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| [ about | the team | Rory Little ] |
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Modelling Support
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Evidence that work can be fun can be found in the art department at Team17,
as resident artiste extraordinaire Rory Little will tell you 'it's good to
draw'. Here at the Team17 art department, you won't find a single easel in
sight, only the latest technology combined with a large portion of
talent.
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Rory Little, artiste extraordinaire, tell us a bit about your background.
Son of great fine artists, I had to escape the family curse, or die trying:
I studied Biology at North East London Poly for as long as I could, but the
insidious siren call of art couldn't be denied. I completed my final degree
year studying the cutting edge of comic illustration, exploring the newly
opened avenues offered the comic artist, thanks to recent printing
developments.
Afterwards, I spent the next million years fighting my way into a freelance
career, in London, which was just beginning to pick up, (another million
years and I could afford my brushes!) when...
How did you get involved in the computer games industry?
An old friend from the Poly, who then worked for Team17, called, asking me
to come for an interview. The company was starting a game with a strong
comic-art visual style and he thought that, despite my complete lack of
computer experience, my specific skills and work history would dovetail
well with that project. I said 'O.K., but I'm NOT going anywhere near a
computer and that's final!' They smiled reassuringly, I joined the team.
Then they showed me the airbrush tool in Photoshop... and now I can't even
remember how to sharpen a pencil!
You're responsible for drawing some of those cool Worms we see around the
website. Can you explain to us how you created them?
First, I sharpen my pencil, (old habits die hard!). In Photoshop I create a
new file and add a couple of layers, to be working with; I don't draw on
the background, as you can't erase to transparent. With the brush tool and
a chunky 'brush' I scribble down the general picture design on layer 1 and
on subsequent layers block out the various objects' silhouettes in
apropriate mid-tone colours, keeping different colours isolated on separate
layers, for ease of selection.
With a finer 'brush' I sculpt back into these crude areas of flat colour,
using the 'brush' setting of the eraser at 100% opacity, to refine the
silhouettes. For perfect results I'll toggle between the 'B' and 'E'
keyboard shortcut buttons, alternately applying and removing paint until
I'm happy with the results.
Big files make Photoshop crash happy, so I generally try to Save every five
minutes. I also use saving as a positive drawing tool, by employing the
'magic' eraser to shade back in a previous version over the now changed
image area.
With 'Preserve Transparency' checked, I next proceed to rounding out the
silhouettes, using the airbrush tool, with a fairly large 'brush', on a
mid-20's opacity strength, darkening down the shady areas with a darker,
and maybe warmer, or cooler shade of the flat silhouette colour. When doing
this I always bear in mind the effect of stong, bright colours in the
surrounding area, which will influence the colour of the shadows I'm
painting. The principle is that everything, no matter how matte, will
reflect the colours of its neighbours. I use this concept to sit objects
into their environment and to make the scene a comfortably blended unit.
Highlights go on last, on another layer, using a combination of airbrush;
brush, with a 'fade' value; and the eraser, again. Colours used are always
tints of the base colour, not plain white, except for maybe the tiniest
pinprick at the heart of the highlight.
For metallic sparkle I dab on a few, a very few 'Lightwave'-rendered lense
flare custom 'brushes'. And that's it!
What software/hardware do you use?
I use an abacus and work out the binary on paper. Well, it
can feel like that, sometimes, when I'm working on a print-quality
illustration, or a really elaborate C.G. render and my Pentium 150 starts
to crawl and gasp for breath!
Along with the Pentium, I have an Iiyama 'Vision Master 17' monitor; an A3
Wacom Graphics Tablet, (without which I'd draw like a half squashed
spider!); a keyboard and mouse, of course; and a pencil, scalpel, putty
rubber and photocopy paper, for design sketching...still the fastest and
most flexible tools for concept doodling!
Are you 'art school trained' or a self-taught artist?
A bit of both. There was no formal teaching at the Polytechnic and I had to
figure most things out for myself. The best 'art school training' I ever
had was growing up in my family, surrounded by enthusiastic experts.
Do you think Van Gogh was really that mad?
Wibble!
Are there any artists you aspire to?
The rich ones. Hey, an overdraft is a visionary experience! Quips aside,
there are too many great artists, most of them long dead, for me to mention
any specificly, but you'd be getting warm if you said 'Flemish?'.
Where do you find inspiration these days?
In industrial strength, black, sugar-free coffee. A mug, or two of that
sump oil and the neurons start jumping! You watch the world every day of
your life; shake up the brain cells and these thoughts and memories slosh
about and start to ferment. You hope that the froth that rises to the
surface will be an inspired idea!
Do you go to art galleries? If so, what's your fave gallery?
The Uffizi, in Florence; it has a beautiful, sensitive oil of Rembrandt's
mistress, Hendricke that, five years since I saw it still haunts me.
What advice would you give to budding artists out there?
Look around you at the competition; look at yourself and honestly assess
your worth: if you're great, shout about it and be prepared to keep blowing
your own trumpet for many years until someone in the right place and time
agrees with you.
If you have a passion for a particular niche of art, computer game graphics
just for instance, make sure you expose yourself to as wide a range of art
stimuli as possible and not be confined within that niche's narrow horizon:
who can say where inspiration will come from, for you.
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| [ about | the team ] |
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Team17 would like to extend their thanks to all who played a big part in Worms2 and the success of the
original game, not least the thousands that gave us much valued feedback on our web-site.
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| Producer |
[ Martyn Brown ]
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| Development |
Craig Jones
Paul Kilburn
Paul Sharp
Espen Lyngaas
David Watson
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| Artists |
[ Danny Cartwright ]
Animation, Graphic Design & Additional Background Art
[ Rico Holmes ]
Lead Background Artist
[ Cris Blyth ]
Video Sequence Design, Animation & Production
[ Rory Little ]
Modelling Support
[ Mark Taylor ]
Modelling Support
Paul Robinson
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| Programmers |
[ Karl Morton ]
Game Code Design & Lead Programming
[ Colin Surridge ]
Menu System & Network GUI Design
[ Phil Carlisle ]
Network & Additional Programming
Rob Hill
Martin Randall
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| Sound and Music |
Bjorn Lynne
Allister Brimble
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| Web Design |
Paul James
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| Quality Assurance |
Paul Field
Paul Dunstan
Kelvin Aston
John Eggett
Mark Baldwin
Grant Towell
Andy Aveyard
Guy Palmer
Emma Aspinall
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| Original Concept |
[ Andy Davidson ]
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