Todd SumamnoSteve Firchow is a talented artist with rich experience. He was born in New Guinea, now living in Seattle, U.S.. If you are familiar with the games Call of Duty or Legendary, yes, he is part of them too. Maybe your favorite character of the games is his work. Steve work as a freelance illlustrator as well.
He has experience of working for Marvel, Topcow, DC and others; other than that, he has done traditional and digital illustration for many advertising and publishing agencies. Through the interview below, we can learn more about this talented artist. Let’s look forward to what Steve would bring to us in the future.
Q1. First I would like to thank you for taking up the interview.
You are a freelance illustrator and at the same time working fulltime in game development. What do you think is the difference of the two roles and which one do you like more?
There are several differences between the freelancer and salaried employee. As a freelancer I have a lot of flexibility in my schedule. I can work whenever I want as long as I deliver the art at the appointed deadline. I can work at home in my casual clothes or even in bed if I want:) I can choose which jobs I want to accept. I don’t have a “Boss”.
As a fulltime artist for a game developer, I have to work specific hours and I have much less freedom to choose what kind of art I want to make…BUT, I also have a gauranteed source of work/pay and I’m surrounded by other artists that I can learn from. There is also a sense of community that is hard to find as a freelancer. When I was younger, I preferred freelancing but now I like working in a studio with other artists.
Q2. You have been part in developing Spark Unlimited’s games Call of Duty and Legendary, how would you describe the experience?
Call of Duty was the first game I worked on. In many ways the experience was terrible. Certain influences(technical and publishing)made the development of COD:FinestHour a living hell. After COD:FinestHour I almost quit game work but the chance to work with my friends on our own franchise was very attractive so I stayed to help develop Legendary. The end result was not what we originally imagined because of money issues(we didn’t have enough) but the process of making the game was very fun!
Q3. So far you have created many excellent pieces. Where does your inspiration come from?
Thank you! The inspiration for my art comes from many places. I like to read, so many of the illustrations I’ve done have come from books…Tolkien,Stephen R. Donaldson, CS lewis etc. I am also inspired by ‘streams-of-consiousness’. Somtimes I have a simple thought that is like a small rock rolling down a hill.
As the little rock rolls it increases speed and starts other rocks(thoughts/images) rolling and soon it changes direction and grows into an avalanche! The final image occurs when the avalanche hits the bottom of the montain.
Q4. You are now working as a Senior Artist at BigFish Games, could you tell us what’s your current project?
I am the art director(I got promoted!) on HiddenExpedtion#4. Most BigFish games are built in Flash or Director. There is no real-time 3d like on console games but we use Maya, Zbrush, Mudbox and other 3d programs as well as Photshop and Painter to create environments and characters that our games are built on.
Q5. How much time does it take to finish a piece? And normally what’s your process when creating a piece?
For my illustration work at BigFish I spend 6-8 days per image. This includes drawing and painting concepts, building 3d models and executing the final image.
For my personal work sometimes an image takes a few hours and sometimes several weeks! I always start with small pencil sketches that are scanned,enlarged, printed, re-drawn with more detail and colored. Then I make 3d models, collect reference and make the final painting… most often in Photoshop but sometimes in Oil or Acrylic.
Q5. What’s your philosophy for work and life?
Art must NEVER take priority over human relationships. I love makeing art and it will always be my chief passion but my relationships with friends and family ALWAYS come first. When I’m a very old man, it will be my friends and family that help me to live, not the pictures I’ve painted .
Brittany Maslo