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 labeled ‘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 constructed 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 influence
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 encouragement 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 noticeable
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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