Update #59: Developer Q&A with Polina Hristova

[Keyrock]

Dunno, if it has already been mentioned, but she has her own website too (also check the "blog" section there):

 

http://www.polinadesign.com/

Good find.  Some really cool stuff on there.

 

Also, great update.  If I hear creature noises coming from a dark corner somewhere I'll suspect it's Polina.

Edited July 10, 2013 by Keyrock

[Sacred_Path]

Does Polina have a sexy Eastern European accent like the chick from Legends of Dawn? If so, you should totally have exploited that during the kickstarter like LoD did.

[BAdler]

 

What about the Let's Play of Arcanum?

 

Bugs ate Avellone's soul.

 

To all of those asking about Avellone's Arcanum playthroughs, that falls squarely on me at this point.

 

Avellone recorded a large amount of footage recently and now it needs to be processed and cleaned up for the backers. Finishing up our vertical slice and getting the team prepared for our production phase has been my top priority over the past few weeks. That said, there shouldn't be any problems in having a lengthy playthrough for you guys in the next backer update.

[Sensuki]

Any word on whether you're switching to Octane Rendering for the final environment art pipedream pipeline ?

[Azrayel]

Q: And where do you draw your inspiration from?

A: Nature. Nature will always have us concept artists beat. =) It does some weird ****. =D

 

Great expectations for this artist already. 

 

<3

[Faerunner]

Wonderful interview. I love concept art and enjoy reading some of what goes into it. 

 

Now you've got me all excited for the drakes and godlike. *sigh*

[Polina]

 

My favorite answer in the interview too. (OMG the blob fish is disgusting.)

 

Also, kendo? Racking up the cool points there.

 

You've done great concept art for PE so far (though plenty of people didn't seem to understand the difference between your concept sketches and actual marketing art).

Yes haha the blog fish is interesting (thanks for introducing me to a new blog I'll keep an eye on)

 

 

Oh and I'm very jelly of the awesome écorché Polina's hugging! Those man-dolls sure cost a fortune, but I can imagine they're pretty useful. Ah well, some of us have to make do with using a mirror for anatomy reference. )

They sometimes have sales if you don't mind the ecorche missing a vein or two.

 

 

 

Its another critter and some reference.

Oh yeah my bad, I didn't see the silhouette on the right. Looks Bizarre

 

I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize for this comment I made on this image in the Update 46 thread

 

While the Concept art of the underground area isn't my favourite art style - a bit colorful and cartoonish looking ... the layout and design is VERY reminiscent of Dragon's Eye cave from IWD1, which is very pleasing

Josh actually mentioned that comment on another forum and I felt bad.

 

I did not think of the time it must take to do full color versions of concept art (such as the Godlike portrait) which Josh Sawyer said took you over a week to complete versus the amount of concepts that you have to do. I did actually really like the drawing and am excited to see the area. Sorry if I gave you guys the wrong impression.

 

Don't worry about it I have a pretty thick skin, I think there was only 1 comment that bothered me and that was on Neo Gaf.

 

 

BAdler, on 09 Jul 2013 - 6:52 PM, said:

I've worked on Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2, PlayStation Move Heroes, some other unannounced titles (some of which will sadly never see the light of day), and the Dungeon Siege 3 DLC: Treasures of the Sun.

 

DS3 was a beautiful game, I loved the creatures, the outfits, character models, almost everything.

The credit for all of those goes to Justin, Brian, Julie, and Charles. I only worked on the DLC which was primarily re-texturing and some environment paint overs for mood and lighting.

 

 

Update thread nees moar Polina.

I'll try =)

 

 

I wonder what the blue sling thingie is at the back of the desk?

That would be a cookie monster =)

 

 

Does Polina have a sexy Eastern European accent like the chick from Legends of Dawn? If so, you should totally have exploited that during the kickstarter like LoD did.

Nope, I grew up in the States.

[rjshae]

 

 

What about the Let's Play of Arcanum?

 

Bugs ate Avellone's soul.

 

To all of those asking about Avellone's Arcanum playthroughs, that falls squarely on me at this point.

 

Avellone recorded a large amount of footage recently and now it needs to be processed and cleaned up for the backers. Finishing up our vertical slice and getting the team prepared for our production phase has been my top priority over the past few weeks. That said, there shouldn't be any problems in having a lengthy playthrough for you guys in the next backer update.

 

Cleanup: this [unfortunate] piece of [software] needs a complete [quality] reboot. What a sweaty [fun] sack of goat [deposits].

[C2B]

 

Don't worry about it I have a pretty thick skin, I think there was only 1 comment that bothered me and that was on Neo Gaf.

 

I'm glad and hope the other artist got through some of the art comments well too. Some of them got pretty terrible at times (in their aggressivness).

 

What happened over at Neogaf during the first Art Update was especially terrible.

 

 

Also, will you continue to do personal work as well on your blog? (Or is Eternity taking your energy?) It has been a while since the last update.

Edited July 10, 2013 by C2B

[WorstUsernameEver]

Don't worry about it I have a pretty thick skin, I think there was only 1 comment that bothered me and that was on Neo Gaf.

Somehow I'm not surprised in the least. (Though I have been vocal about the art design, especially at the beginning, so perhaps I should just shut up.)

[Merlkir]

@Polina: She wasn't among your favourite CArtists,but I assume you know of Terryl Whitlatch? She's amazing with creatures both real and alien. (afaik she had a blog too, but now posts on Muddy Colors)

 

http://muddycolors.blogspot.cz/p/art-of-terryl-whitlatch.html

[Sacred_Path]

 

Update thread nees moar Polina.

I'll try =)

 

Great!

 

 

BTW I really liked your early concept drawing of a female Godlike, I thought the proportions were just spot on for several reasons.

[exodiark]

 

 

Does Polina have a sexy Eastern European accent like the chick from Legends of Dawn? If so, you should totally have exploited that during the kickstarter like LoD did.

Nope, I grew up in the States.

 

I can hear somebody crying over their shattered Bulgarian(?) fantasy   

 

Me.

 

 

Just kidding, anyway I forgot to ask earlier,

What are the main difficulties and challenges that PE possess for concept artists? Is it the details and varieties that Mr. Sawyer and other writers set? Or is it something else? 

[Sensuki]

How many fellow concept artistes have joined you on this Project recently? One of the updates past said your ranks have been bolstered.

 

Do you know if you'll be doing any of the NPC or character portraits for the game?

Edited July 10, 2013 by Sensuki

[Falkon Swiftblade]

Polina, do you guys have texture artists separate from 2d and concept artists? I heard Rob mention you guys were experimenting with Knald, are you guys planning on using it for the game? If so how would you use it in your pipeline? The only examples I've seen shown are really nice textures for rocks, and a couple things that made me think it might work well in your artwork when you do paint overs of grounds or floors to give more texture and add a lot of depth to the 2d images. Also I don't know if you are the one to ask, but it's confusing to see some updates when Hector is building 3d spaces and then the images we're shown are 2d with paint overs. Do you paint the concepts first, then he builds it, and then you paint over it again after the models been converted to a 2d image? Maybe something like that work flow you could elaborate on.

I've heard you guys are creating a big bestiary of baddies and I was hoping if you have any say so, if you could try to create a mixture of body types of big hulking things, and maybe smaller faster guys that work synergistically to mix up the battles? I hope the battles in PE won't just be party's of only skeletons in one fight, spiders in another, etc. but rather having a mixture of creatures with a hierarchy of dominance to the encounters. Maybe similar to how Kingdoms of Amalur had fast attacking wolves and big brute guys in the same fight. I understand some limitations you guys may have, but I would much rather have mixed encounters like that than only fighting groups of one type of creature. If you have to use 6 types of spiders can ya really try to make them unique looking and not just same spider with a red belly or a green belly to distinguish them? I know dev's do that to save time, but I'd rather fewer interesting creatures that are unique and intelligent, than 25 of the same thing and different colors. Maybe you can create a cultural hierarchy for rank amongst the creatures, like maybe Kobalds show ranks by wearing fangs on their bodys as jewelry. The bigger the fang they wear the more important they are for example. Keep up the good work!

[J.E. Sawyer]

Polina and Dimitri grew up in the U.S. but...

 

_{they both have slight accents, IMO.}

[Sacred_Path]

Polina and Dimitri grew up in the U.S. but...

 

_{they both have slight accents, IMO.}

whose accent is sexier?

[Lephys]

Yes oh yes! Spiders are in! Take that, arachnophobes!

 

Not cool, man... not cool! My party now has a 30% chance to indiscriminately cast/use abilities in a panicked fashion whenever arachnids are about.

 

In all seriousness, it's not that bad, haha. BUT, I have actually, on multiple occasions, had nightmares involving an invulnerable clockwork spider that relentlessly tries to climb onto my face and do God-only-knows-what... all the while slicing me with its little metal legs as it climbs and clings as I try to swat it off.

 

No me gusta. o_o

[Polina]

 

Don't worry about it I have a pretty thick skin, I think there was only 1 comment that bothered me and that was on Neo Gaf.

Somehow I'm not surprised in the least. (Though I have been vocal about the art design, especially at the beginning, so perhaps I should just shut up.)

 

i actually really do appreciate the critiques =) (especially the artistic ones) I think as an artist you never stop learning there's always something. I think when Leonardo Da Vinci died he said something along the lines of "Only now I'm beginning to learn to draw" ... And ultimately art is one of those objective fields... no matter what you can't make everyone happy =).

 

@Polina: She wasn't among your favourite CArtists,but I assume you know of Terryl Whitlatch? She's amazing with creatures both real and alien. (afaik she had a blog too, but now posts on Muddy Colors)

 

http://muddycolors.blogspot.cz/p/art-of-terryl-whitlatch.html

I'm familiar with  Terry Whitlach and I do like her stuff =) I forgot a few names on the list (like Ryan Meindering and Izzy Medrano) haha its such a long list of artists i love i honestly cann take a whole month listing them off.

 

 

 

 

Does Polina have a sexy Eastern European accent like the chick from Legends of Dawn? If so, you should totally have exploited that during the kickstarter like LoD did.

Nope, I grew up in the States.

 

I can hear somebody crying over their shattered Bulgarian(?) fantasy   

 

Me.

 

 

Just kidding, anyway I forgot to ask earlier,

What are the main difficulties and challenges that PE possess for concept artists? Is it the details and varieties that Mr. Sawyer and other writers set? Or is it something else? 

 

I think time, and the amount of rigs we have would probably be the greatest challenges. Moving characters/ creatures/ environments... programing etc they all take up a lot of resources and there's only so much you can have on screen until things crash/ lag... Time is also a big player in the amount we can do. I can concept my heart out but someone will need to build it and animate it... all those take time and man power.

 

Time is one of the challenges because in the case of our critters we have 2 days to concept them from start to finish. That includes meetings, reference time, variants, final drawing, and any needed revisions. Sometimes the final drawing can consist of just one view to explain if its pretty straight forward and other times it can requires multiple views to explain the design. Some days the creative juices don't flow as easily.

 

How many fellow concept artistes have joined you on this Project recently? One of the updates past said your ranks have been bolstered.

 

Do you know if you'll be doing any of the NPC or character portraits for the game?

We have had people join our ranks but they're mostly in design, modeling and animation. Our concept crew is still Kaz, I and whenever Rob can squeeze in some cool designs.

 

Polina, do you guys have texture artists separate from 2d and concept artists? I heard Rob mention you guys were experimenting with Knald, are you guys planning on using it for the game? If so how would you use it in your pipeline? The only examples I've seen shown are really nice textures for rocks, and a couple things that made me think it might work well in your artwork when you do paint overs of grounds or floors to give more texture and add a lot of depth to the 2d images. Also I don't know if you are the one to ask, but it's confusing to see some updates when Hector is building 3d spaces and then the images we're shown are 2d with paint overs. Do you paint the concepts first, then he builds it, and then you paint over it again after the models been converted to a 2d image? Maybe something like that work flow you could elaborate on.

 

I've heard you guys are creating a big bestiary of baddies and I was hoping if you have any say so, if you could try to create a mixture of body types of big hulking things, and maybe smaller faster guys that work synergistically to mix up the battles? I hope the battles in PE won't just be party's of only skeletons in one fight, spiders in another, etc. but rather having a mixture of creatures with a hierarchy of dominance to the encounters. Maybe similar to how Kingdoms of Amalur had fast attacking wolves and big brute guys in the same fight. I understand some limitations you guys may have, but I would much rather have mixed encounters like that than only fighting groups of one type of creature. If you have to use 6 types of spiders can ya really try to make them unique looking and not just same spider with a red belly or a green belly to distinguish them? I know dev's do that to save time, but I'd rather fewer interesting creatures that are unique and intelligent, than 25 of the same thing and different colors. Maybe you can create a cultural hierarchy for rank amongst the creatures, like maybe Kobalds show ranks by wearing fangs on their bodys as jewelry. The bigger the fang they wear the more important they are for example. Keep up the good work!

Unfortunately we do not have sol texture artists, our modelers texture the models. As for those screen captures..Our designers come up with a basic layout for the dungeons from there it either goes to Hector and Sean, or Kaz and I depending on if its something that needs a concept or not. Basic brick dungeons don't really require concepts unless there's something unique going inside the rooms. Our modelers are awesome artists themselves and I'm sure they enjoy the creative freedom as well. As for the finished model coming back to us.. that's usually for dress up. Things like floor grunge, material aging, slight chipping, getting rid of really sharp edges is faster to paint then it is to model and texture.

[Woldan]

Polina! Its great to see the person behind all those absolute fantastic concepts and artworks. Its pretty hard to believe that shes a newcomer to the industry. 

 

 

[J.E. Sawyer]

 

whose accent is sexier?

 

 

Jorge's.

[Zan Lynx]

 

Yes oh yes! Spiders are in! Take that, arachnophobes!

 

Not cool, man... not cool! My party now has a 30% chance to indiscriminately cast/use abilities in a panicked fashion whenever arachnids are about.

 

In all seriousness, it's not that bad, haha. BUT, I have actually, on multiple occasions, had nightmares involving an invulnerable clockwork spider that relentlessly tries to climb onto my face and do God-only-knows-what... all the while slicing me with its little metal legs as it climbs and clings as I try to swat it off.

 

No me gusta. o_o

 

The thing that climbs relentless onto your face at night slicing you as it goes?

 

That's my cat. It seems to think my face is the most interesting thing in the house at 3 am.

[Sacred_Path]

Jorge's.

ay papi

[lolaldanee]

Polina! Its great to see the person behind all those absolute fantastic concepts and artworks. Its pretty hard to believe that shes a newcomer to the industry. 

i second this last statement

well met mylady, nice indeed to finally get to know more about the person behind all this mostly very well done art

although i have to say, all that talk about ugly beasts in dark corners is kinda creepy

me, i'm likin' ma esthetic pleasing enemies in bright light, rather than them terrible monsters

Edited July 11, 2013 by lolaldanee

[Lephys]

I think you guys should all make little NPC cameos in the game. That would be splend-mazing.

 

Maybe even little quickie voice-overs, here and there.

 

Inside jokes could abound.