Uncover Hidden Talent: Hire the World’s Top New Digital Artists

It was when I went to a Blizzard event at the Boys and Girls Club in Irvine when I was a Junior in Highschool. I had a blast and after talking to the lead quest designer for a good bit I had an epiphany that I can only call Holy Enlightenment that I was meant to go into this industry. Every fiber of my being since then was pushing me toward making sure I could do well in this industry if given the chance.

Curiously when I open up 3DS max 2010 for the first time at a video game club back in my college freshman year, that was the beginning of my journey.

I have played video games all of my life, and growing up I would draw my favorite characters from video games and comics. I admired artists such as Yoji Shinkawa and Ayami Kojima as they created art for my favorite games of all time. Drawing and painting traditionally and building my skills quickly in college made me believe I have what it takes. I abandoned the idea of graphic design and decided to pursue a concept art career like those I have looked up to.

Born with the desire to stand out and individualize myself, I started creating from a young age. From simple crayon drawings that would evolve into full on worlds and stories to little doodles that would be developed into reoccurring characters with their own life stories. The only thing I loved more than creating stories was embracing stories through cartoons and movies. One random day watching cartoons I thought, "Wait a minute, can I make this? Is that possible?," and that's when I knew!

I realized the moment I picked up a game somewhere in my middle school years and thought, wow, I could really just pursue what I really love doing and make it something I can get paid for too. From then on it was my dream, dedication, drive and goal to create games and use my visuals and designs to make an impact, start some conversation, and inspire others as they have inspired me.

I first realized I wanted to work in games after playing Bioshock: Infinite for the first time in high school. The colors, the characters, and everything about the game was so magical to me so I wanted to try and make stuff of my own!

As a kid, I enjoyed drawing and painting but didn't realize it was something I could pursue as a career until I reached high school. After attending a pre-college program at Ringling, it was the first time I felt like it was a dream I could actually chase after.

I've known all my life that art was my passion, but it was until 2016 when I started classes at LCAD that I knew Game Design was where I belonged.

I first discovered concept art during my hunt for art schools, and fell in love with environment painting and worldbuilding. Games like Sea of Theives, Star Stable, Breath of the Wild, Sky, WoW and Palia inspired me to choose Game Art as my major. It was only until I started my studies at college that I realized I had an equally strong passion for 3D modelling and hand-painted, stylized textures - essentially bringing my concepts to 'life'!

I was always interested in feature animation and video games as child and knew I wanted to do something in it.

I've always been really drawn to art and story telling and what I've wanted to do in the arts has grown and changed with me as I've gotten older. I started as most artists my age probably do (not gonna lie it was anime) and ever since I first picked up a pen it's given me a purpose in life I'm thankful for every day. I've transitioned from 2D to modeling, to now 3D sculpting and it's my favorite thing to do in the world. I live for the details and would sculpt pore by pore if I had the time.

I have always been inspired to create my own imaginary world since I was little, but it was not until I had a very fortunate opportunity to work briefly for an esports scene and I immediately made up my mind that what I was most passionate about was game developing and I've never looked back since.

Simply, I can't see myself doing anything else. Four years ago I wasn't sure this was the right career move for me. But after making a few personal games and meeting some amazing individuals, I realized this was the right career path for me. And from then on, I've been appart of the creative media industry.

I first realized what I wanted to do during a lunch break. A coworker who also loved games showed me around a new RPG they’d gotten into. I can’t begin to express how much I loved, and was inspired by, the visuals! Of deeper impact though was learning that a lot more than 1’s and 0’s go on under the hood of games — there’s art too! As a someone who was hoping to transition into the arts after my career of the time, that game really set me on my path into creative media.

I first realized I wanted to work in the games industry after watching the making of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. Before this bonus feature, it never occurred to me that there were people behind the scenes making the games I loved. This game and its bonus content is what set me on the path to becoming a game developer.