4/14/99

I've been kidding with Greg (Peterson) about the length of my last update. Perhaps with this update I can fill you in a little more about the art, or more specifically, the art team. So, without further ado (and in no particular order)... Eric Campanella - Eric has been on from the beginning. He was our 2D-concept artist at first but made a pretty swift transition to character modeler and animator. I think when you see the characters you'll see why he has an eye for design. He's working on the spells now and if the characters were any indication, we're in fine hands. Aaron Meyers - Aaron is another one of the early arrivers. He came over to us with a ton of enthusiasm and a boatload of talent. Although you wouldn't catch him admitting it, he is one of the most natural artists I have met. Thank him for a great influence on the architectural style of the buildings. Besides that, he has organized parts of this project (such as the character animation process) that would have otherwise been a nightmare. Chris Jones - Chris has probably had the toughest job in my opinion. When he came on the project (about halfway through) I committed the ultimate complement (or boo boo, depending) and just gave him some seriously hard work with very little ramp up time. Thankfully, for all of us, he has excelled in everything he's done and is slated to once again blow us away with his current work on the spells for the game. Brian Menze - Now Brian may, at times, seriously underestimate his importance to us, but let me assure you that all of us have not forgotten it. Brian has been responsible for the final slick look of much of the background art. Granted, the art is all rendered but he added the touch that makes the areas really come alive. If you ever want to see "progress" let me show you a picture of one of our backgrounds before Brian and after Brian. BOOM! Gary Platner - Gary, like Brian has basically raised that "art bar" on the game to about 133%. Gary started with his background touchups and has basically demonstrated that he can do just about any design related task under the sun. He's amazing, I think I've really started to take him for granted because I don't really think about how good he is anymore. I just give him some new job and he cranks out some extraordinary work. What more can I say? Derek Johnson - Derek came to us in our time of need. This guy is a prime example of one of two things. Either 3D art and design is extremely easy or he has mad skills. I would prefer the latter (of course). Derek pretty much ramped up his modeling and design skills in, oh, about 48 hours. At this point, he's worn about 70 hats and probably will get about 70 more before this project rolls out the door. Dennis Presnell - Dennis arrived at the same time as Derrick and I think he has "it". Talent, the "gift", whatever. I would call it outright determination to learn but whatever it is I want about 10 more of him. I'm jealous. He's about 10 light-years ahead of where most people start and he makes it look easy. I'll show you sometime what I'm talking about when you see some of his first designs and models. Couple that with how little direction he needs and I think you'll agree he is one to watch. Scott Everts - You may not know who Scott is but he is our secret weapon. He's actually been the secret weapon of Interplay for quite some time. To say he is an artist would grossly underestimate his true stature. He is, for lack of a better phrase, "everything else" on the project. He catches everything that falls between the cracks. Not only that but he executes any tasks with precision and extreme quality. He has handled a boatload of tremendously difficult tasks with minimal direction. Thanks for hanging in there and taking the time to read about our fine group. Talk to you next week. Tim Donley Art Director

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