Meet living-oxymoron
Last Updated (Tuesday, August 18 2009)
Another installment from a great artist across the web who also dig games! Say hello to living-oxymoron!
Would you like to start with a brief bio about yourself?
My name's Ted McClung, I'm 24, and I make games for Knife Edge Software currently, and am working on a graphic novel called Apocrypha in my spare time.
At what age did you decide to live the dream and become an artist as a profession?
I only really started drawing seriously about midway through high school. I didn't really know what direction I wanted to take it at that point, but I knew I wanted to do it professionally.
What are some of the hardships you may have faced in getting to where you are today? (professional)
Getting a foot in the door cause I never went to college. Many companies wouldn't even consider me without a decent amount of experience. I ended up working various crap jobs for years just to make ends meet while pouring all of my spare time into my art. It was hard, but eventually my portfolio was enough to land me a job in the industry.
Could you break down your creative process and how you complete an illustration from start to finish.
First I come up with a concept. I like to have the whole image complete in my mind before I start. Then I'll sketch it out, refine the composition, put everything in it's place before proceeding with the shading, painting or inking, depending on what style/medium I'm using. I switch mediums all the time to keep myself practiced with everything. Lately I've been sticking pretty exclusively to PS, since I've been doing a lot of Apocrypha work.
Gamer huh? What systems do you currently have and play? What game takes up your time at the moment?
Currently I have an Atari 2600, a NES, SNES, Genesis, Dreamcast, Wii, PS3, XBox 360, of course a PC, and I'm building an arcade cabinet. To be honest, lately I haven't been playing many games cause I've been working a lot. I played Red Faction Guerrilla quite a bit cause it's awesome, and I've been mainly sticking to Garry's Mod at LAN parties.
How healthy is the game industry at the moment?
That's kind of hard to talk about, since I can't really publicly divulge any intimate details about my company's experience with the most recent economic crash. Still, it's no secret that as an entertainment industry, our products are viewed largely as gratuitous, so we've been hit fairly hard. Because of the nature of our business though, we get our money from previously released products, so the effects haven't really been felt immediately by anyone but management.
Getting into comics used to be a dream by every 13 year with talent. Now the trend is getting in video games. What role do you think comics still have on today's pop culture?
Haha, I don't really read comics, honestly. I know, it's weird to be working on a graphic novel when I don't even read them. I think comics are just as relevant to our culture now as they were before video games, perhaps even more so. More and more comics are being made into movies lately, and that's brought the classic characters to a much broader audience, and I think that just means more and more people will be going out and picking up the books, people who wouldn't have otherwise. Reading comics still identifies you as part of a specific social group, just like video games. I don't think that's outdated at all.
Who are some artist that you admire?
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto was a huge influence on me in high school. In the past few years it's been largely Jim Lee, Art Germ, Andree Wallin, Chamba, and my good friend Jeff Axer, cause he's a fantastic artist, and just straight up tenacious. The guy never freaking quits, he's amazing.
Sleeping, Eating, Working, Personal art time, Video Games, Romance, Friends and Family...put these in order in terms of importance in your life.
Working, Romance, Friends, Sleeping, Eating, video games and personal art. In that order.
Last, but most important question...how would you survive the coming Zombie Apocalypse?
Oh that's easy. I'm going to assume you're talking about the Romero zombies and not the 28 days later zombies. I carry a metal pipe in the back of my car for just such an occasion. Of course I'd meet up with some of my close friends, the ones who know what do do in this kind of situation. Leave the rest. I know it sounds cold, but the more unprepared people you have, the more likely they're going to get you killed. Hijack a bus, clean out a gun store, and head over to the place with the largest stockpiling of not only non-perishable food items, but everything else you need: Costco. We'd make our way inside and clear out the immediate area, temporarily barricade the doors with heavy boxes using the loading equipment, clear out the rest of the warehouse using the guns, shotguns for tight clusters, switching to pistols/rifles for longer range. And obviously we'd turn the automatic doors off. Then we'd take apart some of those huge metal shelves and bolt the pieces over the doors using equipment from the hardware section. We'd then throw all of the infected bodies off the roof into the street below. AND NEVER LET ANYONE IN. That's the number one mistake people make in zombie films, is letting more people in. Cause usually they're being followed by a horde and you're letting down your defenses. Not to mention the possibility that they're infected. Common sense.
Thanks again Ted! Awesome work!
Check out his Full Gallery Here!
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