By Kim Bennett
The Seattle Medium
Iridescent greens, yellows and hints of pink shine through the glistening leaves of majestic trees towering overhead. A human-shaped luminous figure strides through the haze beneath the canopy of trees. The captivating scene draws you into a mystical world on your computer screen.
Who creates these mythical settings that transport the video gamer to a place inhabited by characters and creatures of one’s imagination?
In the video game industry, a concept artist has a hand in bringing the imagined people, places and things to life in the stunning visuals of a game’s virtual reality. Eddie Smith, III, Art Director and Lead Concept Artist of Soulbound Studios, is one such artist behind the fantasy world for the studio’s upcoming game – Chronicles of Elyria.
Concept artists create visual representations of an idea for an element in a video game or film, for example a character, weapon or vehicle that can be converted into a 3D graphic.
With credits from popular titles such as MechWarrior on the PC, The Mark of Kri for Playstation 2, and Halo, the widely successful first-person shooter for Xbox, Smith has worked in the industry for over 16 years.
Smith’s affinity for the arts started at a young age. Painting and drawing with his mother as a little boy, it was clear to his parents that their son had innate artistic talent that rivaled his natural athletic abilities.
“At lunch time a lot of kids would be playing basketball. Even though Eddie was a good athlete, he would be drawing things, painting and stuff like that. Just sitting on the playground at school,” said his father, Eddie Smith, Jr.
As an infant with a crayon in hand, he would color in the lines and carefully select different shades as required.
“When he was in the second grade each person had to write a poem, and he wrote, “Cherry blossoms pink, delicate, dancing in the wind’ and he did a watercolor of cherry blossoms,” his mother, Yvette Smith, fondly recalls.
“I knew something was going on beyond a proud mom,” she said.
Smith’s parents and relatives provided him with all of the art supplies and coloring books he needed, and actively encouraged his artistic endeavors.
“As a child he could start getting lost into his own little art world and before you know it two, three or four hours have gone by,” said Smith, Jr. of his son’s childhood interest in art.
“My parents encouraged me,” Smith said. “I was an athlete. I played basketball in high school and college, so I was encouraged to do whatever I had an interest in. It was stressed that I put the time into it. Don’t do it haphazardly. I found myself doing that with sports, but I never did that with art.”
When he was 11, Smith’s mother purchased him an expensive gift – an Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) book by the visual effects company founded by George Lucas when he started production on Star Wars. Smith’s mother felt it was a good investment.
“I knew it would inspire him,” said Yvette. “My husband fussed because it was $50 and now it is worth a lot.”
The ILM book was filled with illustrations, sketches, and profiles of the people behind the scenes of the Star Wars films. It wasn’t until several years later that Smith revisited the book, lighting a spark.
“My mom bought me an ILM book when I was 11 or 12 and it had a lot of concept art from Star Wars and a lot of paintings,” recalled Smith. “I didn’t really look at that book thoroughly again until I was 18 or 19 in college. Then I said, ‘This is what I want to do for a career,’”
The groundwork for Smith’s art career was laid when he was 14, when Smith studied academic art for three years as part of the Herbert Ryman Living Masters Program sponsored by Disney. Now called Ryman Arts, the program helps foster the talent of a select group of high-school students by providing them with a scholarship to receive college-level art instruction each Saturday.
With the encouragement of professors in the program, who were accomplished artists themselves, Smith gained the confidence in his abilities necessary to make his interest in art more than just a hobby.
“Because of this program, I knew I pretty much had a future in art,” Smith said. “If an accomplished artist says you have what it takes, it cements it in your mind that ‘Yeah, I can do this’.”
Smith went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art and Studio Painting at California State University – San Bernardino and forged ahead. After college, Smith worked in Chicago at Fasa Interactive Technologies Entertainment as a concept artist and illustrator, lending his hand to the successful Mechwarrior title and later moved to Washington state when FASA Interactive was acquired by Microsoft.
“Microsoft was just developing the first generation Xbox, so they were looking to acquire studios to develop games for the Xbox,” Smith said. “They also wanted notable titles to be featured and Mechwarrior was a successful, dependable title they could have on the console.”
At Microsoft, Smith crafted the rich, textured environments, lifelike characters and their intricate weaponry for Halo 2 and Halo 3, redesigning the series’ main character, Master Chief.
“There were tons of drawings, sketches and iterations, reiterating it and getting feedback,” stated Smith. “Because it was an iconic character, it wasn’t my own creation, I was the hand that drew it, but it was the second version of the Master Chief. I didn’t create the original version.”
Now serving as the Art Director and Lead Concept Artist with Soulbound Studios, Smith oversees the creative process of developing concepts and artwork for their current project titled Chronicles of Elyria.
Chronicles of Elyria is a medieval fantasy game that is the first of its kind where the character ages and dies over the course of 10 to 14 months. In gaming terms, it falls under the massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) category. In laymen terms, it is a combination of an online multiplayer game, like EverQuest and World of Warcraft, and role-playing games like the Final Fantasy series and Xbox’s Fable series where a user takes on the role of a character within a fictional place, controlling the character’s actions within a storyline. Such games attract millions of players around the world who interact in a virtual, fantasy world online.
Currently, the team at Soulbound Studios is working on the pre-concept phase of the game and raising money through a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to help fund development. With positive reviews and a growing fan base of over 40,000, Chronicles of EIyria is a highly anticipated title.
Making the move from a corporate role to Soulbound Studios is the start of an exciting new chapter in Smith’s career.
“While there was a lot of risk, the reward is far greater than working at an existing studio,” said Smith.
“This is my first time as an Art Director,” says an energetic Smith. “I have more creative control. I get to learn a new production discipline…I feel like I am starting my career over, which is exciting. “
For Smith, the journey has not always been smooth. Roles for concept artists tend to be project based, resulting in periods of feast or famine. Smith, who is also a filmmaker, was able to remain agile and pay forward the instruction he benefitted from in high school by becoming an instructor at DigiPen and the Art Institute.
For young artists starting out in a career as a concept artist, Smith gives sage advice that is applicable to any career pursuit.
“Take whatever job you can get and do it with an enthusiasm of challenging yourself to wow the people that you are working for,” Smith said. “Inspire them through your work. Don’t do the work like you did your homework just to get it done. The consequences are more severe.”
“Companies don’t care about GPA,” added Smith. “They care about your portfolio, your work ethic, and your personality.”
Looking back over a 16-year career in the gaming industry with its ups and downs, it was undying optimism fueled by the pursuit of his passion that has brought Smith to where he is today.
“At points in my career I could have gotten discouraged, but something told me to keep going,” said Smith. “I always had this feeling that the opportunity that’s really going to propel me to the next phase is on the horizon.”
When asked to recall his proudest career moment, Smith has a forward-looking response, knowing the best is yet to come.
“At the time I thought it was when Halo 2 came out and we were travelling to different stores at midnight for the release,” says Smith. “I was signing these kids’ t-shirts and these 30-year-old guys’ posters. I never thought I would be signing autographs.”
“Looking back on that, I feel like I haven’t done it yet,” continued Smith. “Hopefully I can do that with the Chronicles of Elyria. I think I would be the most proud of this [because] I am helping create something from the starting block.”
