Odonthe1st Interview

Gamer-Source: Odonthe1st, when did you start drawing?

Odonthe1st: I started very young, not sure when exactly because I can barely remember anything beyond high school. I foolishly never had any art instruction until about 12 years ago when I stumbled upon a great school in San Diego. Now I realize how important it is to find a good teacher and to learn from other's experience.

GS: What are some of your favorite things to draw?

Odonthe1st: People, whether simple nudes in a class or completely made up and in a fantastic environment. Or just a face in a portrait or caricature. When inventing a character I tend to not cover up the body as much as I should because I love drawing anatomy. But not the parts you might think, boobs and butts are nice to look at and they get attention but I like drawing knees, hands, wrists...anywhere there is lots going on under the skin.

GS: What was your inspiration for your Barbarian?

Odonthe1st: Basically I was just stoked to hear D3 was being made and wanted to do some D3 art. I actually did another barbarian female piece and was never happy with it so this was kind of making up for that. I never like my own stuff for long even if I like it at first.

GS: This may be a boring question, but who are some of your inspirations?

Odonthe1st: Frank Frazetta is still a god. John Buscema, Steve Huston (best artist and teacher I've ever known)... I could name dozens: Paul Bonner, Simon Bisley, Robert McGinnis, Rockwell, Alex Nino, Kirby, Claire Wendling, Jim Murray, Walter Simonson, Sargent, Mucha, Greg Staples, Justin Sweet, Vance Kovacs

GS: Wow quite a list! What is your current favorite Blizzard game?

Odonthe1st: Current favorite is WoW, I just quit in May to get some work done. I had 2 accounts with maxed toons on them and was trying to raid with them, takes way too much time to keep your gear up. Planning on playing again after the summer. Before that it was Diable 1 and 2. When D3 comes out I'll quite Wow again, no doubt, it looks awesome and I got to play it at Blizzcon 08.

GS: What do you do for a living? What is your ideal job?

Odonthe1st: Currently I run my own small company booking artists to work events and I do freelance art. I'm getting kind of bored though and realizing that nice as working for yourself is, it's not really satisfying me artistically. Which brings me to the 'ideal job' question: I've been looking for work as a concept artist but perhaps I need to be a bit less selective of the companies I submit too. I would probably enjoy being part of any studio working on just about any type of game but so far I've only submitted to a few studios working on superhero and fantasy games. Probably the best job I could imagine would be concept artist for Blizzard working on D3. I've submitted to Blizzard several times and I live 20 minutes from Blizzard's studios in Irvine, hint, hint...