Mark, the ever-so-charming editor of the Sulake paper, has returned with a special interview!
For the second issue, he is chatting to Painimies, one of Sulake’s graphic designers. Before the actual interview, here’s some background information on him. He first started working with graphics at the age of 13 when his mum bought him a brand new Mac computer (at a hefty price too, but at the time she wasn’t aware. Classic trick…) and he started with programs as basic as Paintbrush! At 16, the CEO of To The Point, a Finnish multimedia company, employed him at their first meeting, and it all led from there…
Mark: What’s your role in Sulake?
Painimies: It’s varied a bit over the years (11 of them), but mostly I’ve been designing and drawing
Furni, as well as making them “work”. Lots of furnies. I’ve also designed one of the old habbo.com
looks. This one HERE (it’s also the one on the right of the page).
What else? I’ve designed 5 hotel views, Brazil, USA, Canada, China and Germany, worked on
graphics and game design for both versions of SnowStorms, I’ve designed several of the old Public
Spaces including the Library. Right now I’m working in the Games team building future mini-games
for Habbo.
Mark: What skills, training is required?
Painimies: Having a good taste is definitely a plus, but everyone can learn to draw like a champ just
by practicing. It’s a commonly held belief that being able to draw well is something you are born
with, but it actually is just lots of repeats, just like in most any field of work. (Heck, even Van Gogh
learned to draw from a book. He had a vision and wanted to be able to express it.)
After that, I would suggest you watch and study a lot of graphic design, as well as art history, since
in my opinion, all of the greatest graphic designers know their arts.
Lastly, it’s just learning the different tools you are going to be using. In my case it’s mainly
Photoshop, but also some Flash, Illustrator and After Effects. Nowadays, I’m experimenting with
some 3D programs, in case I someday get a good idea and making it happen requires some 3D stuff.
Mark: Is there any one Furni you’ve made that you’re really proud of? And why?
Painimies: I don’t have any specific favorites, and I don’t really remember most of the stuff I’ve
done, so I’ll just name some that come to mind:
-
I think the first Furni I did was the holoboy.
-
The sizeable beanstalk was fun to draw, since I didn’t have to worry about corners, perspective and such.
-
I quite like the gothic table.
-
The disco ball was surprisingly tricky to animate without a 3D model.
-
I’ve done the Executive set, and I like it because they are the kind of furniture I like in real life as well. Dark wood, leather, clear lines, that sort of thing.
-
I love how you can stack USVA shelves without getting that black line between pieces. Same goes for that one sand patch I did.
-
Crystal patch was a pain in the butt to do, but I’m not sure if it was entirely worth the trouble.
-
Actually, maybe I AM proud of one thing: The way Bling pool fools you into thinking you are sitting below floor surface, even though it’s just a regular chair.
-
Oh, and I have to mention the huge movie “screen”, just because it’s so big. What a job it was to make it work.
Mark: What are the main things you keep in mind when designing a Furni?
Painimies: Sometimes, I have no say in what I have to design next: someone might have already
decided on a Furni set, or there might be some very specific thing I’ll have to make for an
advertiser, etc. Those usually end up being the least interesting pieces.
When I get to design myself, I have but one rule: I want to make something I would personally like.
I tend to go towards stuff that you can use as building blocks, since to me, the Lego-like aspect of
room building is the most interesting thing in Habbo.
I also want to always try out things we haven’t done on Habbo yet, and try to find out the limits of
our Furni engine. I also prefer functional stuff over mere decorations.
To read the full article between the pair, click HERE! Did you like this conversation about Furni? Or would you rather he had spoke more about designing the layouts of Habbo? Leave your thoughts below!
Powered by WPeMatico
(No Ratings Yet)