I remember myself drawing stuff since I was a little kid, but a major CG-breakthrough happened when I got my hands on ZX Spectrum, and using BASIC programming, made a crude picture of a fighter plane cockpit. It was a fantastic experience for a 10-year-old boy, and because of it, I continued drawing vector objects. A while later, I got my first Windows 3.1 PC and experienced the joys of pixel-art in MS Paint. At the time, all these little CG discoveries were just a hobby for me and a way to showoff with my friends - nothing serious. The second major breakthrough occurred when I saw 3d studio 4 for DOS as I then realized the true potential of 3D graphics.  I really had no idea where this little hobby was going to lead me, but I liked it, and started learning 3d studio max and Photoshop. To get started, I found and used some weird tutorial books about spaceships and submarines. Those were the good old days. Third most important step was when I got access to the web, which happened in 1999. I realized there was a huge community of CG-devotees just like me. As I kept practicing on my work, I then got dragged into an indie developers group, which were making a Fallout spinoff game. It never happened. As I look back now, I believe most of us start our careers. Even though it was a failure, it was still an important experience that helped me get a job in a real game developing company.

Reason? Nah, it was pretty random. After a few failed attempts to sketch a tough looking giant robot which could KILL everything in its path, I tried for something more humanoid - an armored cyborg chick. In my case, a final design doesn’t just pop into my head, many additional features were added during the basemesh stage - like a convertible droid-backpack! I can’t deny that inspiring artworks and games influenced my choice for a design. At the time, I was under the impression of a recently released Crysis sequel. What the guys from Crytek did, in terms of futuristic military design, was simply brilliant, especially their nano-suit designs. On top of a form-factor suite, an idea of a winged recon specialist came from GUNNM, an epic masterpiece by Yukito Kishiro, creator of a manga series full of amazing ideas and great visual designs. Aside from inspirations, the second important thing that influenced my design was - functionality. I have always been a huge fan of futuristic industrial designs and technically realistic sci-fi equipment. I mean, for me it’s just not enough to draw cool devices, armor or weapons. Everything should look like it can exist in a real world, and work properly. I know it can be difficult sometimes to achieve functionality in game design and make it so it still looks awesome, but when it happens you get a double set of awesomeness. Take for example, a few of our latest movies: Transformers, Avatar, and District 9. Design-wise, these are perfect examples of how something can be made to look great and functional at the same time.

I overslept DW2: none of my friends told me there was such an awesome competition taking place. I gloriously screwed up during DW3. I made such a detailed model that my PC and brain couldn’t handle the load. DW4 was my chance to prove to myself that I can still can catch up to everyone and make an extraordinarily cool next-gen piece. Plus, my portfolio was sick of oldschool low-poly stuff. It cried for a cool new next-gen piece. So there was no choice really. I had to enter DW4. Choice aside, I should really mention, If you're game artist with a bit of spare time on your hands, you just can't miss such a huge event like Dominance War. More artists join each year and its audience grows as well. It’s a unique chance to learn about great artists, get advice from pros, share some knowledge, and ultimately – boost your skills sky high! I believe people do their best when they are motivated, and a grand art challenge is the second best motivator – first being $$$.