Chris Douglas - Senior Environment Artist

About

Professional Values

25 years in the game industry teaches one much, some the easy way, some the hard., Through it all I've come to place a premium on the following:

Visual Storytelling – I believe that game art is a form of illustration, and that its greatest value lies in its ability to communicate the underlying themes of an IP’s story.

Interdisciplinary Focus – Game art can't be made in a vacuum. It’s vital that good communications and a commitment to mutual problem-solving exist between art, design, programming, and QA.

Visual Consistency – I consider the maintenance of a coherent look-and-feel across the entirety of a project’s artwork is vital to its aesthetic sense. Ideally, all the work in a game should like like it’s been executed by a single artist. But at the same time…

Raising the Bar – Within the technical constraints of an engine, it’s imperative that an artist always seek new ways to enhance the quality of a game’s assets (be it through leveraging of existing tools, exploration of new ones, or simply heightening attention to detail).

Testing - If it doesn't work in the game, it isn't done.

Ownership Whether it's a new asset or a bug, one has to take responsibility for seeing it through to correct implementation. Solutions that are deemed "good enough for now" invariably only come back to haunt one later.

General Interests

  • I'm a military history and hardware wonk, especially regarding WW2 and later (I know a freaky lot about aircraft in particular).

  • I've spent a lot of time helping with various dog shelters and rescue organizations.

  • I'm an avid reader of fiction. Mostly fantasy, though I'm up for the occasional foray into sci-fi and historical fiction.

Info

Currently located in Austin, TX.