Before a game idea is born, there’s void. Then there come thoughts and words. Spoken, written, clustering to concepts . But at some point, creation wants to get visible, develop shape, color, and detail. How is this new world going to look? She is usually the first to answer. Today, the Artist is present, with Chantal providing answers about herself. After a long break, it’s about time you expand your Carrot card decks. Btw: if you are interested in her off-game art – and you should be – check it out.
Who are you and what do you do at Chasing Carrots?
Hello, my name is Chantal and my responsibility is to make everything look good. I create concept designs, illustrations and 2D assets for games and our web presence
What did you do before Chasing Carrots?
During my internship at Chasing Carrots I finished my Bachelor thesis in Cognitive Science in Tübingen. Before that, I studied Fine Arts for two years in Düsseldorf. So I am more or less self-taught in the sense that I did not study game art at university.
How and why did you become a game developer?
After quitting my studies in fine arts I had to work a lot with computers when studying science. I ended up mixing both worlds by painting digitally, which was new to me and I fell in love with it right away. Using forums and other websites to get better I found out that there are people drawing and painting digitally for a living, creating amazing worlds and characters. I went to Gamescom in Cologne where I met Chasing Carrots and applied for an internship afterwards. I am very happy that I stumbled upon the fact that creating art for games is a profession. I never thought that it was a possibility until I was 24.
What was your first gaming experience?
I think my first gaming experience that I can remember and that was a huge deal for me was Pokemon red on my Game Boy Color. I was obsessed with it. The children in my neighborhood were meeting outside just to sit together and play and exchange Pokemons. Of course, I also drew my favorite Pokemons a lot. Shortly after that came the Sims on PC, Mario Kart on Nintendo 64 and Crash Bandicoot on Playstation. I think those four were the first video games I played and that I was a big fan of. I did not have a Nintendo 64 or Playstation though, so I had to find friends, who did 😛
What are your all-time favorite games?
Mario Kart!!! and Pokemon (Yes, still…confession: before giving my brother, who is 11 years younger than me, Pokemon Diamond for his Birthday I borrowed a Nintendo DS from a friend so I could play the whole game before handing him the gift. I was 21 or 22, I think… no regrets)
If you could be a game character, you would be…?
That would have to be Yoshi, I guess. I am still a big Mario Kart fan and (like many other people, I know) I always play Yoshi. And I’m really good. Just saying.
