While I’m glad he’s concerned about this sort of thing [and I'm glad you think my stuff is cool :D], I want to take the time to explain a few things, especially if sometimes some people don’t stop to think about chains of influence and origin.

In some of my work, it has notable influence from Mirror’s Edge, and I don’t deny their origins [quite evidently since I do actually list Mirror's Edge as one of the influences for each of the inspired artworks.] For the following statements, I’m leaving [Being Alone] out, and I explain why in its description. For the other two artworks, [Now Arriving] and [Searching For] however, are original works — not Mirror’s Edge fan arts. They do contain influence from Mirror’s Edge in the form of minor color choices, but both images actually contain nothing from Mirror’s Edge itself. For some who aren’t aware, Mirror’s Edge does not actually contain a unique visual style, even its developers know this, as they’ve talked about where its visual style comes from in several interviews. Mirror’s Edge gets its main visual distinction by following basic color theory — the same color theory that you would be taught in your first year at any art college. Within the primary colors, blue recedes while red comes forward. That is, in essence, Mirror’s Edge’s entire design concept. [And believe me, N.C. Wyeth discovered the power of primary colors far before they did.]

Mirror’s Edge borrows influence from two other major sources: Swedish graphic design and Asian Architecture, [namely Tokyo and Hong Kong.] Mirror’s Edge is one HUGE reference to Tokyo, and if you weren’t aware I’d suggest to go look up some photos. Like… [this one], [this one], [this one], and [this one.] I’ve always been in love with Japanese urban development and mass transit, which is a big reason why it shows up in my work even before Mirror’s Edge’s release. One of the biggest influences Mirror’s Edge uses is the Sewers level, which is based nearly 100% on the Japanese G-CANS project. [See the G-CANS here,] and compare it to the Mirror’s Edge level seen [here], [here], and [here.] I first knew about the G-CANS before their appearance in Mirror’s Edge, so I was stoked that I’d get the chance to run around inside of them when it was released. The point is, if I were to do a picture involving the G-CANS, I’d reference the fact they’re influenced by the actual location in Tokyo rather than the level in Mirror’s Edge.

Swedish graphic design plays another huge role, as even my latest work colleague Kacper Antonius [editor in chief of Level magazine, Stockholm Sweden,] mentions by saying, “Compare the look of Mirror’s Edge to things like IKEA.” Such as [this] and [this.] “Swedish graphic design consists of solid high saturated colors with bold, white or colored solid text. Mirror’s Edge is a tour-de-force of Swedish Graphic Design.”

While I found Mirror’s Edge to be a fun and inspiring game, the truth behind the matter is that I’m not being influenced by Mirror’s Edge: the game itself. Mirror’s Edge did not invent these influences, it instead acted as a transporter to allow me to discover its own influences in greater detail.

A good example: the current design for Plastic Shards is entirely influenced off of Swedish graphic design. I can thank Mirror’s Edge for showing me how wonderful Swedish Design can be, but I’m not crediting Mirror’s Edge itself for infleuncing this design.

For people who say that my work is reminiscent of Mirror’s Edge, that’s fine, and you are accurate to say so :) However, if you say that my work IS Mirror’s Edge and I should credit Mirror’s Edge, then you’re vastly mistaken. Besides, my very most recent work barely even feels reminiscent of Mirror’s Edge anymore, hahaha. :) I think I’ve fallen in love with the color magenta lately.

However, with all of this new exposure comes a bit of the “telephone effect.” Basically, as some blogs pick up my work and publish it in a post, some facts can get skewed here and there. Most notably is some confusion about what I do, and the focus of my work.

I’d like to take the time to clarify that I do photography as a hobby. In the case of some blogs, they write that I “often use photography” in my work, when in fact I’ve only used it in two pictures within my gallery. [The "Series I" images.] All of my work is actually created from a more classic approach — that is, I start with a quick thumbnail of the scene, I bring the thumbnail to a rough sketch, the rouch sketch to a cleaned up sketch, then the cleaned up sketch to a final polished drawing. I have some supporting imagery to show the processes in a couple of my images.

[Click the image below to see a larger version.]

I also have a video recording of one of my one-hour speed paintings, start to finish, compressed into about 10 minutes. You can see how I work directly!

So I like to use photography as a method to improve my visual memory, composition, and value, however photography is actually RARELY present within my work :) This would make me a Matte Painter if I did use photography — but the truth is that I’m not a matte painter. I like to be a conceptual designer and illustrator. I like to sketch and draw things from my head, quickly, and then embellish the sketches after the initial speed sketch. [Much like the video above.] Of course if anyone has any questions, feel free to drop me a comment here!

Just wanted to clear that up, and hope you found those examples interesting!

Thanks again!

In this section, there will be art posted pertaining to the SYNTHESIS comic I’m making. Character sketches, original panel drawings, and process drawings will be posted in here as I go along through each page.

Right now, there are three images posted showing a simple process of how the backgrounds for page 3, 4, and 5 were done.

Click the image to the left here to go to the gallery! ]]> http://plasticshards.com/blog/archives/78/feed 0