Did you know that December 2 is the professional holiday of 2D artists while December 3 is the day when 3D modelers and animators join the celebration? Well, now you are in the know. So I caught up with a couple of artists at Playrix to learn more about the characters they created and animated. Read on to learn how our logo, baby dragon, came into being, what inspires our artists and why some of our game characters look a lot like our team members.

Svetlana Sablina, Art Director

Back in 2004 we sat down to think of the name for our fledgling company. We ramped up our creative juices and brainstormed a number of names but nothing seemed to click. Sure enough, we wanted the name to be strongly associated with fun and games. Then suddenly somebody suggested the name “Playrix” that everyone liked. As soon as we had the name picked, I came up with a picture of a cute little dragon that we all immediately fell in love with. Certainly, the task was far from a no-brainer for me.

Have a look at the images below to get a feel of the challenge I was facing. Definitely, it was all worth it, because now we know for sure that this baby dragon epitomizes exactly who we are and what we are about.

Choosing the right dragon for our logo was a challenge

Dmitri Denisov, 3D Artist

I was 10 when I made up my mind and firmly decided to become an artist. It was the time when I first saw Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. I was so inspired by the images of funny and brave chipmunks that becoming an artist first turned into my dream and hobby and then into a career. My first attempts at drawing were copying Mickey Mouse from a bubble gum wrapper. I also remember drawing a huge picture of Donald Duck in front of my house with sidewalk chalk. I was a big Disney fan as you can see!

Being an animator means conveying that the character is alive, driven by something, very charismatic, breathing and thinking. I am a people-watcher – every person for me is a cartoon character. That’s why every character that I create has a real prototype.

Here at Playrix I’ve been working on a number of characters. Austin, the butler, from Gardenscapes is one of them. I wanted him to be a typical butler: unobtrusive, refined, well-spoken. And the challenge was to convey all these traits in Austin’s manner of walking, gestures, interactions with the dog.

Сurrently I am animating the farmer from our upcoming game. He is in his 60, very hard-working, a bit lonely, that’s why he is always grumbling. He is also desperately trying to quit smoking. His only comfort and joy in life is his nephew and his dog, while Linda, the neighbor, is his main source of inspiration. This farmer really exists. The only difference is that the real person is not a farmer, his neighbor’s name is not Linda and he has a couple of nephews. Some time I’ll let him know that he became a game character.

Austin from Gardenscapes	Linda from Rustiс Ranch (current project)	Farmer from Rustic Ranch (current project)

Roman Nabokin, 3D Artist

My first project at Playrix was Fishdom. At that time I was very inspired by Pixar’s Finding Nemo. I wanted every fish in our game to have its own character and a certain feel about it just as in the cartoon. It was a tough challenge to choose real fish types to use as prototypes for the inhabitants of our virtual aquarium. Before kick-starting the project and carrying out some research, I didn’t have the slightest idea that the underwater world was so rich and amazingly beautiful. It turned out that coral reef fish were the brightest and the most fun ones.

Having settled with the real fish pictures, I had to turn them alive, make them funny and “cartoon-like”. I was trying to walk a fine line here: to stay true to the fishie’s marking, shape, its characteristic features but to give it a personality. After we were done with the sketches, we started working on the 3D models and their animation. And it seems that with every new game in the Fishdom series, our fishies become even more fun and cute.

Fishdom Underwater Creatures

Grisha Serov, 2D Artist

I have a background in programming, but at some point I realized that being an artist is what I really want to do in life. Gardenscapes was my first project at Playrix. My task was creating customers for the I-Spy levels of the game. The main challenge of working on a number of characters is to convey that they all have a history, that they exist beyond the game. Players should immediately feel that they are familiar with the characters, they personally know them. Many people say that my characters resemble me. Who knows, may be they are right.

Customers from Gardenscapes

Thanks a lot, guys! Happy 2D and 3D artists Day!