We speak to Associate Art Director, Rob Sutton, about life at Firesprite.
In this interview series, we speak to some of the staff here to provide an insight into life at Firesprite from a variety of disciplines within the studio, and to celebrate the people who bring our projects to life. Today we chat with Associate Art Director, Rob!
You were one of the first people to join Firesprite! Can you tell us more about your Firesprite journey?
I started at Psygnosis in QA in PS1 days. Moved into development during the PS2 days as a vehicle artist. Remained at Studio Liverpool through Formula One, then WipEout HD/Fury/2048.
The early days of Firesprite were scary and exciting in equal measure. Being a brand-new company having to make its mark on the industry meant not saying ‘No’ to any project that came our way. A lot of the time, I was personally operating way out of my comfort zone. I was no longer just a ‘vehicle artist‘ and I had to be able to turn my hand to anything that came my way. All of a sudden, the most important skills to me weren’t effective UV layout*, or getting a decent normal bake, it was problem-solving and developing new workflows.
The development of The Playroom and then The Playroom VR was demanding, but we learned so much from it, personally and as a company.
I moved into more of a lead role when The Persistence entered production and that felt like the first real opportunity to put everything Firesprite had learned into practice and for it to be our own IP was super exciting!
*Although good UV layout is still important! Seriously, new Artists… learn how to unwrap UVs properly.
What is your favourite thing about working at Firesprite?
Cake Friday! Actually… it would probably be the diversity in the projects we have going at any one time.
Tell us something about you that might surprise us!
I’m a keen cyclist…got caught up in the whole London Olympics/Tour de France victory in 2012. Since then I’ve joined a bike club and done a fair bit of racing and time-trialing, although I’m a bit better suited to hill-climbs which usually take place at the end of the racing season. I regularly go on cycling tour/holidays to places like mainland Spain, Majorca, Tenerife (where all the best roads are!), and have done a couple of trips across the Pyrenees and the Alps. Can’t wait to get back out there once things get back to ‘normal’.
What has been your most memorable moment at Firesprite so far?
I was very lucky to be invited to visit the ASOBI team in Tokyo a couple of times. This was the team of developers at SIE Japan studio who we developed The Playroom with. It was a chance to meet the guys in person rather than over Skype, and have a few beers with them, errrm…I mean strengthen our international working relationship!
Japan is an amazing place to visit… if you ever get the chance to visit just do it!
