Horia Dociu is a studio art director at ArenaNet. He also worked at Sucket Punch on Infamous: Second Son, and at Valve on Half-Life 2. He’s a very fun and charismatic character. During his GDC talk he gave a very neat set of recommendations, which can help you make more conscious choices during art production. This would be especially relevant for people coming from school and getting their first jobs in the industry.

Here’s our quick summary of his talk.

Checklists Save Lives and Art

Checklists are used extensively by pilots, doctors. Simple checklists of basic things help save lives daily. The same principles can help you make better art.

In ArenaNet there’s a special class for artists, which helps them practice and just draw. These sessions are actually run by an amazing 2d artist Aaron Coberly. Here’s some of his stuff.

Some paintings by Aaron Coberly.