Mostly because of the people who are leveling said criticism: 

As far as Michelle Obama’s comments about her being proud of being an American for the first time? Well, that sounds about right. I have been an American for 33 years and its hard for me to remember more than a handful of times I have been really "proud" of being one. Can you? What are they, exactly?

Watching this congressman from GA reminded me of one of the reasons I left GA to move west in the first place.

I am going to rebrand and repurpose this site. In the past it served as a place to comment on social media technology, new betas I was testing and marketing. Well, times change and those things aren’t as interesting to me anymore. So, instead of talking about those things I will just blog about ‘whatever.’

I decided that I am going to be drunk this election season. Normally, drinking is fun, if kept in moderation. But I told my wife that if Hillary wins the nomination for the democratic party I am going to get shit faced. If Obama wins it, I will only get a nice buzz on because i will want to remember the occassion.

Now, if for some reason McCain wins the general election (or any Republican, barring a miracle from Huckabee), I am going to go for alcohol poisoning. I might even try hardcore drugs. Never done them before but that will be a reason to start as our country will really be going to hell.

Of course, i will blog all of that and take pictures so you can make fun of me.

Earlier last week Q and I sat down with one of the many talented GAX Community Members who also happen to work in the gaming industry to ask a few questions. In this first GAX Community Spotlight feature, we ask Maxx Marshall of Blizzard fame about how he got started in the business, what it takes to be successful as a game artist and what he likes most about GAX.

Talk about your gaming background, including any early games that opened the door for you to get interested in gaming. 
 
I’ll start by saying i owned a Tandy TRS-80 when i was tiny. In the 70’s I played text adventures on that system ALL the time, I’d pop in a cassette press "play" and i’d be off to some strange new world of boring text. I then decided to begin working on my own text game. One proud morning, i gave my dad (the only one who even cared about games in our house) a folder with maps, monsters,  and a cassette. Later i’d program boxy images of the monsters into the game (very VERY boxy monsters).

From there i’d go on to Apples, Compaqs, Wangs, Amigas and then PC’s. In college my friend asked if i wanted to buy his sega genesis, it was most likely 6 or 7 years old by then, but it opened a WHOLE new world of games and gameplay for me. My favorite game, Syndicate, even had a genesis version that i’d never played.

After that i’d buy any and all systems i could get my hands on, NES, SNES, PS1, Jaguar, etc.

So i can say that i’ve been gaming or trying to make games since i was very small.

 
You obviously have an art background (judging by your profile page). When did you start drawing? Were you trained on art in school or did you just have natural talent? 
 
I can’t really remember NOT drawing. Memories of family trips to California and New York are all peppered with me drawing space battles and alien creatures. Unfortunately, I grew up in a household where boys were accountants (like dad) and girls were to be creative (My mom would’ve given Martha Stewart a run for her money) so all my art was done on the sly.

If i could draw on the computer, I was "learning" to use computers. If I was graphing out D&D and Marvel adventures maps, I was learning to use graph paper. At one point i stopped drawing because of "accounting pressures" and my grades dropped, I began getting antsy and I kept getting these killer headaches. The next semester i was enrolled in art classes at school and it all stopped. Art is like smoking to me, it’s a release.

As for art school, 5% of my art is school. I had classes, I got C’s and D’s because i like a good argument. I would be asked to draw something that meant "peace" and draw intricately designed nuclear missile silos. I would then argue with the teacher, get kicked out of class, have my parents argue with the teacher, have the principal brought in to mediate, argue with the principal, be admitted back to class and get a D for an assignment that most of the other kids had drawn flowers and peace signs.
 
When did you realize that you wanted to become an artist working in the games industry? How did you get your foot in the door? 
 
I was working for my parents, managing their office rental company in Detroit, when i randomly decided to be an artist. I’d live a rock and roll lifestyle and be admired by everyone!!!

I had my friends at various copy shops help me put together packets of my artwork. Then I went online and grabbed a list of ALL the game companies and their addresses. (it was easier back then, no one was scared to post their address) I sat down and with EVERY submission packet, i included a piece of art based SOLELY around their properties and styles. I thensent them out whenever i had money. I’d get paid, I’d send stuff out. I’d begun this HUGE pile of refusals. CAPCOM, SONY, MIDWAY, etc. (note that since then I’ve worked on Okami, Daxter/God of War and Ready 2 Rumble Boxing)

All these companies liked my art but had no place for me.

Then i received a call from blizzard. I did an art test for them, and waited, I stole my buddies pager so that they could tell me if i was hired. a few days later while eating nachos, the pager buzzed and i was told i was leaving for california…..and yes i did cry. I was going to this small company of 30-40 kids who were unknown except for this warcraft game.

My most embarrassing story here for all of you to read:

I’d gotten to the office for my first day of work and was learning 3DsMax when my phone rang. My mom called and we talked about my impressions of Orange County. After a bit a voice came over the intercom calling for a company meeting. I got off the phone and followed some kids to the conference room. Allen Adham (Blizzard’s founder) was holding a meeting about all the changes in workflow for Starcraft and Diablo. Then at the end of the meeting, he introduced me to the office. "I was asked to 
man the phones for a few minutes and Maxx’s mother called, she seems like a wonderful woman, and she made sure to asked that we "take care of her SPECIAL little guy". So i hope we’ll all do our best to take care of Maxx.") yeah….yeah…that lost me any street  cred/Rock and Roll artist lifestyle I’d envisioned. 
 
 
Talk about some of the projects you have worked on for Blizzard? Specifically what titles have you worked on and what part did you play in those projects? 
 
I started at Blizzard at the end of Warcraft 2.

When I came in the first images of Diablo were being tossed around. I looked at the screenshots we were sending to Next Gen and was WOWED by them. The game was rough when i got there, it was sorta boring. I remember when Blizzard stopped Starcraft work and (sort of) took over Diablo from Blizzard North.

I went from designing aliens to sketching monsters. I did a fair bit but it’s been a while. I did a lot of art in the manual when they were ramping back down. I remember one dinner where a group of artists and designers from Blizzard decided to see what we could do to spruce up Diablo. We riffed forhours until 2-3 am. In the end every one of those ideas written down made it in. I was moved to Starcraft after that, it was still drawn sprites at that time, the 3D wasn’t implemented until later. I started drawing monsters and aliens for the zerg. I have to say that met my stride on Starcraft. I recall just taking over the zerg. I made the general carapace-y meat feeling of them, and translated that into their buildings, (I modeled and animated them all) and their units (modeled and animated many of them as well).

I was asked to make a terran SUV type thing but i couldn’t get my head around it, so i started drawing more zerg units, they were used in the expansion set. I was moved onto Warcraft Adventures, Blizzard’s point and click adventure that was canned after a bit, I did storyboards for the animated scenes. I then split off with the original "Team Two" which eventually became the team responsible for World of Warcraft (though our initial project was a little bit different).

That was when i left Blizzard. I worked with my friends for a bit, I moved back to Michigan for a bit, then i came back to Blizzard in the Middle of World of Warcraft. Finished that and moved on to Ready at Dawn which is a mixture of Blizzard kids and Naughtydog kids. It’s a small incredibly creative company so I would liken it to Blizzard back in the day. 
 
Whats your favorite character in any game and why?

Being surrounded by Capcom books i’d have to say that it’s most likely a Capcom character.

I think it changes with time. CURRENTLY it’s most likely Gordon Freeman. I like when a game makes me feel like a hero. In Megaman Legends, if you walked past houses and listened, you’d hear common people talking about how amazing "that little blue boy" is. Gordon has Alyx. When she reacts to his achievements it makes me poke out my chest and strut a bit more. I’m fine that he’s silent, I think they pulled it off well. I actually remember valve being next to Blizzard’s booth at my 1st or 2nd E3. I recall their artist showing off shaders and gameplay stuff to us when the press wasn’t around, the Starcraft kids were all watching Halflife and the Halflife kids were all watching Starcraft. 

Design-wise…too hard. I’d say it’s a toss up. 4 games win when i’m looking to design a character. Capcom’s Rival Schools Series has some beautifully designed characters. Then Streetfighter 3 then 2 have simple but bold designs. Afterwards Disgaea, so many characters, so many amazing design choices. Finally Persona/Shin Megami Tensei, Kazuma Kaneko’s designs are fantastic and make me want to be a better man.

 
What advice would you give to a person who aspired to be a part of the games industry? What advice could you specifically to artists trying to work in the games industry? 

I’m a workaholic, so my priority/balance system is out of whack.

I look at my friends who can’t find jobs and mentally scream at them when they are out partying with me. Yeah you need a break, but at what cost to your financial situation? Buckle down and get to work.

You want to be a game artist, sit down with flash and make an animation. Learn about different software packages. There was a time, (and it still happens) when Kinko’s was the big stepping point into games, WHY? because those guys knew html, quark, excel, photoshop, etc. Lately, we’re going to schools to recruit kids and it’s all, "Adobe Illustrator?!? Is that a program?"

Yeah, you can get into the game industry by drawing well, (See: Maxx Marshall) but in the end we’re gonna find someone who’s a better artist than you. Then what? What are you gonna do? Hopefully you can compete by knowing all the ins and outs of game development. STUDY that stuff. Become marketable. I can hit parties now because I’m in my career, I’m doing what i want to do, but when my wife and daughter are asleep, i’m online looking at the next generation of models out there, looking at the new shaders kids are coming up with, reading up on developers who i admire… Do that! 

That said, I personally think art-wise, make something spectacular… Is there a song you like, make an animation for it, pop it on GAX, take the criticism and revisit it until people can’t NOT talk about it. THEN shop yourself to the game companies. I’m not telling you not to sleep, but i personally was up until 3-4 am everyday turning out company specific art for packets.

 
As a huge Okami fan I am wondering what drew you to work on Okami on the Wii? It seems your body of work caters to a heavier style of art. Starcraft, Diablo and WoW all seem so different stylistically than Okami.
 
Being a HUGE Capcom fanboy, (I’ll still argue that PN03’s “flaws” are game play decisions)….Imagine I came to you (You being a fan of Okami) and said, "You now have full access to EVERY SINGLE ART ASSET from Okami…from full illustrations not used, to doodles from meetings scanned in for referance. This is CLOVER we’re talking about. Viewtiful Joe, Godhand, OKAMI!

The moment the team heard that we were porting this to the Wii I wanted to work on it. I was working on Spartans for God of War: Chains of Olympus and this seemed SO cool to work on. I worked on GOW:CoO for a while more, then when the bulk of my work was done, i moved over to  Okami.

Day one, I got geek overload. I was just opening boss characters to see them animate. I was looking through hard drives to see art and insipiration. It’s been one of the most refreshing times in my career. I get to see the things that made Okami, AND there’s stuff that transitioned into Godhand as well. 

The only thing that could top working with these assets would be going to Japan to see the Capcom art offices. (that’s a hint for my boss) 

That said, the kids at Clover/SEEDS/Platinum Games are geniuses!!! (Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil creator), Hideki Kamiya (Devil May Cry creator) and Atsushi Inaba (Okami producer) the design is brilliant, the characters are PERFECTION, the techniques that they use…the first time i saw their stuff, moving in SoftImage, i was blown away by the genius of what they’d done. I recall calling my friends at work to tell them what they were doing. These kids are good. i can’t wait to see what’s next from them. BUT i must say that Okami is my favorite game from them so far.
 

As a follow up, which style of art do you prefer? Which is more challenging? 

I Love cartoon-y. Realism is REALLY REALLY hard to pull off, not just in games, but in everything.

I know that one day i’ll be making “real” people and basing game play around them, but if someone knows what they’re doing structure-wise, and isn’t afraid to go nuts with their designs, it’s a thing of beauty!

Look at Team Fortress 2. Those guys are about to change up the industry. In the next few years you’ll see more and more TF2 artistic style knockoffs. The problem is that when others do it it’ll look and feel souless because it’s some marketing guy leading the development team by the nose. True lovers of that style who know structure and have knowledge of where those cartoon styles originated will be the ones to carry it forward, not the teams who jumped on the bandwagon and are just in it for a quick buck.
 
How many hours a day do you spend drawing while working? What about on your off time? 

Some days i get to draw all day. Some days i’m modeling a character and sketch only to get parts down. I pretty much always have a doodle or two on my desk though. In my off time… it’s harder because i just had a baby daughter. She’s AMAZING, but she’d prefer that i be "playing daddy" not "drawing daddy" so until she sleeps at 7-8 i’m locked into raising her.

Where do you find inspiration for your art? Specifically, do you find it outside of the gaming "world?" Talk about that inspiration. 

In Detroit I was inspired by comics. I hung at comic shops drawing and playing games. Life was Comics and D&D.

Two years ago we went to Japan and I freaked. I’d hit arcades, ARCADES!!! with 80-90 year old smoking business men beating the TAR out of me at Streetfighter. Some days I’d just pick a direction sometimes and go. i’d travel for hours on foot and find that i was in Harajuku or Akihabara and get revitalized. I’d then run from shop to shop like a freak tourist. I spent the most time playing in arcades or in the book stores looking for new artists i’d not seen in the states. That trip filled my tank to draw again for the next few years.
 
What is your working environment like? What tools do you use professionally or personally to produce your art. 

I’m very old school. I’m surrounded by hundreds of CDs and artbooks. In the past i would take $100 dollars from every check and buy cd’s with it. i found that i’d come across an insane mix of music that way. Thus many cd’s.

A few toys, for anatomy purposes usually, or just coolness factor stuff. I’m currently using (per Okami) SoftImage XSI, Maya and Photoshop. Artistically I’ve always just liked studying one or two programs and getting insane results with it.

I usually draw with a .03 mechanical pencil with a 4h lead, then go over it with a 4b lead in a leadholder. It forces me to draw everything twice, but it helps me see the flaws in my art originally. Some people use non-repro blue originally, but it leaves this BEAUTIFUL effect that CAN’T be digitally captured, so i hide from that stuff. 
 
How do you deal with criticism? 

I’m pretty good with criticism. I think that people who tell me their actual opinion on my art might have good ideas. I think about the criticism and the source and come to a conclusion. I’d drawn a pin-up for Harris Comic’s Vampirella, where two bodies were hanging in the background with expiration dates on them. Vampirella was in the foreground posing seductively. I’d met this girl through a friend who saw the pinup and said, “Her feet are too big”. She and I have been married for 9 years. I’m good with criticism.

In the game industry you need thick skin because you are around passionate people who sometimes have opposing visions from you. If you try to fight to win EVERY battle, eventually you’ll get a reputation for being a pain to work with.

What do you like most about GAX? What do you like least and would like to see changed? Can be brutally honest. 

First I’d like to point out that my license plate has “GAX” on it. I swear it’s been so arbitrary that I’ve never really tried to remember it, “Leave your license plate number at the front desk so you won’t be towed!” I’d always walk outside, memorize it, and walk back in. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, I MEMORIZED MY LICENSE PLATE!!! (oddly enough it has my favorite number in it as well…)

What I like the most is the understanding that these people are all geeks… game geeks, tabletop geeks, etc. Will I get spammed because I say that I tried warhammer 40k last week? No. in fact I’d just receive tips on building a better army. I LOVE that. I like that in the last few days, I’ve been inspired by blogs and comments that have been uplifting and friendly. Yeah there’s potential for spam in the future, but right now, it’s bliss! What do I like least? I’d love to see some page editors highlighted so low tech creative kids can really make GAX their home. Otherwise it’s been a blast!!! 
 
What motto or slogan do you live by? 

“You will get hurt!” I had that written above my desk for a while. And it really helped toughen me up.

I still hate rejection, I still hate disappointing people, I still hate when my ideas aren’t the best, but if I know before hand that in the big picture there are lows as well as highs, it makes the lows less painful. I think because my close friends call me an optimist that this motto helps as well. Those words bring me back to earth sometimes and force me to work harder on projects so that there’s a greater chance of getting it right.