We continue our heading “Faces of the industry”, in which we introduce industry specialists (so far only with artists, but we will definitely get to game designers). This time Valeria Bulatchik, an artist from 101XP, who drew a game in the three-in-a-row “Expedition” genre, told us about herself.
Valeria BulatchikAbout me
By education, I am a teacher of Russian language and literature. I even had a chance to work a little at school. I got into the gaming industry completely by accident. One day my brother (a wonderful artist) offered to draw for a game project. I have never studied in art schools. All I had were sketches in lecture notebooks and a couple of trial oil and watercolor paintings. So in a week I had to master all the tricks of creating vector graphics.
In the same month, I was offered a position in the company that developed the project. There I successfully studied, developed and worked for about three years. During this period, I managed to work on completely different tasks — from icons to game locations and characters.
It was a very useful experience, so I “pumped up” pretty quickly and found my own graphic style.
About creating characters
For all the time I worked as an artist, I had to draw completely different stylistically things. But it is the cartoon style that attracts me especially.
How do I draw characters? It all starts with his concept: you need to decide what he will be — nice and friendly or angry and merciless. Then you can start the sketches.The sharper the character, the sharper the lines and shapes. If the character should evoke positive and warm feelings, then the lines will also be soft and smooth.
The eyes play an important role. With their help, it is easy to convey the character’s intentions. Wide open or squinted – they give us completely different information. With the choice of color, everything is very individual. That’s usually where it all starts for me. However, it is often necessary to radically change it during the development process for one reason or another. Everything ends, as a rule, with animation.
About stickers for social networks
Stickers are another job that I do well and that I like to do. These are all the same cartoon characters who clearly express this or that emotion. They are used as emoticons in dialogs.
But my hobby is also related to graphics. In my free time, I try to draw sketches in a more realistic style, however, it is almost never possible to bring them to completion.
In general, I am attracted to the idea of development in the field of concept art. Therefore, as soon as I have a free minute, I try to draw in an unusual style for myself.
About the “Expedition”
Initially, the monsters were designed by another artist, and by the time I was tasked with remaking them, several game backgrounds were already ready.Therefore, it was not so easy to make the main objects distinguishable on different backgrounds. Six monsters – six different colors.I had to go through several options before coming to a consensus. In the course of disputes, discussions and testing, exactly the set that you can observe in the game was chosen.
About what I would like to work on
What could be better and more enjoyable than working on your own project? I already have the experience of creating my own casual game. It was not a commercial endeavor, but rather an entertainment and an attempt to test one’s own strength.
The very idea that you can independently implement your idea in graphic and animation terms is very cool. So I will try to develop this area of my own interests and opportunities in my free time.
You will be able to learn about the latest trends in the gaming industry first-hand, personally meet and discuss working issues with leading companies (including representatives of 101XP, who will be at the event) in the game development and publishing market at White Nights Moscow 2015, which will be held on October 13-14.