Fred Galpern talks to Massive Black, the San Francisco-based indie team of concept artists, sculptors and animators. They are the go-to guys when the entertainment industry needs visual development and asset creation.
Walking around Folsom Street in San Francisco provides many sights, some mundane, some worth further inspection. At one end of the street, you find the usual chain stores, offering their generic wares. Moving away from what is essentially a vast outdoor mall, cruising past the ritzy hotels, you might find yourself in a more esoteric zone, populated by a unique restaurant here and there, a few boutique shops specializing in custom messenger bags or one-of-a-kind trendy clothing. Along the way, youll probably look right past the myriad nondescript buildings, your mind writing them off as low rent office space or overpriced, undersized apartments. If you happen to come across a black rooster sticker on one of the windows, stop for a second, look up to the second floor and locate a few mysteriously darkened windows. Unbeknownst to the average passerby, hidden behind the ominous glass exterior, exists the carefully concealed secret headquarters of none other than Massive Black: art saviors to game, film and TV productions alike.
Taking on multiple projects, while never missing their deadlines, the artists on staff are arguably the best of the best. This talent is what is making Massive Black one of the most sought after independent art teams. The company is lead by Jason Manley, known for his outspoken ways, as well as his über-popular Concept Art.org web forum. The Massive Black team includes concept artists, sculptors, animators and more. Manley describes his team of 60-plus creators as a high-profile, quality group of talented artists who have become the art team to go to when the entertainment industry needs a hand with visual development and asset creation. We specialize in 2D and 3D art production for videogames, film, television and entertainment. We do everything from concept design to modeling, texturing and animation. We make entertainment look really good. The Massive Black crew is quick to joke, as Manley does when he refers to his position with the company: I am El Presidente! Im the primary point of contact for the studio. I handle company vision and business development for all our studios (San Francisco, Shanghai and now opening in Bangkok, Thailand). I use my art background and creative upbringing in non-artistic ways. He then adds forlornly, Yeah, I dont paint much anymore.
One of the talented artists helping Manley manage projects at Massive Black is Coro, a fine artist who found his way to digital art almost by accident. He describes his background: I began as an illustrator and fine art painter, and kind of fell into videogames. I have been working in games for about six years now, and have contributed to around 60 titles in some way or another. I began as an environment artist, moved more heavily into concept, and somehow wound up teaming up with these great artists and creating Massive Black. He went on to detail his role with Massive Black saying, In addition to my duties as a concept artist, I serve as a liaison between the client and my staff. I discuss with the clients what specifically they are after, and relay that to my guys, trying to coordinate everyone into making sure we all deliver on the same page.
After studying art in Arizona, Manley ended up at Black Isle Studios as a concept artist. This led to founding Concept Art.org, which is now the largest community focused on painting and drawing on the Internet. I worked for a number of studios and publishers before settling down and getting started on Massive Black with the most talented group I have ever known. Manley boasts.
Discussing what projects they are working on with the Massive Black guys can be tricky. Many of their contracts are with high profile, top-secret projects, some of which may never disclose their use of outside art contractors. While they may need to keep certain aspects of their work to themselves, they are quick to share their favorite kinds of projects. When asked what kinds of projects he finds most interesting, Coro says, I like variety. I enjoy working on multiple projects, and like to keep them as varied as possible. My ideal day is to work on an evil storm trooper of the future before lunch, paint a matte of a tropical beach in the afternoon, and finish up with a medieval barbarian dancing with a teddy bear in the evening. It keeps the work fresh, and keeps me on my toes.
Manley concurs: I enjoy working on projects where the creative side is stretching their limits and learning, and the management side happens invisibly. The best thing about working at Massive Black for me is that it is all interesting stuff that comes through these doors. We feel fortunate to be able to work on the best projects in the games and film industries. I enjoy working on conceptart.org too... the workshops are very inspiring.
The workshops he refers to are a continuing series of multi-day art training events. To date, workshops have been held in Prague, Montreal and in Massive Blacks hometown of San Francisco. Each workshop offers sessions taught by top artists, many of them employed full-time by Massive Black. Attendees range from students hoping to break into an art career to professionals looking to bolster their skills with further learning. Each workshop has been more successful than the last; the most recent workshop, held over a four-day run in Montreal, boasted hundreds of attendees. They have more workshops planned, and are considering stretching the idea even further, possibly offering classes in an organized school setting.
Manley shares some of the difficulties hes faced in the game industry: I think I was most challenged working on my first game, Icewind Dale. I had a six- year art education and it took my full attention to jump into the videogame world and become a leader on that project. After that, I felt like I had the confidence to get out and take some risks with my career. [Black Isle Studios] was a fantastic studio for an artist to work at. I saw how the games industry worked and also had hardcore, in-the-trenches experience. We shipped four games in less than four years, with a team of 50 or so. That is where I learned production. Production is always a challenging situation.
The recent changes to the gaming industry, brought on by the power of modern PCs, as well as the extreme capabilities of the next-gen game consoles, are also of concern. The games industrys current strength is that art training, technology and design has never been so well educated and experienced as a whole, Manley adds. The core of the games industry has been in a nest of research and development for the past three years. Creatively, the industry is going to blossom. There is a leaning toward experimentation that I have not sensed being this strong in my years of experience. There is a rejection of old industry dogma happening. There is also a large shift in resources happening as team sizes are exploding. The biggest challenge will be for the industry to figure out how to grow, to move forward, and expand into new areas so that it can stay a healthy biz. Art wise, the talent is ready to rock. The 3D, the 2D and design communities know what is capable with the tools they have at their disposal. I have never seen a better opportunity for the industry to do something really friggin cool as now.
Coro sees change as an essential part of the landscape. Games have gone from costing $1 million to $30 million and teams keep getting bigger as well. It seems like people are taking it more seriously than they have in the past as a result. The larger the projects and teams get, the more difficult things get to manage. Especially for the people typically in charge, since they normally come from the good old days when you could make a title with like five guys. Trying to track a team of 50 people can be an insane task. Production problems such as this make outsourcing a very attractive option, but if that road is taken it still requires pipeline adjustment within the in-house development. I think ultimately things will keep getting bigger and better, and it will always get sorted out as long as publishers are down to hurl large amounts of money at the problems. I see the industry probably ending up as something akin to the movie industry, with several effects houses working on one title in tandem.
Fred Galpern is the art manager for Blue Fang Games, located just outside Boston. He is also a part-time Maya instructor at Northeastern University and a co-creator of the game development program at Bristol Community College. Since entering the digital art field more than 10 years ago, Galpern has helped ship more than 10 products and held management positions in several game and entertainment companies, including Hasbro and Looking Glass Studios. He began his art career in comic books and also has interactive, print and web graphic design experience.
