artist

This is a dream entry from after I came out of school in 2013. While nothing noteworthy sets it up above others, I do remember the last scene vividly; I do believe something more was at play here. So here goes.

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Original Dream Date: July 7, 2013

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Dream started out with me in my bedroom. Some German person (probably a guy but pretty sure it was a girl, not sure) commissioned me to make 8 portraits of young women. They would’ve been from the waist up, early 20s; as if they were sitting and staring at the viewer, hands in their lap.

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I’ve been drawing for quite a long time. I sadly can’t say I’ve been drawing for most of my entire life, but it’s safe to say I’ve been drawing for 1/3rd if not more of it.

As described in my previous story about deviantART, my art skills didn’t really take off until I had access to the platform. A couple of years before that I had taken a short three-week special course at Walters State in a summer drawing class. That helped up my skills a whole bunch over my pre-teen drawings. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible, either.

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In 2001, I was slowly allowed to start buying PC games that I liked with my allowance. The first few titles were stuff available off the Big Lots store shelf, as they were often cheaper. Things like Bugdom and Disney’s Atlantis: Trial by Fire. However, one winter evening near Christmas a game caught my attention. It was a game by the name of Fargate, and it was 50% off in a bargain bin when I had walked in that day. I HAD to get it, considering it looked to be a more complicated game than the “standard” education games I’d play.

It was quite a trip. I had technical difficulties with the game for several years so I never played it past the 4th stage. When I went to college in 2010, I discovered my issues stemmed from the CD being scratched around the rim. I found a cheap replacement copy on eBay and proceeded to beat the game not too far after.

My original manual from 2001, along with the more recently acquired CD case from eBay. I possess the box but was not able to find it for publishing this interview.

When I started to do my interview series, Fargate was one of the games I had an easier time finding people who worked on. In addition to finding such little background information on the game, I felt a proper notation in the interwebs was needed.

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So in my hunt of people to interview and ask questions for the “Summer of Gaming” series, I broadened by horizons. Not only would I just focus on the guys that made my favorite games from the 90’s when I grew up, I’d also poke at some more recent fellows.

This search led me to S.C. Watson, an illustrator and artist for Space Empires V, a game I spent a whole lot of time on before getting a great new computer in 2007. His iconic “painted” portraits of the races always stuck with me, giving a greater “realism” to the game than the previous 3D models. He’s a self-taught artist, doing all sorts of traditional and digital work.

After some hunting I finally found Shane’s portfolio site and contacted him via e-mail. Explaining my intentions and project, he willingly agreed to contribute.

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