Diana Varro is a Character Artist on theHunter: Call of the Wild. Originally from Hungary, Diana is based in Malmö and is part of the team that brings to life the undisputed stars of the game: the animals that populate its many reserves.
Q: Tell us about your background and how you came to work for Avalanche.
A: I am originally from Hungary, but I haven’t lived there for over ten years. After high school, I started studying humanities at university, but I soon realized that it wasn’t for me. So I switched to 3D animation and CGI production, first with a Master’s degree at Bournemouth University in the UK, and then at The Animation Workshop in Denmark.
In the 2010s, most Western animation was inspired by the Pixar 3D look, which I was not too interested in. In the games industry, on the other hand, you could find a wide variety of animation styles, and that’s what drew me to games. After my education, I moved to Hamburg, Germany, where I worked at Daedalic Entertainment for about four years. I joined Avalanche and moved to Sweden one year ago.
Q: Tell us about your role. What does a character artist do?
A: A character artist is responsible for the way the characters in a game look. In the case of theHunter, this means the animals.
Q: What does the creation of an animal look like?
A: When planning a new reserve, the game team decides what animals to include. Once that’s done, each artist in the Character Art team gets a set of animals to work on.
Since we’re reproducing real animals, the process doesn’t involve a lot of pre-production, especially if compared to games where you create fantasy characters or monsters. Here, as a character artist, you try to replicate the animal as accurately as you can.
I start by doing a lot of research and gathering as much reference material as possible. It all goes on a huge board with all the things I need to consider for the accurate reproduction of an animal, such as anatomical references, images from various angles and distances, and references for all the possible color variations. I also list what variations are possible for that specific animal and what combinations of different traits and characteristics are possible.
If the animal I’m working on is rare and not well documented in the real world, I try to use similar species as references, and I check anatomy books to make sure that I am being as accurate as possible. A roe deer anatomy study can be very helpful to understand a much less documented rare deer species. Or an albino goat can be a good reference for a similar wild animal species, when no rare variants have been photographed yet.
When the research is complete, I get to work on the 3D sculpt of the animal – the textures, and a low-poly mesh – which is then set up for technical animation. I also make different models for the male and female variations.
Q: What is your favorite part of the process?
A: I really enjoy texturing and working on the different fur variations, especially when making piebald and other rare fur coats, like albino and melanistic coats.
The first animal I worked on was the blackbuck in the Sundarpatan Nepal Hunting Reserve. I’m really happy with how its piebald variation came out! And so was the community. I love seeing the community’s response to our work. Our players are very passionate about hunting and the animals themselves, so it's incredibly exciting to see their reaction when we introduce new species, or they discover a rare fur coat for their favorite animal. Knowing that all the work, research, and attention to detail we put into creating the animals do not go unnoticed is so rewarding.
Q: What skills would you say are required to be a good character artist?
A: A character artist on theHunter needs to be good at organic character production, know how to use tools like ZBrush, and how to make sure that the topology is compatible with animation. You also need to have experience making textures with many iterations for all the animals, and have outstanding attention to detail, so you capture all the little nuances that make an animal different from another. There are animal species that can be very similar to each other, and getting the tiny details right is very important. Our community is incredibly knowledgeable about animals and their environment, and they’ll immediately notice if something is not accurate.
Q: What advice do you have for people who would like to work in the games industry as a character artist?
A: My first advice is to identify what you enjoy doing the most. If you like working on, let’s say, hard-surface characters – like robots or machines – try to specialize in that direction. Tailor your portfolio and practice in order to become outstandingly good at it. This way, you have more chances of being noticed by studios that are working on games with that kind of character.
My second piece of advice is to be persistent. This is a very competitive industry, and it’s not unusual to be rejected several times before getting your first, second or third job – even with a good portfolio. So don’t give up and keep practicing
Finally, you need to be ready to move away from home. There are not too many great video game companies around, so you need to go where the games are made.
