Interview with Jason Beck (aka Grimby), Mythos Art Lead
MythosGuru: What all, exactly, do you do for Flagship Seattle?
Jason Beck: My position is Art Lead, which basically means if it is art related then it’s my responsibility. Being a team of 14 now, we all wear numerous hats as far as day to day duties simply because it’s a pretty big game for a team this size…especially given that we have just 4 internal artists (including myself).
Our team requires just a minimum of “managing” as many of us have known each other for some time and have worked together in the past. It’s seriously the best team and structure you could probably imagine in the games industry.
So, I’m responsible for keeping artists on task, generating asset lists, redirecting artists onto higher priority items, and generally keeping the art pipeline moving along. We also use an outsource team in Shanghai, whom I direct all of the work they do. I spend a good portion of the day reviewing assets or concepts and providing written and sketched out “paintovers” for feedback.
Along with the more managerial type role…I also do a fair amount of actual production work. I try to do as much production work as time allows…be it concepts, textures, modeling, etc. It really depends on our goals for the next deadline. Currently, I’m wrapping up the next playable race model, texture, and Biped rig.
MyG: How did you first get into the gaming industry?
JB: I did the traditional college thing, but I eventually went to the Art Institute of Seattle because I felt I had to have a more practical (ie. Job-securing) training to get into games. After school I took a job at a startup studio in the Portland area back in 1997 because it allowed me to return home (and avoid moving to California 
). It was really my versatility that got me into industry. My first job was actually as a character animator, but I also did character concepts and textures, so it was pretty immediate that I got to branch out. I figured my versatility plus my work ethic would, at least, get me noticed as someone breaking in and it did. It wasn’t long before I was basically the guy people went to for assistance or to take on more work.
MyG: How did you get hired by Flagship Seattle?
JB: I was working for another studio in the Seattle area and Travis and Marsh both talked to me about joining them for Mythos. I had worked with both of them before and I was actually pretty aware of their (at the time) secret project. It wasn’t a hard sell at all to join the team. I just wanted to honor the position I was in and was trying to avoid leaving the team I was with in a bind or else I would’ve joined much sooner. It’s an easy sell to join friends on a dream project for a studio made up of veterans largely responsible for some classic games.
MyG: What other games have you worked on in the past?
JB: My early career was with startups and it didn’t produce many shipped titles. I was starting to get frustrated by cancelled projects, closed studios, and ended up moving back to Seattle once I took a job at WildTangent. I worked on a ton of small titles there and really enjoyed being able to do a bit of everything from an art standpoint. I met Travis, Marsh, Brock, Kevin, Mike, John, and Greg (all current FSS team members) during my time there. Most of us worked on the game FATE together and it was, to that point, the most fun I have had on a project…from the game, the genre, and the team. FATE was released and it got a fairly significant sort of cult following. From there, Travis and I had actually started work on FATE 2 before he was offered the Flagship project that became Mythos. It’s been great to reunite and work with such an excellent team again.
MyG: What influences do you draw from when doing your artwork? What styles/artists/games/every-day-objects lead you to do art the way you do?
JB: I try to not lock into particular artists as influences as I’m still attempting to define my own personal style, but I try to remain familiar with all of the work going on in the industry as well as art outside of games entirely. I really admire a pretty broad range of artists. I’m certainly more interested in stylized art then realism. I find myself becoming less and less interested in games that present a sort of hyper-reality with near photographic qualities. The imaginative and whimsical is what I’m drawn to, so Mythos is pretty much a dream project. I’m a bit reluctant to use the term “cartoony”, because some people equate “cartoony” with “for kids”, but I love seeing or creating exaggerated designs with some personality to them.
MyG: If you weren’t a video game artist, what would you be doing instead?
JB: Once you get into the games industry it is ridiculously hard to imagine doing anything else. That said, I was thinking of pursuing film animation and even comic book illustration before I locked in on games. I also have a few film script ideas that I’ve roughed out that I’d love to someday have the time to complete.
MyG: What would you say are your “tools of the trade”? That is, what items does it take to get your job done?
JB: The practical answer is a 3D package (be it Max, Maya, Soft, etc.) and Photoshop. But those are just the tools. I’ve seen a number of people in games who know the software packages incredibly well, but still aren’t very strong artists. I think a traditional art background is invaluable. It’s generally the difference between good and great artists in games. I would also HIGHLY stress that organization and work ethic can’t be underestimated either.
When I meet new people and have to explain what I do for a living I’m usually greeted with a “oh, that must be so much fun playing games all day”!
And while it is incredibly fun…it’s also a TON of work. It can get fairly mentally draining to need to be creative all the time…and some days you just produce garbage…which are the days I tend to do more feedback and write ups.
MyG: What other games do you regularly play, or have regularly played in the past and thoroughly enjoyed?
JB: Currently I’m playing Rock Band, Mythos, World of Warcraft, Madden, HOMM V, and Hellgate: London. I’m trying to become a sweet Rock Band drummer
I tend to be a dabbler in games rather then the guy who has to beat a game. So I try to play as many as I can, but rarely finish games. But when I find a game that gets me I tend to play it over and over again. My all-time favorites are the Fallout series, Wasteland, Deus Ex, Baldur’s Gate, Age of Empires series, and Super Tecmo Bowl III.
MyG: Where did you get the name “Grimby”?
JB: At my previous studio stop almost everyone was playing World of Warcraft. It was a tremendous amount of fun to play with nearly your whole office in a guild together. My first character was a Tauren Shaman named Grimmhoof, which my good pals shortened to “Grimby” in chat…and it just stuck as a fun name to use.
MyG: Is there any chance we’ll ever learn what the heck “Zardon” is?
JB: All you really need to know is that Zardon is a fun in-joke for us…and people will definitely learn who he is at some point. Think “cow level” minus the bovines.
I look forward to explaining it once he’s unveiled.
