We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Braiden Cheatham. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Braiden below.
Braiden, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
It was right at the beginning of 2021 when I decided I was going to go into a creative profession. Up to that point I had been majoring in Computer Science and Engineering but the pandemic had put a lot of stress and tension on my ability to focus on my degree. Between being away from family and friends, having no support group due to the restrictions of the pandemic, and just overall finding the work I was doing at school unfulfilling, I started to have wavering thoughts on if this was something I wanted to dedicate my life to. It was during this period of time where I tried to find some form of escape in which to express my creativity and this came in the form of 3D Modeling. I instantly fell in love with the creative process, the freedom to create what ever I wanted and infuse a part of myself into a something tangible was exciting. Ultimately, I made the decision to switch my major to Game and Simulation Arts and I have never looked back.
Braiden, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Braiden Cheatham, and I am a 3D Environmental Artist. My role is to take initial concepts and ideas for levels and turn them into tangible spaces for games. I am responsible for the creation of Props, Textures, and Level Art in a scene to help make them come to life. I’ve always loved video games from a young age and it resulted in me being fascinated with game design and the amount of effort it takes to produce a game. I would eventually start 3D Modeling as a hobby during the pandemic but quickly fell in love with it and I decided to turn it into a career, and from there I discovered my passion for making 3D environments for games.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Seeing an environment or piece of art take shape from the idea to the finished product all while watching as it slowly begins to take on a life and story of its own is such a rewarding aspect of being an artist. It is such a satisfying feeling to see something that you created come to life and have a bit of your personality or interests reflected in the final product.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
While studying for my degree, I was always under the impression that you had to create everything in your art from scratch when this is not the case. This was difficult for me to understand at the time, as I felt as if I was cheating if I used assets or models created by others in something that would be representative and indicative of my skill as an artist. I eventually realized that using such assets with permission would save me time that I could use to refine other aspects and prioritize the things I wanted to focus on in my art. Time is such an important factor in game development as it determines how long you can spend on a level or environment. Being able to find shortcuts that give you extra time to polish and refine your art helps immensely in the long run as an artist.
Contact Info:
