Cameron Davis

Artist Cameron Davis currently earns his daily bread as a Character Designer for Neversoft Entertainment, creating a colorful cast of shredders for the Guitar Hero franchise. Read on to dig a little deeper into the world according to Cam….

Every day I do a few doodles on sticky notes to warm up my hand/brain.
Here are some out of the thousands…

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Age?
25

Location?
Los Angeles

Artistic education?
Always learning… but I went to school at the Rhode Island School of Design and got me one of those BFA’s in illustration

How did you begin working in games?
I got my shoes in the door as an intern at Design Studio Press working for Scott Robertson and Neville Page. I was able to learn from them and polish my portfolio before landing a character design position with Neversoft Entertainment.

What inspired you from childhood?
My two older brothers David and Spencer (also professional artists) were huge in shaping my interests. My parents were also very supportive of creativity and I had access to about 40 acres of forest to roam around in and create stories. Somewhere in our woods is a creek bed full of vintage Star Wars and G.I. Joe figures buried in 20 years of mud…and I recall losing a Sesame Street boot in there, too. ** What’s your process in creating new characters? I always start with a story. The character’s personality and history dictates how they look and what they wear. Getting into the mind of the character and knowing exactly how they will react to any given situation is a lot like character acting in design.

What’s your choice of materials?
Usually a 2H wooden pencil for loose layout lines and a 0.5 HB mechanical pencil for tight details. For professional work I’ll scan my drawing and paint with Photoshop but I still like to get messy with the paint on my own time.

Who has inspired you stylistically?
Hrrrrrm…try and keep this one short. Mother Nature, Terry Gilliam, Winsor McCay, Hayao Miyazaki, the country of France, Sebastian Kruger, Jim Henson, Pink Floyd, Alfonse Mucha, and that James Jean fella to name a few.

When did creating art become something important in your life?
Musta been when I was 5 years old I won my first art contest at a local blueberry festival. I drew a blueberry monster gushing blood with a whole lot of arrows and knives and swords sticking out of him. The prize was a book about bats!

When are you the most productive?
It’s like clockwork…12:30am to 3am I get super stoked! Which is horrible when I have to be at work at 9.

Do you listen to music when you’re creating?
Always.

“Will you make me into a guitar hero character?” How many times a day do you hear that???
Hehe…never enough.

What kind of advice will you share with artists trying to find work in games, entertainment, etc?
Focus on your ideas and clever design before you trick out your portfolio with Photoshop mastery. And I think traveling and getting out of your comfort zone are very important in warding off the incestuous nature of design for entertainment. And above all else you have to have passion.

Cameron’s Website
http://cdavisart.com/

Cameron’s Videos

-ST