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 Vitaliy Naymushin. I've worked as an artist in the video game industry for the past 5 years, I have 6 shipped titles, and have worked at 3 different studios. I have previously worked at id Software and most recently have gotten a job as a Senior Character Artist at Blizzard Entertainment. I've always liked games, and have dabbled with mod tools and 3d apps growing up, over the years I realized I wasn't too bad at it and could actually make money doing it, so I decided to take it more seriously and thats when I ended up getting my first job in the industry. Now 5 years later I'm still at it, and can see myself doing it for a very long time, it definitely turned out to be a viable career.

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

No the Comicon challenge was not my first competition, I've entered a number of others, I've won the first dominance war, and i generally always try to keep track of these as they come up and see what people are doing. There are always lots of very creative and very well done entries to see and get inspired by.

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

Well for the previous Comicon challenge I wanted to make an awesome batman and try some interesting design ques with the suit and mostly just have fun with it. Thats probably the most important thing, if you're not having fun working on something then you're definitely doing something wrong.

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

Well, I think there are 2 things you need to do in order to be successful as an artist. 1 is you need to expose yourself to good art, and lots of it, not just video game stuff and really absorb it and try to dissect it. 2 practice on your own, practice absolutely makes perfect, you are what you do, and you can't be an artist if you don't do art. Always try to do at least something every day whether it be sketching in a notebook or modeling or learning a new program, anything. Not only is technology constantly advancing but all the artists out there that work in the industry are working 8 hours a day every workday and everyone is constantly getting better, and you have to try and keep up with that.

Was there someone, or some thing that helped make you who you are today? Is there anyone you would like to thank, or at least give a shout to?

I'm mostly self taught, but I think the person I've learned the most from was my old art director at id Software, Kenneth Scott. The online community is also a great learning tool though, there are TONS of tutorials and you can find pretty much every technique explained in great detail, there is definitely no shortage of information for those willing to look.

What plans do you have for your future?

I just want to make awesome art for awesome games, work with some really cool people and have a good time in the process.

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

Since I was just trying to have fun with it there wasn't really a plan, i wanted to keep it simple and just play around with shapes but also have the character be recognizable as batman.

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 tried to focus on presentation and creating a really cool image, so I kept alot of the other aspects of the asset relatively simple. I think i definitely learned a thing or two about lighting, colors and post effects.