Pete Sekula

Red Storm Art Director & Living Arts College Alumni
Relentless Pursuit of Perfection

Do you ever wonder how the environments in many video games look so authentic? Living Arts College alumni, Peter Sekula shared with students how his position as Art Director for Red Storm’s game “Bio Shock” created the very realistic environments. Pete found himself in the jungles of Costa Rica. He had to take in every detail and put a team together to design an environment for “Bio Shock”. Pete said, “As an animator, you always have to think, life is a mirror to an immersive experience. How are we going to get characters to imitate life and how are we going to animate them?” “Companies are searching for animation talent that is awesome at their craft and their portfolio showcases their talent. A good portfolio must focus on believable movements”, reports Pete. As an Art Director at Red Storm Entertainment, Pete is responsible for hiring new talent. Musts for the “killer” portfolio!
1. Full body human movement.

2. Research the company. Be open-minded to new technologies.

3. Have “game ready stuff” to show.

4. Have a wire frame to show and how it was rigged and imported.

5. Understand the entry-level game position and how teambuilding ramps up in the performance of a game.

6. Learn the rules of production and expect to execute the rules.

It takes a team of people to develop a game at Red Storm Entertainment. The Art Director steers the ship (the game) from one phase to the next. It always takes one more layer to achieve where you really want to go with the game. “It takes a group of interactive minds to come up with one theme and run with it.” states Sekula. Visuals are very important to emersion in a story, so pictures have to draw in the gamer.

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Debra A Hooper
Vice President/Director
School of Communication Arts
@ Digital Circus