Hi there! I’m Emily, a 3D Games Artist currently working at SockMonkey Studios in the UK. I started my journey into the games industry at the beginning of 2021 and I’m always doing my best to pursue what I love about art in my free time!
My Background
While growing up, there was nothing I loved more than to lose hours to a game world and for a moment not have to worry about life outside. This made it an easy choice for me to want to craft such experiences for others in the future, hoping to pass on that creative indulgence. I’ve been fortunate enough in my education to be able to pursue studies within Games Art; from College through to University I learnt what I could about the industry and continued to strive towards my place in it in my spare time.
Art was always more than a career path for me and sometimes finding the separation between work and a hobby was tough, but the passion for it always helped push me further. I would create Dungeons & Dragons characters in my free time and invent stories that helped me branch out; through that fascination, I landed my first internship.
Creating tabletop miniatures for D&D was a great start to my career. I loved sculpting and learning about 3D printing and have even gone on to obtain some commission work for it. Both aforementioned communities are amazing and they helped give me a much-needed push to my first games industry job.
Jester Lavorre 3D Print
Now that I am working at Sock it definitely feels like I’ve found my place and I’m always excited for the next thing I create. If you can, work indie; it’s an incredible experience.
What I do best
PBR was never a favoured pipeline for me within games and the courses I took always had a heavy focus on it. It wasn’t until recently that I began to learn how much you can diverge from it, and I certainly took the farthest path away; pursuing hand-painted texturing. Always experiment and never take what you’re taught as gospel; there are so many ways you can do something and you should put the effort in to find which way is the most fun for you!
I used the ArtStation Challenge as a means to start learning the hand-painted style and had never had so much fun creating a character. I got to cut out parts of the pipeline I found tedious or lacking in any creative input and enjoy every part of the process. After being awarded an honourable mention, I confirmed that not only did I love this style, but other people did too. It wasn’t long until I was starting my next project and planning many more.
We love a challenge
Challenges are what help us grow artistically and professionally, and there’s no better feeling than making it through them unscathed. Sometimes, however, we really find ourselves struggling. Constantly comparing ourselves to our peers, consumed by imposter syndrome, or just simply not feeling up to it. And that is okay. We learn to appreciate our journey, we learn how to encourage ourselves and surround ourselves with supportive people, and we learn how to hunt down inspiration when it doesn’t come.
The important thing is that we’re always learning, even when we’re not working or creating, or even playing. And you have to take credit for that because learning is gosh darn difficult.
We also love Sketchfab
Sketchfab is a brilliant platform for learning. Originally, I made an account to inspect other artists’ models so that I could see how they’d tackled certain aspects of 3D games art such as edge loops, UV seams, and texture sets. It was easy, it just worked and you didn’t have to sit and scrub through a video to find the two seconds someone showed a wireframe.
Oh, and they send you cool postcards sometimes. Thank you :>
Where to find me
If you have any questions about me or my art, I’m always happy to answer them and help where I can!
You can find me on Twitter, ArtStation, and here on Sketchfab.
About the author
Emily Harrison
3D Games Artist from the North East of England with a focus on characters and all things stylised. Lover of hand-painted critters, 3D printing, and stories you can get lost in.
