Welcome to this week’s edition of “Epic Gamer Artists,” where we feature fan artists and their showcase their work. Tim from Team Epic Gamers here to introduce to you Noe L. from California.
Arukun14: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Noe L: I was born and raised in Southern California, on the border with Mexico, in the scorching heat of Calexico. I recently moved to San Francisco to continue my art education and hopefully land a job pertaining to what I love doing, with that being art of course.
A: What do you do? From the work I see in your page, it looks like you’re a painter.
N: Currently, I have a job in retail (need to pay the bills!) I don’t do painting professionally, but I do commissions from time to time.
A: Do you prefer working traditionally? Digitally? Both? What are your tools of the trade?
N: I like to keep a balance between the two. I feel a strong background in traditional art helps when transitioning into digital work. I tend to do most of my traditional work in class, and my personal work is mostly digital. I use anything from pencil, ink, oil paint, and watercolor. For my digital work, I use Photoshop with my trusty Intuos 4.
A: Your entry to the Gears United contest has a very painterly feel. Really love the contrast and highlights on this. Mind if you tell us a little bit about this?
N: I knew there would be thousands of entries to this contest, so I wanted something that stood out in terms of contrast and color, even in thumbnail form. I used a custom brush that gave it that “brush-stroke” look.
I wanted to give our heroes the strongest colors and intensity because it helped balance their calm demeanor. I wanted to show a moment that could end up good or bad for our protagonists. The end result would be up to the viewer.
A: Are you a gamer? Do you play Gears of War?
N: I’ve been playing video games my whole life. They got me into drawing and hopefully one day I’ll be contributing in the making of them. I do play Gears of War, I will admit that I did play Gears 1 and 2 considerably more, but I did make it a point to complete the campaign in Gears 3. 
I’m definitely looking forward to Gears of War: Judgment!
A: Anything to say to your fellow Epic Gamers and aspiring artists?
N: Keep supporting Epic Games. They release consistently good games, and the industry definitely needs more of those. For the aspiring artists out there, I would encourage you to go out there (or Google it) and find things that inspire you. When I get artist’s block, I often find inspiration from nature, things around me, and other artists. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share a little bit about myself!
Thanks for the time, Noe! Hope to see more from you. You can check out more of his work at his blog or his deviantART page. And remember to visit the Epic Gamers group on deviantART for more awesome fan art in the Epic Community.
Posted by Flak
Jul 17, 2012
Tune into the Xbox Live event with Epic Games Producer Chris Wynn and Senior Producer Alan Van Slyke to learn about Gears of War: Judgment’s Aftermath and Survival mode. After that, be sure to watch Family Guy to catch our brand new Gears commercial! Family Guy airs on the FOX network at 9:00 PM. Check your local listings for more information.
Epic Games
