I Must Give A Shoutout To The Man In Charge Of All Art
So, I will totally abuse my lofty bloggy perch and take you away from class vs. skill debates to point you in the direction of an interview with Mat Weathers, the person behind some of Mythic’s most stunning artwork (whatever you may think of Trials of Atlantis, the jaw-dropping artwork in places like the Halls of Ma’ati? All due to his attention to craft) and a close friend of mine who I with much regret had to leave behind. The interview (while misspelling his first name) does a great job of showcasing how he’s probably one of the most interesting and well spoken people I’ve met in the industry. Plus, he had the good sense to marry another of my close friends, Sanya Weathers, which certainly helped to simplify my social life.
Just to explain to you the gestalt of Mat. My first day at Mythic, I’m still shellshocked from driving to Virginia, being in a new place, being a new job, and being at a game company. So I’m not terribly… all there. And as I’m walking toward the office, there’s this really imposing guy (and mind you, anyone who strikes me as imposing? IS.) who yells at me, “DUDE!”
I look around. Who? Me?
“Dude!” he repeats, pointing at me. “Your CAR!”
I look at my car in a panic. It’s a big red Crown Victoria police refit, and as such has a huge suspension and is pretty high up off the ground.
“My… wha?”
“You’ve got to get your car LOWERED!”, he shouts gleefully. Sadly, this never happened, so he had to content himself with his child, namely a 1967 Chevy Nova (which appears in the photo for the article). He also writes incredibly funny movie reviews (the last one I saw casting most of a horror movie as creatures from the Monster Manual, complete with stats) which if he ever gets a web site up and running you’ll be able to read as well.
At any rate, there are many people behind these MMO beasts. So occasionally you may see random shoutouts like these, because like the players of the games we make, we’re all about the connections that we forge.