Conventional wisdom states that we are a product of our environment, but the inverse is also true – our environment is a product of us. This push and pull relationship is especially explicit when one designs environments for a living, such as in the case of Lucia Souralaysak, a senior environment artist at Redhill Games.
Lucia hails from the French-speaking part of Belgium but has lived in Finland for 6 years now. She describes her journey into working in the video game industry as being a product of her dual passions for art and games, specifically their environment and biomes.
Ways of Learning:
Her initial dive into the industry was facilitated by an academic course on video games in Namur, a small city in Belgium however, after two years of study, Lucia decided that the academic format of studying video games was not suited to her particular preferences.
Along came YouTube. Even though the platform’s comparatively low barrier for entry means that it’s sometimes difficult to distinguish between genuinely useful information and videos that promise to teach you valuable skills but instead just waste your time, the sheer amount of raw info that populates the platform means that with enough determination and good critical thinking skills one can turn it into a resource that rivals any professionally compiled curriculum. This was Lucia’s approach to building up a portfolio that eventually got her hired for an industry job, proving unconventional approaches to self-education can be a pathway to success in the modern era.
Animating in Style:
The progression of Lucia’s craft within the field of 3D animation saw her go from admiring realism during her learning process due to it being technically impressive to becoming enamored with more stylized approaches. According to Lucia, the experience of a particular game triggered this shift in perspective – a 2D side-scrolling game called Odin Sphere. She commented on the way the art style has a different appeal to traditional realism, stating: “at least to my eyes it’s much more like dynamic, and you can exaggerate the form, the shape. You can also compose a bit the way you want”.
When asked about ways to develop skills in the area of 3D art, Lucia had some great insights to share: “To become a good 3D artist or just artist in general, it’s important to be honest with yourself, because if you think you are the best, then you’re not the best. It’s super important to not also be too harsh to yourself, because you have to learn how to step forward, also being super curious, then you kind of, open your views, your mindset. In every kind of field, there [is] something important to learn”.
Company’s Environment:
When reflecting on Redhill’s role in her professional development, Lucia praised both the variety of projects the company tackles as a part of its co-development operation and the culture of the company itself:
Redhill, it’s a really cool place to work, because you have multiple projects. I had a chance to work for Overwatch, for example, which is super great. It’s a really great experience. The new office is super cool. It’s a big space, It’s easy to communicate with your colleagues. It’s very well located as well.
“What I like in Redhill is also the people. People are really nice, joyful, I would say in general. Being in a company, the people are the most important because you spend like 8 hours a day in the office, and you do want to enjoy your time there. So, that’s why it’s so important for me to enjoy my colleagues. That’s why I like being here”.
Watch the full video here.
