d3t welcomes Paula Sánchez-Ferrero Ruiz, Lead Artist
9th Oct 2023
Tell us a bit of information about your experience/career background?
After finishing my university degree in Design & Development for Video Games in 2016, I was lucky enough to join elite3d – a great outsourcing studio which I considered a family for more than 5 years. While working there, I had the opportunity to work on more than 12 AAA games, such as Metro Exodus, Overkill’s The Walking Dead, 3 titles from the Call of Duty franchise and 3 more from The Dark Pictures Anthology by Supermassive Games.
In addition to my role as an Artist, over the years I evolved into positions such as Supervising Artist, Lead Artist and eventually 3D Director (this last one at Saber Interactive). This has given me the opportunity to grow, share my knowledge with other colleagues, learn from them and guide teams by giving them support, not only technically, but also motivationally.
Furthermore, I’ve also been working as an online tutor and mentor since 2020, to guide other artists on how to approach the props/environments creation for video games in a technical proficient way. I have published an intermediate level online course partnering with Domêstika on how to create realistic props for AAA games and I also contribute to The Mentor Coalition on a monthly basis to mentor artists from different parts of the world to improve their artistic skills. In addition to this, I conduct multiple masterclasses in different Video Games/Art Universities every year, to share my knowledge with students and aspiring 3D artists.
Why d3t?
The reason why d3t has been winning the prize of “Best Places to Work” 5 years consecutively already is not a coincidence. The studio is well known for their great working culture, nice vibes, and project quality.
Everybody was incredibly nice to me during the interviewing process, which makes me think it is a place I could easily end up considering home.
In addition to this, the variety of high standard projects they have, plus the different clients, will allow me to keep improving my knowledge really fast. Also, the fact that the Art department is relatively new, makes it a perfect place to keep growing over the years.
What do you love about games?
I love how art is mixed with technique when it comes to making a video game. The fact that you not only need to ensure a nice final artistic quality, but a good performance, makes it in my eyes a challenging but rewarding duty.
Being an Artist for video games forces you to train your eye, capture reality in a different way and makes you become a freak observant of the world that surrounds you, by paying extra attention to tiny details that, otherwise, you might have missed.
The industry is always in constant change, which makes it impossible for you to get stuck or bored as a professional. Every year you need to learn new things, get used to new pipelines or additional software, and it’s this endless race for knowledge that makes me never get tired of it.
What games are you currently playing, and what is your favourite game?
I am a huge fan of action-adventure games as well as story driven ones and every now and then I try to test a new Tomb Raider, some of the Quantic Dream or Supermassive games, Horizon, God of War or Spiderman (as examples).
The first game I have ever played at home was Jak & Daxter and it was in that moment that I fell absolutely in love with the industry. I must confess I have to point out all the Naughty Dog games as my favourites, because of their outstanding artistic and plot quality, but also because I grew up with them.
If I had to choose one, Uncharted 2 and Uncharted 4 would definitely be my selected ones.
Do you have any fun facts or hobbies?
I really enjoy nature, which makes me escape from the city quite often for a long hike, as well as to travel to different countries in the search of breathtaking landscapes to memorise.
I am also a huge foody. I must admit this started back in the day simply because I loved eating, but over the years this has generated into me enjoying spending hours in the kitchen creating my own original dishes. I confess following recipes is a bit boring for me, so I use cooking as one more creative and artistic way of expression, trying to be original while balancing ingredients, tastes, and textures.
In addition to this, writing has always been a quite important hobby in my life. I remember myself at 9 years of age writing one-page long stories, which evolved into long novels and poems when I became a teenager. Nowadays it is a bit more difficult for me to spend time on it, but every now and then I try to keep it alive by creating poems to reflect what I’m feeling or thinking at that moment.
And of course, 3D could not be missing in this list. Since I started in the industry, I always try to have a personal project at home to make sure I keep improving my skills and up to date with the new technology that comes along.