Featured Interview: Kelvin Tan

There are only few companies that have made a lasting impact in the video game industry and our next interviewee comes from such a place - we're very lucky to chat with Blizzard's Kelvin Tan today!

Kelvin works on the industry's most notorious RPG - World of Warcraft - as a 3D artist. He specializes in hand-painted textures and he's been teaching his craft to a lot of aspiring artists as well as professionals through his awesome tutorials. Make sure to pay his Cubebrush store a visit and keep reading for more of his art and of course, the full interview!

Q. Working in the industry is a dream for many, let alone working for Blizzard - How did that all happen for you?

A. Blizzard has definitely been a dream and an amazing experience for me! I got in through the student internship program. When I found out about it, I got super excited and practiced mimicking their art non stop! My portfolio eventually landed me a spot as a prop and character intern for WoW and then moved into a full time position with the prop team once I graduated school. Sometime after that, I transitioned to the character team where I reside now :)

Q. If you can remember what was the decisive year in your career where everything started to click, when was it and what were you doing that particular year you were not doing before?

A. I don't think I ever had a year where it just all clicked. I believe in just putting the time in and trying to learn everyday as much as you can. In this day and age, there is so much information and resources out there on the internet, you just gotta absorb it all and put it to practice.

Q. 3 colors of your ideal color palette?

A. I'd have to say red, orange, and green!

Q. If you could have only one (none of the other), would you rather be rich or skilled?

A. I would choose to be skilled, making art is a passion of mine! I would feel horrible if I never felt any gains in my craftsmanship.

Q. What got you to start explaining your techniques via video tutorials?

A. When I was in school, there was no sites like Cubebrush around and any good resourceful/affordable videos were pretty hard to find. Even knowing someone in the industry was rare! When I saw other artist make affordable and educative videos, I immediately knew that I had to contribute and help!

Q. How do you see your retirement being like as an artist?

A. I may retire from working in the industry one of these days, but I don't think I'll ever stop making art. Will be interesting to see what the future holds for art pipelines!

Q. Finally, any cool project coming up you want to share with us?

A. I have a mentorship program coming out soon over at BrushForge as well as creating content for my personal universe called Clutch. I am working on a specific character from it right now that I would love to eventually get 3D printed and casted. I plan to make tutorial videos based off of the characters and environments from Clutch in the future!