How an Apex Legends artist went from traditional painting to video games

I was raised on a small peninsula in Virginia called the Eastern Shore, where there’s a small community of painters who mainly focus on wildlife and the landscapes by the water.

During my childhood, I frequently took painting lessons from local artists and learned to work with various mediums, such as oils, acrylics, watercolour, and pastels. I believe this had a significant impact on how I approach art today. People often mention that my digital art reminds them of traditional paintings.

Music has always influenced my taste and style. I grew up playing in a band with friends, and that creative outlet taught me a lot about self-expression and storytelling. I no longer play music, but I still listen to a lot of albums, and sometimes it sparks ideas, especially when I connect with it on an emotional level. It helps me imagine stories that I want to tell.

I can’t recall a specific painting, but I vividly remember seeing Ryan Church’s concepts in the Art of Star Wars books for Episodes II and III, which amazed me as a kid. I’d been into drawing and painting since I was young, but I never realised that art was actually used to create movies and games.

That realisation made me decide from then on I wanted to become a concept artist. My parents thankfully even bought me a copy of Photoshop and a Wacom tablet for me to practice with.

My initial paid job was a pretty cheesy illustration for a zombie indie game. I had just graduated from college and was grabbing every chance I could to build up my resume. Although that piece doesn’t quite represent my portfolio now, it was certainly a leap forward for my technical skills, and I was finally reaching a point in my career where I felt my work was beginning to align with the industry’s talent standards.

What’s the last piece you finished, and how do the two differ? Lately, when I’m working on art, like my recent piece, the Artificial Hunt, I’ve been concentrating more on what I genuinely want to convey as an artist. Initially, it was all about pursuing opportunities and creating a portfolio that would catch the attention of studios.

Now, with nearly a decade of experience, I try to stress less about my creative skills and following trends. Instead, I focus on trusting my nstincts and producing work that I find personally engaging, and I feel doing this has significantly improved my art over time.

Overall, I feel that this career has been incredibly rewarding. Working on the projects I’ve been a part of and being surrounded by like-minded artists has taught me so much, and I’ve really grown from these experiences.

What surprises me the most is how fast and consistently the industry changes. I thought that once I got my foot in the door, I would finally feel like a ‘professional’. But honestly, I still feel the same as I did when I started, and being a good artist to me means always striving for growth.

I’d advise my younger self to stop worrying about being a generalist, trying to prove I can fit in everywhere, and instead concentrate on creating a specialised portfolio that showcases the kind of work I genuinely want to pursue. Once I made that shift, my career really started to take off.

Nero is a personal character design that blends my love for anime and sci-fi influences. I believe that it has changed a lot, especially for people looking to learn and build their skills or expand their reach as independent artists.

Nowadays, there are so many online resources out there that can help guide you in perfecting your techniques or promoting yourself to the right audiences, no matter your educational background or studio experience, and achieve success.

Probably the Artificial Hunt piece. With all the worries about artificial intelligence taking over creative jobs, I felt the need to express my thoughts on the topic. So I painted a really dramatised picture of what I imagine our future might look like if we get too caught up in our technological advancements.

Lately, I’ve been feeling the need to expand beyond just concept art and start doing more illustrative work, focusing on more of what it is I really want to say with my art. I think these days it’s more prevalent than ever to develop your personal style if you want to stay relevant in the industry.