Jon Lauf, Art Director at Atomic Games
I've always loved videogames and the worlds they evoke, on top of that, art and simply being creative are my main passions in life. Playing role playing games as a kid I revelled in the chance to create and illustrate multitudes of imaginary worlds. My father would bring home reams of the old connected style dot matrix printer paper, and I would take four or five sheets at a time and draw complex coast lines dotted with ports and dark forests. I would draw up written languages for the people who lived there, and imagine what their cultures and cities might be like. At the time I had no idea that could actually translate into a career, I was just doing it for fun, and because I felt compelled to. After going to school at UNC Chapel Hill for painting and drawing, and then again to Full Sail for computer animation, I finally managed to make that dream a reality. Working in the video game industry is a dream come true, however that dream doesn't end simply with me working in video games. It's my desire to push my creative and art-making skills as far as they will go and to lend my talents to exciting, fun projects that I can be proud of, that is the real, living dream.
