Let's start at the beginning, Can you introduce yourself? Why game > character art and how did you get to where you are today?

Hi, my name is Jacque Choi. I’m a Senior Character Artist working at Artificial Mind and Movement, and have been working in Video Games since 2000. I started drawing when I was 3 and obsessively drew from comic books until High School. Under the advice of my Art Teacher, I turned my focus to getting a career in Classical Animation, but shortly into my time at Art School I was introduced to 3D (which is the area where I decided to focus my education). I began my career in games back in 2000 for various startup MMO studios in Vancouver as a 3D Generalist, but the industry started shifting artists into more specialized roles. I became a Character Artist mainly because I had an intrinsic connection in creating them. Growing up, I always drew comic characters, and later earned a BFA in Life Drawing. There’s such incredibly gratifying experience having a controller in your hand, and running around with a character you’d just created and jumping/punching, or just blowing their heads off. I chose to work in Videogames because of my relentless obsession with Street Fighter 2, Zelda Ocarina of Time, Diablo 2, and Starcraft.

Was this your first competition? What are your thoughts about this new annual challenge and online wip competitions in general?

My first contest was the Dominance War 2. I learned a LOT during that competition, and saw what other artists were doing to improve. Before going into any challenge, I usually can identify an area of my work that could use some drastic improvement or a technique that I had never tried or applied. I generally use these challenges as a tool to improve my own skill set, and an opportunity to create characters I wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to work on at my job. I also get some pretty invaluable feedback from my peers, and get subjected to interesting ideas, techniques, and more efficient workflows. I also find I’m developing a better critical eye when giving another artist a critique on their work.

How did you come up with your idea to make your entry?

It was quite difficult trying to nail down a character that I really wanted to work on. Prior to starting my entry, I realized I needed more practice making female characters, with a heavy focus on style, while avoiding going with anything ‘gross’, or overly detailed (which I found to be a crutch in most pieces I had done). I really wanted to work on a project that would challenge my understanding of silhouette, shapes, and form. After quite a bit of brainstorming, I realized that I should try making a caricaturized overly-sexy Jessica Rabbit type Comic Hero, in the style of Hyung Tae Kim. That made Morrigan one of the more obvious choices.

What would be your advice for aspiring game character artists out there? What type of training do you think would be helpful in becoming a successful character artist?

Practice! Always look for ways to improve your art. Keep a huge reference folder of visuals that inspire you. And never stop learning. Learn how to receive, and give criticism. Develop your critical eye for everything. Don’t always keep things safe, try things you have never done before, and then improve them.

What motivates you as an artist?

A LOT of my motivation stems from simply noticing aspects of my own art I feel I can greatly improve upon, and culminating an idea that allows me to really show that. I also get inspired by other art (not just video games), and seeing what our peers are doing.

Can you describe from concept to the final beauty render, what it took for you complete your entry? What your initial plans were, and how they reflect on your final product?

Generally I wanted to get all of my ideas out on my concept page, and get them working cohesively. I didn’t want to give Morrigan a completely different outfit, but I did want to change a few things I thought were rather silly in the original design. I really wanted to have a solid understanding of what I was making, rather than winging it, and hoping it would somehow magically work in the end (it hardly ever does for me). The final beauty shot is close to where I originally envisioned it, but I still look back at parts of it and cringe. If I had to do it over again, I think it would look a LOT different.

What would you say, was the biggest part of the production process? And what skill would you say you sharpened while you were at it??

I think the biggest part of the production process was the concept phase. I really think I focused most of my attention in that area, so the rest was pretty straight forward. I sharpened my eye for proportions, negative space, relations between muscle groups, and how all these factors affect silhouette, and how that silhouette tells a story about the character.

What plans do you have for your future?

Artistically, I really want to focus on my texturing painting and character design skills. I’d also like to work on my Hard surface modeling skills, and build up some more speed in my overall workflow. Overall, I’m driven to work in cool places on cool games, while working with other passionate and driven artists and gamers.