meant to be looking.
How do you keep yourself inspired and motivated
to create?
I usually listen to a lot of music when i'm creating my
art. I find it takes me out of the real world and I can really
concentrate on what I am doing. To inspire myself I usually browse
Eboy or visit the Pixel Art section of DeviantArt and look through
the recently submitted art. Motivation comes from encouragment
from other people and tips and tricks they give me to improve my
work as it's being built. I'm also motivated when I read peoples
responses to my previous work. It really blows me away when I receive
a lot of awesome comments about a certain piece i've spent days
on. It makes me happy.
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Who
are your favourite artists?
My favourite artist would have to be Van Gogh. Simply because
of the fact he can create such awesome images using all these different
colours and painting techniques. He really was a master of his time
and his colour work and brush work was amazing. As for modern day artists,
I don't have many but I do admire and respect a lot of artists for
what they do and I love looking at different styles people produce.
It gives me ideas and boosts my motivation when I see a great piece
of Isometric art or digital painting.
Your work has obvious commercial potential. What commercial
projects have you worked on (in any), and how did you go about
applying for them?
I've worked on a few commercial projects for a few different
companies. My first real contract work was for a Paramount Pictures
UK. I created the art for a small flash game that was to be used
in conjunction with the Brighton Comedy festival that was on at
the time. I did all of the art, ranging from the backgrounds to
the characters.
More recently i've worked on mobile phone applications and games for two different
companies. The first one was in Melbourne called Jumbuck Entertainment where
I worked on a mobile based graphical chat program called Jumbuck Island. I did
two versions of that, one was Isometric and the second was a more traditional
2D view that wasn't really considered pixel art. It was however, VERY cool to
see my work on a phone for the first time.
The second company I worked for is Kukan Studio, located here in Adelaide. They
basically got me to do a lot of mockups for game proposals they were looking
at getting and the artwork for an application called miniNAV, which I can't reveal
in too much detail. Some of the game mockups included Worms 2007 and Mortal Kombat.
Dimension and scale are very important in creating a Pixel
Art environment. Do you have any references you constantly refer
to?
I usually research my scenes before I start working on
them. That usually means loading up Google Image Search and finding
various photographs of what I'm about to create. It really helps
with detailing the scene and getting the basic structure in place.
Usually I don't worry about the overall scale of the piece unless
it's specifically required such as those for mobile phones. Scale
is important and if i'm going to be using people in a certain scene
I usually create them first so I can build the buildings up to
fit around them without having a noticable difference in scale.
Do you have any favourite TV shows that you
just can’t do without?
Haha, I'm usually working or playing video games too much
to be able to watch TV. When I do it's usually Prison Break or
a UK series called The Bill. I also watch the news if that counts...
If your not working or creating, what are you likely to
be doing?
If i'm not working or creating i'm usually either out
with friends at movies etc or at home playing guitar, listening
to music or playing video games with friends over the Internet.
I also love visiting my holiday home down on the south coast of
SA, it's very relaxing if you're stressed out.
Do you have any new projects your working on that you
can tell us about?
Currently i'm converting my large Isometric Pixel Art
tutorial into a pdf e-book with a lot of new chapters and detail.
I'm hopefully looking to sell it in the near future on my website
for a few dollars just for some extra pocket-money.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Hopefully, i'm a millionaire and living at the beach in
a huge mansion...but everyone probably dreams that. Realistically
I hope to have full-time work still doing what I love (digital
art). I really can't see myself doing anything else at this time.
If my work takes me across the world, then so be it, as long as
i'm happy is probably the main thing.
Do you have any tips, tricks, links, or advice for artists
wanting to develop their skills in Pixel Art??
I'm glad you asked this as i've actually got a huge tutorial
covering a lot of the basics of Isometric Pixel Art. It can be
found at tutorial.rhysd.com.
It contains many aspects concerning Isometric art and has been
really helpful to some people.
As for developing your skills further, I highly recommend A LOT of practice as
well as researching your work before you create it. It also helps to look at
other artists' creations to get ideas and motivation.
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