Interview : Mike Corriero      

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Mike Corriero is a concept artist and illustrator for both the Videogame and Film Industries. Producing assets as a Freelance artist for various companies including everything from props, to characters, creatures, environments, structures, animals, illustrations, icons, and isometric wall tile designs among other things, he has had his work shown in Ballistic Publishing's Exposè 4&5 and Painter books as well as 4 issues of ImagineFX Magazine, 4 issues of 2D Artist Magazine, the Welcome Book within the program Corel Painter X, Design 360 Magazine’s, and Fantasy Art Now.

IT'S ART : How could you describe your artwork?

Mike Corriero : It's funny because I've had friends or relatives asking me what it is I do exactly. I try to describe it in terms of a visual guide to the previsualization of a film or game. My work itself is centred on imaginary worlds, creatures and characters from within the Fantasy, Sci-fi and Horror realms. I like to focus on images in which the surrounding environment is either fun, crazy, horrific or unusual and full of mood and atmosphere. My personal artwork is largely made up of creatures and naturalistic designs or environments consisting of trees, colourful skies and other elements found in nature.

I.A. : Do you think it's mostly influenced by your professional environment and the game industry?

M.C : It is in nature that I find the inspiration for most of my concepts and it's only natural that my work reflects the world around me. Concerning work I do for clients, companies and professional projects within the game industry, I rarely get the chance to produce designs that I find interesting. It is the decision of the client to approve in which direction the concept heads. Depending on the amount of details given in the brief provided by the company or client, I may have the ability to try and sell my ideas during the preliminary phase of design. I think the only way in which my personal art is influenced by my professional work is in the manner of boosting my portfolio to reflect what clients may want to see. This is determined by what I feel my portfolio is lacking in, in order to obtain the type of jobs I'm interested in working on in the future.

I.A. : Personal freelancing versus Art asset production team member, what is more satisfying to you?

Working in close contact with the Liquid Development team on a couple projects was a lot of fun and very rewarding. It can sometimes be a little daunting working alone in your studio improvised room, when you know there are companies out there containing rooms filled with collaborating talented artists. I'm sure that sooner or later I'll end up being part of a team of artists, most likely in a film or game company because I'd really love the motivation that sort of environment provides, it would be quite a teaching experience.

I.A. - You live on the east coast in the US and yet you are able to work for video game companies in California and elsewhere. How do you turn in drafts, when being contracted as a freelancer (pdf, zip, e-mail, forum, irc, etc.) and do you prefer working in your own studio? Have you ever worked in a creative team environment? What are the pros and cons of each?

MC : I've never worked on location or in a creative team environment, so I can't really say what the pros and cons of each would be. I can say that I'm quite certain being surrounded by a group of skilled talented professionals would drastically help get motivated, inspired and come up with ideas I wouldn't otherwise have thought of on my own. It would help in a similar way as working in a college classroom except that each artist would be working toward a collective goal. The advantages of working freelance is that you have complete freedom regarding your schedule and time off, you work in the comfort of your own home and you can work on a number of different projects at once. I think the major reason artist might head off into a freelance career, especially once they have established themselves, is the freedom and ability to state their own rules and their own rates. I've worked for companies in the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and the United States. The most ideal advantage of working as a digital freelance artist is you can work for any company in the world. I produce rough sketches and submit them by form of a .jpg file through e-mail, which are then critiqued and approved by the client or art director. I submit the final product by either uploading it to the clients ftp server or sending them a zipped file from my server. All negotiations are handled online, all preliminary work and changes are made through e-mails and instant messengers and payment is handled in the form of EFT or Check.