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By: Feng

How Time Flies

Hey everyone! It’s crazy how fast time flies. These days, as I walk around our studio and see all the
students hard at work, I’m reminded of my own student days at Art Center. I still remember pulling
all-nighters to finish my Visual Communications homework; or trying to catch 5 minutes of sleep before
class. Sometimes, it’s good to reflect back on what we’ve done before looking into the future.

I get a lot of questions these days from our students asking to see my “early” work. I recall asking the
exact same question to my lecturers at ACCD. As students, and even professionals, it’s comforting to
see someone else going through similar struggles and challenges. It makes you realize that we all
started from the same line. Thus, for this article, I will share with you some of my very early work and tell
a few stories about them. Let the embarrassments begin!

Into Space, Circa 1998

My first full-time job as a concept designer started at Origin Systems Inc, which is now part of Electronic
Arts. Being the only concept guy on the team, a lot of stuff fell on my plate. I was tasked to design
spaceships and characters for the next Wing Commander and Privateer Online games. Back then I still
worked traditionally – pen and markers on paper. Drawing spaceships required a very good
understanding of perspectives – something ACCD taught me well. However, it still wasn’t easy; especially
when I had to design “something cool” at the same time. One good thing was that early 3D games couldn’t
display too many polygons, so we had to keep the designs very simple and relied on strong silhouettes
to showcase them.

Tanhauser Gate to Dungeons

After Origin, the entire Wing Commander

team left in 1998 and formed our own

game studio with GT Interactive as our

publisher. Since everyone was tired of

working on space games, we decided

to go into Fantasy. Being an industrial

design guy, I never had much exposure

to fantasy stuff. However, I love drawing

crazy creatures and monsters, so I was

addicted to this job from day one. This

new studio lacked an art director, so I

basically managed myself. I came up

with little stories in my head and just

drew them out. I love to imagine that

my designs can really exist in their worlds.

Thus, I tried to figure out every last detail

to make them believable. The game

designers in turn took these ideas and

transformed them into game-play. Working

without an art director actually prepared me well for my

next job. It taught me the importance of time management,

deadlines, self-filtering (choosing which designs to use), and

presentation.

Blur and Beyond

I joined Blur Studio in the summer of 2000 and spent three awesome years there. It is still one of those
studios which brings back fun memories. Tim Miller, the founder of Blur, is a really cool guy and loves
concept art. In addition, Blur is known to take on only “cool” projects, so our pipeline is always filled
with interesting stuff to work on – it made our jobs super addictive. This was also the first time I was
exposed to the “multi-project” pipeline. Blur usually took on 3 to 4 projects at any given time, so the
concept team is constantly bouncing from one project to another. This taught me how to
“reset the mind” so I can go from one design theme to another without delay. I must have done
hundreds of drawings (if not thousands) at Blur, utilizing dozens of different rendering, design and
industry techniques.

Into the Future

Working in the entertainment industry is fun, but it takes a lot
of hard work to get here. I hope this little article serves as an
inspiration to all the young designers and students out there.
As we head into the future, nobody knows where the road
will lead. But having the confidence and experience behind
you will make the journey a lot easier. Work hard and the
rewards will come; especially the great friends you will make
along the way.

Thanks again for reading and feel free to contact us with
questions and comments.

-Feng Zhu