Chamille: Welcome, one and all, to another Age of Empires Community Highlights and Fan Creations! It’s been some time since we’ve visited the impressive talents that our community has worked day and night to establish, and we’re excited to present these amazing pieces to all of you today!
Before we get started, I’ve asked our Art Director at World’s Edge to join me today in talking about this fan art and why it’s important: please welcome Han Randhawa! Han has been with the Age of Empires team for just under 4 years and has worked closely with the current Definitive Editions of the games, including the highly anticipated Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition and Age of Empires IV! His work as an art director has spanned more than 20 years in the industry, and he continues to help budding artists while also upholding the beautiful styles we’ve come to love and enjoy of the Age of Empires franchise!
Han, thank you for joining me today in reviewing these pieces created by our fans! Could you tell us a bit more about why you think fan art is important?
Han: Absolutely! First off, I started my career doing fan art. While I was taking notes in school, about 25% of it was actual work while the other 75% was just fan creations of things I loved. I was passionate about video games and comic book superheros, and that passion lead me to continuing my sketches. Subconsciously, through this repetition of expressing yourself, you start to break down and reverse engineer the artwork you make. It turns into a learning process, which can then lift you into a potential career while also giving you an important way to cherish the things you enjoy!
Fan art is also super important to the development team: I feel it is a two-way communication between us and the player base. As stated earlier, when you are passionate about something you love, you want to express it in some way. For fan art, that enthusiasm to the franchise really means a lot to the developers and continues our own dedication of the game. We really want to do more when we see that kind of passion! So really, fan art opens up learning outlets and future careers possibilities, while also giving life and movement to the franchise you love.
Chamille: I absolutely agree, thank you for your words, Han! Without further ado, let’s review these fan art pieces today!