Why 102? – the book is not 101, and there are infinite numbers between 101 and 102…
The third edition of my book which started long time ago in a galaxy far far away. I created it more as a comic book rather than a reflowable document that you have to read, a fun thing with a few serious pages in between. A tale of several covers, and several titles.
Mirena Rhee was a Star Wars artist, 15 year veteran of the Video Games industry, and created video game art for blockbuster franchises like Iron Man Shrek, and X-Men. She was a well-regarded video game artist in the Silicon Valley and at Lucasfilm when she decided to leave her six-figure salary and job in paradise to commit to creating art for the betterment of humankind full-time.
In this motivational, sometimes irreverent and funny, and tongue-in-cheek collection Mirena Rhee addresses diverse subjects like how to dream, how to get a job in video games, best practices in creating art for video games, notes on productivity, and sharpening one’s artistic creativity. What is a video game, what does a video game artist do, how to create great games, how to think of the big picture. The second half of the book is filled with personal insights on living a life as an artist and her philosophy for a human-centered artistic practice.
Click below for high-resolution image of the cover:
102 Lessons in Art, Life and Video Games
This book began a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away. This is the third and greatly improved edition which I will keep improving and polishing with things whenever I can.
It is also epic, with over 100 pictures and chapters and lessons you will never forget.
I did not have enough cat pictures to illustrate the book properly so I am using instead screenshots of actual Video Game levels I worked on, glitches, photographs I took, boring documents I wrote and some frivolously Photoshopped memes which you can luckily skip –just swipe left! I never use images or levels I haven’t worked on myself.
Despite the lack of enough cat pictures, the book contains useful things that you can immediately use in your workflow – Tips and Tricks and Best Practices for how to develop great Video Games, and how to get the most of your creative drive. Hard core stuff like Asset Spec Sheet templates. The Video Game Playbook gives you play-by-play on what you need to do to get your game done, as well as ideas on what to do before, during and after making your game.
Some chapters I devoted to my personal understanding of Video Games and Digital Entertainment, my experiences as a Video Game Artist and how I tackled hard stuff.
The later chapters are very personal, some are lessons from my Star Wars afterlife as an artist and creator of many things, including photography, drawings, paintings, installations, animations and performance art. Some chapters towards the end contain my very own special productivity hacks which may surprise you. Don’t throw your Kindle!
I developed this book as a comic book because the pictures are as important as the words. What is amazing about digital books is that you can always make them better – their printing press is very light – just a button and the efforts of the Author.
If the universe is indeed a simulation it is probably the best video game ever. I am sure aliens fall off their chairs giggling whenever one of us falls through the world. There’s nothing you can do about it.
But there’s something you can do to play it the best you can, and I think being an artist, a creator, is the most fun way to do it. Just make sure not to fall through the cracks. Remember that The Game of Life is the best and most important video game you will ever play.
One of the best things that happened in my life was working on Star Wars. One of the greatest things that happened in my life was leaving Star Wars and finding my own Force.