Greg Pennick Interview - Shadow Urtheart.
Interview Date: 7th December 2007
Editorial Date: 27th April 2008
- MP3 Interview File

Hello all, today we here at the SSN have got a special treat for you guys. In the course of my University studies I am taught by many people, some of whom have worked in the games industry. One such soul is Greg Pennick, a former Kuju employee for a year and a Tutorial writer for 3d-palace for about 3 years, as well as doing freelance work for 2 years. A short time ago I got together with Greg to ask him a little about his experience about getting into the industry.

SSN: Hello Greg, for all those out there could you give us a quick overview of your experience in the industry?
G-P: I started off with a tutorial designer and then worked off onto environments and general sort of artist on a games production team.

SSN: And what were the skills you originally learned before you started in the industry?
G-P: Before I started, basic Photoshop, 3D max modelling, character modelling, that kind of thing. Before I touched 3D Max I was doing level editing and modding for games and that was before I had any sort of training or education.

SSN: Ok and how would you describe your experience while working, like with your employers and so on
G-P: It was very… very efficiently run is probably the best word, there was always somebody who you could talk to, very kind of high pace. I got into the industry just as one of the E3 festivals started, so it was kid of a bit mayhem. We had set up in small teams, there was always a designer or programmer, or a fellow artist you could talk to so there was always somebody at hand to give you a bit of advice or help you with something.

SSN: Sounds good, you’ve already answered this a bit, but what kind of people did you work with and what different skills did they have compared to your own?
G-P: What happens usually is there would be a hub of people and they would tend to set people out into, what they would call, scrums nowadays, whereby you would work in a small team with a programmer, a designer and then there would be like a lead artist or a lead designer within close radius of your team, but it really depends on what type of game you’re making, so the ones I was involved in were small mini games for handheld, PSP based stuff, so you were given like, short deadlines but with say something like a PC platform, I could imagine it being radically different.

SSN: What kind of skills did you learn in the industry, or expand into while there?
G-P: I think one of the big things is you learn a lot about team building and a lot about working with people instantly because you’re given the deadlines and you have to co-operate with people and get on, you can’t be in your own little bubble as you might be when you are learning this kind of stuff. The other thing is you tend to pick up all sorts from lead artists and designers just for the experience and you learn a faster work flow cause each studio has their own sort of pipeline you can go through so you end up picking up advice on how to approach things it just turns out faster working tips and bits and pieces, that sort of stuff.

SSN: Do you think there was anything you didn’t know that would have been useful while you were working?
G-P: That’s always the 64 million dollar question; there is always stuff you want to know, before you start a job. I think a lot of it is to never underestimate just how much artistic background that can really benefit you when you go into the industry. It’s good to know a program, it’s good to know work flow or how to do something on a computer, but the end of the day, you always need that creative edge to your work so that was something that, I think, I would of like to have expanded on even more before I had gone into the industry.

SSN: looking from outside the industry now, do you think it has changed much?
G-P: I think the industry has remained quite similar over the past 5 years. I think from the late 90s it changed radically from small developers to huge teams, and that’s pretty much stayed consistent with the Xbox 360 and PS3 development. I think what we’ve seen a lot of over the past 2 or 3 years is small pockets of Indy developers or more budget teams based towards handheld and Xbox Live maybe the virtual console and bits and pieces, where you can see the rise of the bedroom programmers again, they’re still out there, but in terms of teams it is multi million dollar year long, or 3 or 4 year long development cycles at the moment.

SSN: Ok now for the big questions, what advice would you give to people who want to start 3D modelling?
G-P: There is so much you can do, but I think it’s all about understanding what you are seeing, so observation is key. So before you dive in and touch your 3D software you need to be taking photos, drawing, doodling, brainstorming, whatever works best for you to visualise or come up with a concept. So something I might do is I’ll get a photo, I’ll get some references of something like a lizard or something I wanted to model. I’d then take time drawing it from different posses, seeing how it would work, really look at the anatomy of the piece and how it was going to function and then approach it in a modelling application. That particular workflow can differ between studios or between artists, it really depends on how you think, but I can never really stress how important it is to get reference imaging and backup, making sure you really understand what you’re approaching.

SSN: Would you say it’s probably not a good idea to delve in straight and buy a 3D modelling package?
G-P: Sure, definitely, I would always use the trail versions or the free software; there is always a lot of open source at the moment so something like Blender is quite useful to get your hands on. The one thing as well is that a lot of programs do come with their fair share of fanboys as, “this is better,” ”that’s better” but predominantly they are all the same things so as long as you can adapt to a studio’s program or work flow then that’s fine.

SSN: What advice would you give to people doing textures?
G-P: Again it’s really the observation thing which is important, and it’s the underestimation of traditional art skills such as painting, experimentation with colour, light and that kind of thing. If you wanted to get into it, again, loads of photos, loads of colour studies and that kind of thing. It’s really about how you perceive the world, so it’s the same sort of thing as modelling, but again a different skill in terms of looking at colour and light instead of the form of a model.

SSN: last of all what advice would you give to someone who wants to get into the games industry but has no idea what they want to do, as I am sure there are many out there.
G-P: I can imagine so. The games industry is something that everybody would like to be a part of at the moment with games being so popular. One of the things I remember back to when I was getting careers advice for the games industry was, and this goes back about 12 years ago or so now, and my personal tutor said “aww it doesn’t matter what you do, you know, you’ll get a chance to choose a degree, as long as you get strong A-Level results you’ll be fine.” But looking back on that now I’d probably say, if I were in that position, that you really need to do possibly a combination of Maths and Art, to really get the understanding and I’d always before taking any formal training, scope out what a university or a course, or even what a studio would recommend or require before you go there so you’ve got a good idea of the limits and the requirements for working in that position. The other thing is, you can’t help but build upon your observation skills and getting you hands onto modding projects work with some of the games out there most of them come with editors. It’s trying to prove to people that you are keen, dedicated and can work to limits so it’s important you try and hit those, that’s probably what I’d say to most people.

SSN: Ok thank you very much Greg, and I think that means I owe you a pint.
G-P: I can’t refuse that one

So there you have it folks, Greg’s advice for all those who want to get into the industry, more so for those who want to go into the real making of it.

Expect more interviews like these to follow on the SSN, all with people who have or still work in the industry.

Greg may also be willing to take some questions from you guys if you want some more info, so get in contact with me via PM or email and I’ll see what I can do.

Shadow J Urtheart