This month in the Monthly Interview, the Graphics section is featuring iNvader, the current Lead Artist of this section. This will be one of many upcoming interviews in the future of the Graphics section. It will help boost the community to get familiar with each other and get to know more about the man behind the badge. So here is a little bit of information about iNvaDer before we start the questions:
What's your background with graphics? I started computer graphics when I was around 14, I was playing Red Alert 2 a lot and I was also active on the Hostilegamers.com fourms, which was a large community of RA2 fans. I started off just doing basic things like making signatures for other members, I then applied for the graphics team of a new competing site called Chat-Stars.Com. I was accepted and started learning at a very quick pace. I started learning more about the creation of web sites in particular the PHP coding of the forums and skining them. I was promoted to Senior Artist and in real life I started two college courses. One on advanced website and graphics design the other on computer maintenance and repair. I gained a lot more skill, and was promoted to Site Admin of which I was one of three. By this time the site had grown to around 50,000 members and I had a huge responisibility. After around 6 months or so I gave up computer gaming and graphic design to move on with real life and have some fun in my younger years. I came back to the scene when Red Alert 3 came along, where I became the Artist of the clan Team-Alias, which brought me to GameReplays.org, and that is how I got here.
What was the reason that you got interested in graphics? I have always been interested in graphics. When I was at school I always excelled in the subjects of I.T. and Art. It was only a matter of time until the two clashed together. I remember when I first started getting interested in computer graphics and it was when I was playing Red Alert 2 competitively and wanted a signature for the forums I was active on, but no one would make me one so I set out to learn how to do it myself.
What type of graphic design do you enjoy doing the most? As Admin for the section I do not actually get very much time to do creative work anymore (although I did enter this week's SOTW gogogo vote for me), but I have always enjoyed making large art the most. Often, when I am making sigs I will have many different ideas throughout the making of the signature. If I am making a larger piece, I can put them all into one.
What are your thoughts on the community? I think we have a nice bunch of increasingly active members. Everyday I seem to see a new face pop up and this is great. When I became Admin I knew I had a huge job with the section. We had about three active posters and it was a little bit of a mess, but I am really happy with how things are going and none of it could have happened without the support and input of the community.
If you could change something about how this section is run, what would it be? I would get rid of the Lead Artists, they're terrible...oh wait...that's me. Well to be honest, I think we have some great staff at the moment and the section is really starting to pick up. Earlier this week we were the 5th most active section of the whole site, and this week we have had more entries to the SOTW than I have ever seen in the section. On that note, a real big thanks to the staff and members for helping get this section active again, I hope it will keep getting more active.
What are your plans for the future of this section? Shhhhhh, that would be telling...Well the ladder is only at beta stage at the moment, but I hope to improve a lot of things with it and get a lot of great things for our increasing amount of members to enjoy.
Who do you admire or look up too? The person I look up to most in life is my grandfather. He has accomplished a lot of great things in his life such as a very successful company, the longest running Captain of the Oxford rugby team, and nationally representing England in Judo. I only hope I can come close to achieving as much as him in my life.
What type of art besides graphic design do you enjoy? I do a lot of free hand drawing/sketching. There are a lot of amazing sights to see in the city I live in, and I think the best way to capture something is to draw it. You can almost see how the sight is making the artist feel, unlike a photograph.
What do you do besides graphics? To be completely honest, nothing. I currently do not have a job in real life, so my free time is awfully plentiful. Luckily for me Oxford has a very good night life so I can go out with my friends a lot. But back to the computer sides of things, I play a lot of computer games. At the moment I am playing Heroes of Newerth.
If the whole world were listening, what would you say? I would say to do what you enjoy doing in life, and if you enjoy it, do not let anyone tell you different. If you want to smoke, do it. If you want to sing, sing. If you want to dance, dance. Life is too short, I would never want to end it thinking "What If?".
If one song were to describe your life, what song would it be? Lostprophets - Last summer I have so many amazing memories of my childhood, which always seems like last summer. Wish every summer was the same as your 16th-21st, but now I'm getting old...
If you could be a super-hero, which one would you be? Why? Wow, a tricky one. It would be out of three-Silver Surfer, Wolverine or Pyro, and I would probably have to go with Pyro. Controlling fire would just be the coolest thing you can do, and you can still blend into the public unlike Silver Surfer who dominates them all though.
If you could date a celebrity, who would you choose? Talulah Riley. Some of you might know her from St. Trinians. I have a secret plan we will get married I promise you!
If you could have only one food for the rest of your life (assuming that this strange situation would not affect your health), which food would you choose? Pizza, I could live off pizza. If it could only be one type of pizza, I would have to go for a Pizza Hut's stuffed crust with pepperoni and extra cheese on top.
If you could travel back in time, where would you go? I would go to the 60's. Sounds fun...Sex, Drugs and Rock'n'Roll. What more could you want?
iNvaDer, thank you for sharing in this monthly interview.
This post has been merged by iNvaDeR: Oct 24 2009, 22:32 PM
im sure oxford pwns them all tbh and smoke we got to go for a drink tommorow im thinking red lion or somewhere cheap as im a litte skint and its only £1:59 a pint on wednesdays
, i only drink wine anyways >.<
So here is a little bit of information about iNvaDer before we start the questions:
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Name: Rhys John
Age: 21
From: Oxford, England
Photoshop edition: Photoshop CS4
Community Role: Admin
What's your background with graphics?
I started computer graphics when I was around 14, I was playing Red Alert 2 a lot and I was also active on the Hostilegamers.com fourms, which was a large community of RA2 fans. I started off just doing basic things like making signatures for other members, I then applied for the graphics team of a new competing site called Chat-Stars.Com. I was accepted and started learning at a very quick pace. I started learning more about the creation of web sites in particular the PHP coding of the forums and skining them. I was promoted to Senior Artist and in real life I started two college courses. One on advanced website and graphics design the other on computer maintenance and repair. I gained a lot more skill, and was promoted to Site Admin of which I was one of three. By this time the site had grown to around 50,000 members and I had a huge responisibility. After around 6 months or so I gave up computer gaming and graphic design to move on with real life and have some fun in my younger years. I came back to the scene when Red Alert 3 came along, where I became the Artist of the clan Team-Alias, which brought me to GameReplays.org, and that is how I got here.
What was the reason that you got interested in graphics?
I have always been interested in graphics. When I was at school I always excelled in the subjects of I.T. and Art. It was only a matter of time until the two clashed together. I remember when I first started getting interested in computer graphics and it was when I was playing Red Alert 2 competitively and wanted a signature for the forums I was active on, but no one would make me one so I set out to learn how to do it myself.
What type of graphic design do you enjoy doing the most?
As Admin for the section I do not actually get very much time to do creative work anymore (although I did enter this week's SOTW gogogo vote for me), but I have always enjoyed making large art the most. Often, when I am making sigs I will have many different ideas throughout the making of the signature. If I am making a larger piece, I can put them all into one.
What are your thoughts on the community?
I think we have a nice bunch of increasingly active members. Everyday I seem to see a new face pop up and this is great. When I became Admin I knew I had a huge job with the section. We had about three active posters and it was a little bit of a mess, but I am really happy with how things are going and none of it could have happened without the support and input of the community.
If you could change something about how this section is run, what would it be?
I would get rid of the Lead Artists, they're terrible...oh wait...that's me. Well to be honest, I think we have some great staff at the moment and the section is really starting to pick up. Earlier this week we were the 5th most active section of the whole site, and this week we have had more entries to the SOTW than I have ever seen in the section. On that note, a real big thanks to the staff and members for helping get this section active again, I hope it will keep getting more active.
What are your plans for the future of this section?
Shhhhhh, that would be telling...Well the ladder is only at beta stage at the moment, but I hope to improve a lot of things with it and get a lot of great things for our increasing amount of members to enjoy.
Who do you admire or look up too?
The person I look up to most in life is my grandfather. He has accomplished a lot of great things in his life such as a very successful company, the longest running Captain of the Oxford rugby team, and nationally representing England in Judo. I only hope I can come close to achieving as much as him in my life.
What type of art besides graphic design do you enjoy?
I do a lot of free hand drawing/sketching. There are a lot of amazing sights to see in the city I live in, and I think the best way to capture something is to draw it. You can almost see how the sight is making the artist feel, unlike a photograph.
What do you do besides graphics?
To be completely honest, nothing. I currently do not have a job in real life, so my free time is awfully plentiful. Luckily for me Oxford has a very good night life so I can go out with my friends a lot. But back to the computer sides of things, I play a lot of computer games. At the moment I am playing Heroes of Newerth.
If the whole world were listening, what would you say?
I would say to do what you enjoy doing in life, and if you enjoy it, do not let anyone tell you different. If you want to smoke, do it. If you want to sing, sing. If you want to dance, dance. Life is too short, I would never want to end it thinking "What If?".
If one song were to describe your life, what song would it be?
Lostprophets - Last summer
I have so many amazing memories of my childhood, which always seems like last summer. Wish every summer was the same as your 16th-21st, but now I'm getting old...
If you could be a super-hero, which one would you be? Why?
Wow, a tricky one. It would be out of three-Silver Surfer, Wolverine or Pyro, and I would probably have to go with Pyro. Controlling fire would just be the coolest thing you can do, and you can still blend into the public unlike Silver Surfer who dominates them all though.
If you could date a celebrity, who would you choose?
Talulah Riley. Some of you might know her from St. Trinians. I have a secret plan we will get married I promise you!
If you could have only one food for the rest of your life (assuming that this strange situation would not affect your health), which food would you choose?
Pizza, I could live off pizza. If it could only be one type of pizza, I would have to go for a Pizza Hut's stuffed crust with pepperoni and extra cheese on top.
If you could travel back in time, where would you go?
I would go to the 60's. Sounds fun...Sex, Drugs and Rock'n'Roll. What more could you want?
iNvaDer, thank you for sharing in this monthly interview.
This post has been merged by iNvaDeR: Oct 24 2009, 22:32 PM
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