We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rosy Fu. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rosy below.

Rosy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Yes. I currently work full-time as a technical artist at Naughty Dog. I am also a part-time oil paint artist that earn from doing commissions. When I do oil painting, I like using the traditional way, like Caravaggio. I do underpainting first, then apply colored glazing, layer by layer, and then one final layer that varnishes the entire canvas. Surprisingly, this overlaps with how we create materials for game art assets more than I thought. With layered material, we ensure that it represents how a real-life object is made. Take a pistol as an example, in game we would break down the material into layers like dusts, scratches, clearcoat, rust, etc. And by finding the closest math model that can represent how certain materials respond to light, game artists can get the result they want with just some number tweaks. I also love pushing the highlight and slightly change the substance when doing traditional painting/ game arts. Giving skin color a taste of metal, or exaggerating the saturation and the anatomy. The idea of blurring the definition of day-to-day objects is fascinating.

Having the experience of making stylized animation during school also helped. However, nothing compares to having mentors and friends help along the way. To me, the key is not to hesitate to ask for help and embrace failures. It’s hard starting as a student with 0 industry experience. I remember sending out applications blindly and not receiving any reply for weeks. It’s important to know where your passion lies and keep on trying… Whenever I feel frustrated, I will watch the announcement trailer of Zelda: breath of the wild and immediately gain power, lol. A couple of failures give me the right to become a journalist. Find out why I fail; ask people already in my dream position. I think that’s the best way to learn.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I love the idea of using games as a way to push the boundary of immersive storytelling. As an artist, I hope to put my passion for traditional painting into creating game arts like this too. I can’t say much about the game that I’m currently working on, but I’d say I took my own experience growing up in different culture as my main inspiration. Instead of using other game as my “muse”, I find this gives me a wider selection of color on my palette. It’s also a good way to connect with folks with same passion, use my game/art as a way to engage deep conversation and see the world from different perspective.

So to me, at the end of day means don’t really matter. When I feel like I need to build up my art skill, it’s always serving the need of completing my work. So it could be painting, could be my writing skills/ world building skills, or sometimes I just sit down and read lots of autobiography when I feel lack of inspiration.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

It’s when my drawing can deepen my bonding with friends, make people think, to question their surrounding, and find the inner child in their heart. I love the word Jamais vu, it is the experience of being unfamiliar with a person or situation that is actually very familiar. We are used to adapt to an environment quickly as grown ups, so we can settle down and become fearless. However, regain curiosity, always embrace the strongest feeling is what I need as an artist. I constantly use “limit palette” technique when I paint, and it has engrained to my lifestyle even. Emotions are like my colors on my palette, and the stronger they are, the wider variety of “color” I have to achieve my crafts. So when others can feel the way I feel, or even better, bring in more color, it gives me power.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Definitely shifting from full-time artist to part-time. (I honestly don’t think it’s a taboo to say this but many wouldn’t admit) Art is an expensive hobby, especially traditional art. One need exceptional skills and great connections to become an established artist. Also now that AI art has gained more attention and proved it’s potential to be used in industry. Being an artist nowadays isn’t simple as getting better in skills. It’s also how you promote yourself, revealing the meaning behind your art. Having a stable fanbase takes time and effort, and you will need a steady income before getting your feet off the ground.

That is why I decided to switch to a more technical orientated job, whist still keeping myself busy with getting in touch with local art community. This way I still have control over how I make decisions of my life,

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rosyfuart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosyfuart/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rong-rosy-fu-761b51151/