”Several artists are working hard to bring you stunning characters in Othercide, and Antoine Dupuis is one of them! Working as a 3D Character Artist since the beginning of the project, he has faced various challenges – but his love for the universe we created stayed the same over time.
What was your career like before working as a 3D Character Artist on Othercide?
My career basically started with Lightbulb Crew as it is my first full-time job as a Character Artist. I did a bit of freelancing work for a few weeks in between graduation and starting here. Before this, I was working on a student indie game with friends from game art school back in Belgium.
When I joined the crew, I worked for 6 months on Games Of Glory, which has been a completely different experience than Othercide.
What challenges do you face when working as a 3D Character Artist?
When working as a 3D Character Artist, the main challenge is to make sure your characters will look good and believable at the end of a process you’re only a part of.
It means two things; of course you need to make a nice character that looks good, but most importantly, you need to make a character that works and causes no problem for riggers, animators,… You need to think about all of the moves your character can do in the game, and create a topology that can deform nicely when animated, sometimes refining the design if needed.
Also as characters are most of the time the “face” of a game, there can be a pressure around making them well enough so they don’t make the game look bad.
What is your main motivation about working on Othercide?
My main motivation working on Othercide is help making the game the best game it can be, not focusing only on characters. Othercide as a whole resonates a lot with me and I want players to feel all the universe and story we made and resonate with it as well. I am proud to have been working on it since day one, and I hope to ship the game as my first full production.
Where does your inspiration come from when creating? Do you have artists in mind who you think are different?
When creating, I take inspiration from lots of things, but my main sources are metal music, video games, comics and my personal struggles.
Of course there are lots of Character Artists who inspire me, I couldn’t list them all, but I for sure remember studying to become a Character Artist mainly looking up to Yekaterina Bourykina and Jon Troy Nickel.
I also get inspired by metal artists who keep experimenting and pushing boundaries with their concepts, such as Misha Mansoor (Periphery), Lucas Mann (Rings Of Saturn), Michael Keene (The Faceless), Matt Heafy (Trivium)… These lists could go on forever!
Would you have tips to give to aspiring artists?
If I could give advice to aspiring character artists, it would be to start small, and build your skills and knowledge one step at a time. Try to learn a new skill, software or technique with each project. Start with busts, heads, props, anatomy, and move to more complete and complex characters. Work on characters and art styles you love, not ones you think companies are looking for. Because that’s what will get you working on for hours and get hired for.
Check Antoine’s Art Station profile if you would like to see more of his work!