An Interview with Col Price

How long have you been an artist, and what got you started?

Well I started a long time ago, I’ve always drawn, painted and Airbrushed as a kid, And always loved Sci-Fi art and fantasy, ever since seeing Jason and the Argonauts.  I started in the games industry back in 1996 after finishing university. I did have the intention of  going into movie VFX  (fuelled by Ray Harry Hausen movies and Star Wars) but at that time the VFX digital industry was only really at its birth and video games  jobs were a plenty, with lots of big studios in the UK (sadly this is no longer the case).  So I kind of stumbled into games. I think for me it was, at those times, a chance to do everything. Everyone did just about everything from building the sets and worlds to characters and down to the animation. So you never got bored.  Everybody mucked in at every job was a lot of fun, and I got a chance to really open up my skill set.

What are your tools of the trade?

Predominantly 3DSMax and Photoshop.  I can use other stuff such as Maya and I’ve just started to learn Zbrush, 3Dcoat and Marvelous Designer but Max is what I’m used to and fastest with for the 3d side.  [For 2D] I’ve used Photoshop I’ve used since it came out! Come to think of it I’ve used Max since it came out, back when it used to be 3DStudio! 
I also like to use particle systems, they are really handy for building up a VFX library to work with in Photoshop. I also use After Effects and Premier for motion graphics.

What are some of your inspirations?

My Grandfather, he was an artist and my biggest and best mentor. Others are the likes of Chris Foss, Jim Burns, Peter Elson and filmmakers like Ridley Scott and Ray Harryhausen.  More recently, Guillermo Del Toro and Nell Blomkamp.

Have you been inspired by any of the Dune works?

Yeah! Totally.  Jodorowsky’s Dune would have been incredible, and seeing those guys I grew up with like Foss and Moebius creating the art would have been an incredible show – I’m a huge fan of the way they used colour and shape. Alien worlds and ships don’t have to conform to those stereotypes of grey [colored] and sleek ships. I prefer things that look like they shouldn’t fly, and in fact, within conventions wouldn’t fly, but that’s only mankind’s narrow mindedness. I prefer things a bit more leftfield. I don’t do shiny ships!

Do you ever build any world lore behind your works, or just the art?

All the time.  Without exception, each ship has its own history and story, and each image too. I love putting story elements into my work.  In my newer personal work I’m actually trying to build a whole universe and story up. I haven’t fully made up my mind what to do with it yet, possibly a book?  Who knows?  But putting lore and story into your work is so important. I’ll always remember talking with some artists online about this and one of them saying “why do you always try to do this?  It’s just a concept, you don’t need to put a backstory in because it’s just a ship” – which is so wrong!  Everything we do needs to convey a purpose or history or story. Without this a character has no backstory, or a ship hasn’t a history or life.  If somebody presented me with a battered ship and couldn’t tell me why it was like and how it got its scars of life that I’d be pretty disappointed.  A concept is designed to evoke an emotional response, so lore and story are incredibly important.

Some of your spaceship work looks vaguely 70s style, have you drawn inspiration from Chris Foss or Peter Elson?

Yeah, I make no apologies for this LOL.  It’s been such a huge influence.  I try to put my twist on things but growing up with those “Terran Trade Authority” art books (that I still have to this day!) was a huge influence to me. So when people say my work harks to those guys I take it as the biggest complement, I can only hope my style can do them justice.  I also hope [my work] is not a carbon copy and has a style of its own.