2D Artist

2DARTISTMAG.COM2DARTIST MAGAZINE | Atmospheric environment conceptsInspired by the visuals of the Prince of Persiavideogame, Waqas Malik desperately wantedto join the videogame industry but had no ideahow to do so. It took several years and a fewchanges of direction, from programming tofine art and then finally learning concept artthrough online courses, for Waqas to find hisway into the industry. Waqas now works as afreelance concept artist creating environmentconcepts for videogames, and in his freetime he works with a friend on their personalproject STRANGERS, a realistic CG film.Realism greatly inspires Waqas’ work, and hisartwork often features moody lighting schemes,realistic atmospheric effects, and secludedcharacters. Here we speak to Waqas about hisjourney into concept art, how learning 3D hasbeen a difficult but ultimately a very beneficialexperience, and he explains where the darkatmosphere of his work comes from...2dartist: Hi Waqas, thank you for talking to2dartist! Can you kick things off by telling usa little bit about yourself and your work?Waqas Malik: I am a concept artist fromPakistan. My focus is on creating environmentconcepts. Ever since playing Prince of Persia, Iwished to work on videogames, but I had noidea how to get into the videogame industry,and I did not know what I needed to learn.Slowly, after spending huge amounts of timeresearching on the internet, I found some direction. Ilearned that there are two ways into the videogameindustry; either through programming or throughart. Of course that understanding was not perfectbut nonetheless, it gave me some perspective.2da: Your work often has quite dark narratives; canyou tell us a bit about the ideas behind your work?WM: Well there are a wide range of things whichinspire me, but my biggest inspiration comesfrom light. The careful use of light can createmood and evoke emotions, and that is what I tryto achieve. The reason my work is dark in tonecould be because of the geographical influence.In movies and games, rain and clouds areassociated with sadness, but where I live we havevery hot and sunny weather almost the wholeyear round, so for us, rain and dark clouds bringsjoy and happiness. I use overcast and moodylighting conditions in my work a lot due to this.Spiky mountain