Published on Feb 8, 2025
This is a mirror of the article from The Rookies.
Vladimir Mokry is a Concept Artist, Art Director, and Instructor with experience on Apex Legends, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Call of Duty: Vanguard.
While Vladimir Mokry's primary focus was on environments, he also contributed to graphic design, branding, and developing custom tools like Blender plugins. His curiosity for 3D and level design, combined with his engineering background, added valuable insights to team discussions.
Learn more about Vladimir's exciting journey into Concept Art and Game Design.
My last role was with Respawn Entertainment, where I worked as a Senior Concept Artist on the live-service game Apex Legends. Our development cycle was well-paced, releasing new content every three months in the form of a new season. While my primary focus was on environments, I also contributed to graphic design, branding, and the creation of custom tools for the team, such as Blender plugins and a Blender library of frequently used assets. My curiosity led me to explore 3D and level design, and I found that my engineering background added value to discussions.
I was laid off due to redundancy in April 2024. After some well-deserved time off, I am now freelancing and working on personal projects.
One particular cold morning in a room in Nakameguro, Tokyo, during December 2017, I had an epiphany.
I realised that I have just one life. Suddenly, my existing entrepreneurial career as a way to make money no longer made sense. I knew I needed to do something I truly loved, and the answer to that was art.
If I got good at it, money would eventually come—or not. But I decided to be okay with that.
When I joined the third batch at Cestar Collège - Syn Studio, I was selected from the waiting list. This meant I had to commit to working hard, making the most of my time, and strengthening my portfolio.
I was lucky. After finishing my studies at Syn Studio, Volta Studios was looking for new artists, and my classmate and I were hired. I had the opportunity to work on Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Call of Duty: Vanguard, Sunday Gold, and many other titles.
After my morning routine and exercise, I make breakfast and a protein shake, then dive into artistic tasks. Some days, I'm fully immersed in designing all day, riding a strong creative flow. On other days, or when I'm starting sketches, I prefer to go for a walk and sketch ideas on paper or my iPad, often accompanied by a matcha latte (of course).
Like many of us, I tend to rely on Adobe. While there are many excellent drawing programs available, Photoshop's widespread use and the ease of familiarity keep bringing me back.
Alongside Photoshop, I also use Blender, explore Plasticity and various VR tools, and I'm increasingly diving into game engines.
As a freelancer, I often work directly with an Art Director, although this depends on the contract.
In companies, experiences can vary; I've been part of fruitless teams with art directors who lacked both drawing and directing skills. On the other hand, I've also worked in highly efficient teams with collaborative leads, supportive art directors, and enthusiastic artists who shared and received feedback openly. In these teams, feedback sessions are typically held twice a week, allowing for an uninterrupted creative flow.
There is a significant change happening in the game and movie industry, and it's accelerating rapidly. In recent months, I've observed a gradual split into two distinct business approaches for handling art within companies.
On one side, there are teams and companies that remain artistically driven. Projects like Arcane demonstrate there is still a strong demand for original art.
We will increasingly see messages like "No generative AI was used during production" in movies and games, or labels such as "Made by humans" on board games and art pieces.
On the other side, some big AAA game studios and publishers are fully embracing AI. Driven by the need to deliver profits to shareholders, executives who are disconnected from the joy of the creative process are pushing AI-generated stickers, concepts, and illustrations into production, even for real-money items available in free-to-play games.
Meanwhile, outsourcing studios, production film companies, and AA studios are quietly integrating AI into their workflows to meet increasingly tight deadlines. The process often involves finding a balance—creating a scene or character in 3D, producing quick sketches, blending them with AI outputs seamlessly, or applying overpaints and fixes to generative images.
The feeling of seeing the final environment, prop, or character you designed come to life in a game or movie is unparalleled.
I don't think so. What truly matters is persistence, focus, and having a few mentors to guide you along the way.
I chose the art school path for three reasons: at the time, I needed an external push in the form of structure and relentless homework. I recognised the value of the alumni network, and having a post-graduate visa in case I decided to stay in Canada was an added benefit.
I believe future artists will need to be more versatile. Can you help with level layouts? Share and update 3D models for UE5 Nanite? Use generative AI models to optimise workflows? Design believable branding and graphics? These could all become essential skills for the artists of tomorrow.
It's disheartening to see artists avoid life drawing or neglect basic perspective rules, relying solely on 3D tools. However, progress is unstoppable. In the end, what truly matters is the result. Did your work solve the brief? Increasingly, how you achieve it may become less important.
Beyond the fundamentals—anatomy, composition, color theory, storytelling, and callouts—additional skills are becoming vital. Can you create concepts that are practical for 3D artists or level designers? Work effectively within game engines like Unreal or Unity? Bring expertise in UI, graphic design, or branding? All of these skills are increasingly valuable.
Leadership, conflict resolution, understanding the needs of other team members, mentoring, creating tutorials, writing scripts, and most importantly, talking to humans.
In the end, every job is about interaction - whether it's within your team, with your customers, clients, external partners, or among managers, leads, and subordinates. Being able to make a slightly better day for the people around you is what truly matters.
Many senior artists emphasise the importance of visual stimulation. Some watch documentaries, others travel. For me, visiting places in person sparks creativity. I'm drawn to Japan and Asia in general, but my travel bucket list also includes Yemen, Jordan, and Georgia. Find what inspires you.
If you're just starting out and want your portfolio to stand out, focus on creating "fan" art tailored to the projects you dream of working on. For example, if you aspire to work on a game like Apex Legends, design a realistic, near-future character. For fantasy games, create a medieval warrior or a high-class sorcerer.
Showcase your process: include an inspiration sheet, sketches, and expression sheets. Timelapses can be a great way to demonstrate your hands-on approach. In this case, more is actually more.
When signing a contract, carefully read the non-compete clauses. Some companies may try to claim all your free time, while others might prohibit any side work, including teaching or mentorships. Certain outsource studios might even attempt to restrict you from working with their clients.
I understand why businesses do this, but the problem is that outsource studios often have connections to nearly every game or movie studio on the market, which could make your dream company off-limits when you're ready to move in the future.
So my advice is: Be brave, practice daily, and don't take rejection personally. Importantly, don't be too discouraged by the unprecedented progress in AI generation. Only skilled concept artists can fix the missing 8% that makes the difference between good and great art.
Vladimir Mokry is a Concept Artist, Art Director, and Instructor with experience on Apex Legends, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Call of Duty: Vanguard.