Team Focus – Derek Huether Jun 9 - TheFeelTrain

Q: Who are you and what’s your role at Installation 01?

A:I am Derek Huether, I am a 2-Dimensional Artist. I have experience in various mediums such as drawing, oil painting, and am learning graphic design. At Installation 01, I am an art lead and a concept artist. I help manage the team to make sure other artists have a proper task that fits their skills. I also design weapons and provide model sheets for the team to create the assets.

Q: When did you get your start in art?

A:Growing up, I would always draw for fun. I got my inspiration from Destroy All Humans! And would attempt to draw the main character, Crypto. In grade school I was taking some art classes each year. As I got older my parents encouraged me to get a dayjob with my sisters to carpool to work. Once I got a job, video games became my main source of fun. In high school I was taking a variety of courses to find what I would be interested in. I took Woodshop, welding, auto mechanics, and drafting. In my junior year of high school I realized I wasn't really practicing any skills. I began to draw seriously and I would draw whatever came to mind. I drew some video game covers such as Assassin’s Creed 3, because of the perspective of the image. Near the end of high school I decided to pursue Graphic Design since I was always told to do something feasible and keep it realistic. Now in college I have improved in drawing and other mediums. I still plan to get a job in graphic design and hope to take my skills further to the video game industry.

Q: Do you think having a degree is important when looking for a career in graphic design?

A: I think having a degree improves your chances in the career. A college is a service to those who may not have someone to teach them certain skills or a variety of skills. Graphic Design majors or minors require the students to have an external internship. This means to have an internship with a graphic design business or to work for the school. Degrees offer work experience and teach the technical to Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. As with art in general, it's all about the person’s practice and will to learn.

For my university, I have made a few postcards and a school calendar for a fundraiser. I've learned with Gallery Internships there are plenty of tight schedules. It all depends on when the material to work with is given to you and what is required. My teacher has warned us to be prepared for tight deadlines. I had ran into that with the calendar. The calendar consisted of student artwork. I had to search files I was given and match artwork that best suited with the months. I had to avoid using one student’s artwork twice. I completed everything they wanted at the time and then I was asked to make some additions. I had to go back home and change the calendar to be printed the next morning. Which placing photos in for a calendar seemed easy enough as I had thought, but I had to change the brightness, resolution, and avoid pixelation of the photos. Just a tedious and time consuming task.

Q: How does working on Installation 01 compare to your university work? Are the deadlines as tight?

A: In my line of work, Installation 01 isn’t as tight with deadlines, which is because my university work requires to have postcards done within 3 days to advertise. There is more work behind Installation 01 model sheets. Model sheets allow the asset to be translated from 2-D to 3-D. First have to design a weapon then once the idea is agreed upon, I have to draw at least 3 more angles. I am able to plan out my work on I01, with the school, I have to wait for the instructor to give me information or photos to work with. One wise man named Luke Monaghan once told me, “estimate how long a task will take you and then double it”. Something I haven't been able to do with university work. There are instances where the model sheets or concepts need to be done earlier to allow the modeler to create the asset in 3 weeks. We have other concept artists who work on the overall look of the maps. I mostly work on the weapons. Every now and then there is a modeler to return to work on weapons from the labors of map duties. It is our duty to make sure there is a weapon and asset model sheet for the 3-D modelers.

Q: If you could describe Installation 01 using only one sentence, what words would you choose to populate such a sentence?

A: A determined working environment aiming to bring a unique Halo experience through aches and pain of free labor for the love of the game.

Q: Any advice to give to people looking to get into the 2D art world?

A: 2-D art has many topics, of course, such as drawing, painting, typography, graphic design, and web design. Doesn't hurt to try each of them out and find what interests you. If you experienced in each of these topics then there aren't any barriers for yourself. Anyone can always improve in more than one area if they put the time and work into it. Each medium has its own perk and style. If you're looking into drawing applications for mobile devices check out Sketchbook Pro and Procreate. Software such as Adobe Illustrator uses vector shapes which are much easier to produce logos or a clear design. Photoshop is helpful with collaborating images and digital drawing/painting ect. For typography, Adobe InDesign has great tools for setting up and manipulating large textboxes.

As for drawing in general: One drawing tip that helped me was to draw what you see, not what you think. Do not draw what you envision an object to look like, but draw what you see in front of you. I've also learned charcoal is much easier to shade and draw with than HB pencils once you understand how to draw shapes with perspective.