First Place Winner of Art War 2 (2D), Thomas Chamberlain-Keen is no stranger to Cubebrush competitions. He was also the 2D first place winner of Cubebrush's Worlds competition with Ablution. Taking the first place spot in Art War 2 didn't come easy, however, Thomas takes us through his background as an artist in this great interview. 

Q. Biggest Inspiration When You Started as an Artist: Feng Zhu. I watched everything he had to offer on youtube and found his insights into how the entertainment industry works just as useful as his advice on design.

Q. Average Number of Layers When You Paint (2D only): I try to stay under 10

Q. Coffee or Tea: Tea, ideally with boba

Q. Good Habits: Always doing something creative

Q. Worst Habit: Giving in to sleepiness and having a nap

Q. Favorite Movies: REDLINE, Princess Mononoke, Angel's Egg, Atlantis, Scott Pilgrim

Q. Favorite Games: Ratchet and Clank (PS2), Dark Souls, Borderlands, Beat Sabre VR

Q. Music While Doing Art: Ceephax Acid Crew - Camelot Arcade, Yosi Horikawa - Vapor, Earthside – A Dream In Static, Igorrr - Savage Sinusoid, Snails House - Snö, Extrawelt, Sevish, Bohren and der club of gore.

Q. How to Bounce Back from a Bad Day: Sleep it off.

Q. What is a Good Day: Not wanting to go to bed because you’re enjoying a painting too much.

Q. Favorite Quote:  “Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to

be always and forever explaining things to them.” -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Q. Future Goals: I would love my personal work to reach and resonate with an audience that can learn from me.

Can you introduce yourself? 

Hi, I’m Thomas, I've lived most of my life in Devon and have been working for about half a year at Atomhawk Design in Newcastle.

What got you into character art, when did it all start?

I’ve always loved creating both character and environments; like I mentioned in the WORLDS interview I think environment art is especially good at evoking feelings of awe and wonder, but naturally cannot express many of the more nuanced human emotions. Great character design lets you understand someone's personality and gives hints into their past, what experiences they’ve been through and how that’s shaped their identity. I always find that the more I explore a character, the more I want to start creating the world in which they live and I feel it becomes counterproductive to keep the two disciplines separate.

What influences were the most responsible for your current art style?

It’s very hard to say because I don’t feel like I’ve settled into a particular style as of yet, however for my Artwar entry specifically it would be: Wei Feng, Ruan Jia, Markus Neidel and Victor Quaresma

How did you get to the level you are at today? Did you study in any particular way you would recommend?

I think the most success comes from conscious learning. I seek out art that I think displays a perfect execution of a technique or style, and I try my best to figure out why it works so well. I will then to apply what I’ve learnt to a new piece of my own. Throughout the creation process I constantly ask myself why I’m making the choices that I am and use the reference to inform my decisions. Whilst it might not be overly healthy to constantly compare your work to that by other artists, I’ve learnt a whole lot by analysing these differences, what your work is missing, and even what your own work may have achieved better. Ultimately it’s just as important to form criticism of your own work as it is to receive it from others.

How did you begin the process of creating your piece? What was your inspiration? Why the light side? or Why the dark side?

I started planning my entry a little late and I had already seen some very cool entries that had sided with darkness so I did my best to fight back. Having chosen light I wanted to try out some Egyptian inspired design work, a culture that I had never incorporated into my artwork before. I was aware of the most powerful Egyptian Gods (from faint childhood memories of YuGiOh mostly) and I really like the large headpieces that they wore. My character ended up having a very prominent spherical headpiece which was a fun call-back to my ArtWar entry from the year before. From here I started to add design elements from other cultures, fairy-like wings and Greek motifs in the armour. This helped identify her as a Godly figure fighting for the light side.

What was your biggest hurdle during the process? What did you do to overcome it?

Time. I had just started my first full-time job at Atomhawk Design so my free time for personal work felt very scarce. But after a bunch of late nights and full-on weekends I pulled through. I also made sure I got feedback from my friends as I went; their suggestions kept my piece new and interesting enough to motivate me to keep pushing further.

If you had to do it over would you do it differently? Why?

The one thing I really aimed for at the beginning was a more extreme camera angle. I had found myself settling with side-on compositions in so much of my personal work that I wanted a new challenge. Ultimately, of all the poses I came up with, this side-view trumped the rest by displaying the design and action most clearly, but I still feel like I could have found a different and more interesting solution.

What do you think the Art War 2 challenge experience taught you, and would you participate again next year if you could?

Keep a careful balance between the bizarre new designs and tried and tested ones. My entry from last year was filled with wacky ideas that clashed when they came together, which made for a chaotic final illustration. As such I kept this years entry much more focused on the central theme and I sided with safer designs in alot of places so there was something in it that everyone could appreciate.

Do you have any tips or advice for aspiring artists out there who might be looking to get to your level one day? What's your recipe for success?

You’ve really got to love it and be prepared to work hard. Like I said in my approach to studying, be conscious and thoughtful about everything you are doing. Thinking is a lot harder than copying but it’s essential to help you improve.

Any final thoughts?

Thankyou so much again! I’m really glad I participated in both Artwars, it’s amazing to see how much you can learn and improve on in a year and I owe it to Cubebrush for inspiring me to give it my all.

Follow Tck (Thomas) on Facebook. See his workflow for his winning piece Ra here. Check out his 2D Digital Tutorial here.