Anyone who has played a Valve game (especially Team Fortress 2) knows how much Valve loves their hats. However, the DotA 2 hat collection pales in comparison to Team Fortress’s. Why? Because we spoiled players get amazing full cosmetic sets instead! Now, these sets do not magically appear via a wave of Gabe Newell’s wand; if they did, said wand would have been stolen years ago, and we’d have Half Life 3 already! But, all good things come with (Valve) time, and our amazing cosmetic sets are no different.

For those of you who do not know, Anuxinamoon, or Anuxi for short, is an incredibly well-known polycount artist who has created such magnificent cosmetic sets as Crystal Maiden’s “Winter Snowdrop” and Enchantress’s “Blessing of the Wildkin”.

Her creations are heralded by the community and Valve alike; her “Light of the Solar Divine” set for Lina was recently added to our beloved DotA 2 shop (that’s right folks, more things to spend money on!), and her famed Snowdrop set for Crystal Maiden was featured as a bonus for those who purchased a DotA 2 invite through Steam during the Holiday Sale.

I had the true privilege and honor of sitting down with Stephanie “Anuxinamoon”, the Snowdrop Queen herself, to chat about her background, artistic influences, and thoughts about the art direction and limitations of DotA 2.

Howdy, Anuxi! I’m so thrilled to have you here with me! Let’s start off easy; tell us a little about yourself!

Heya! So my name is Stephanie, but you may also know me as Anuxi! I’m super honored to be doing this interview, so thanks for the opportunity WhatIsHip.TV!

So a little on my background; I’m originally from a tiny beach town called Tuross Heads in Australia, and I love games! I made my first foray into games by making custom maps for Warcraft 2 and Heroes of Might and Magic 3, just to share with friends at school. I really got sucked into modding games with Baldurs Gate 2, and loved making maps for Neverwinter Nights. I had no idea I could actually go to school to learn about making games, or even pursue a career in making games, so when I found this tiny little college called QANTM in Brisbane, Australia that specialized in games and animation, I jumped at the chance! 

From that 1 year diploma in 2003, I have gone on to work freelance for different games around the world, eventually working in-house on Edge of Twilight and Rift. Since Rift, I have moved back to Australia and my husband, Troy, and I do digital sculptures for Kingdom Death to pay the bills while we work on our own little game idea.

Wow! So this sure isn’t your first rodeo. Now, a lot of us less artistically inclined folks look at your sets and think “Wow, how the heck did she come up with that?!” Would you care to share some of your artistic influences and motivation with us?

Art has always been a very strong motivator for me. As most artists say, they drew a lot when they were a kid, and so did I! I drew on everything and anything. I used to bemuse my art teachers because I would just be drawing dragons and griffons and centaurs when I should be drawing bowls of fruit or whatever arty tasks they set for me. Having a crazy imagination, I think, is key to motivating you as an artist, because all you want to do is get your ideas out and see if they can be made real.

Art has always been a very strong motivator for me.

My artistic inspiration when I was young was all Disney. In high school, I was in love with Julie Bell because she made amazing fantasy paintings of strong females. Lately, I don’t have a single artist or artists that I can point to as inspiration; there are so many great artists out there now, it’s overwhelming. I now look for art direction as opposed to art execution. I want to see how an artist can make this world they are showing me different from all the other worlds out there. I guess in my old age, I’m starting to get quite fussy with my art tastes!

Well, I’d say your self-proclaimed fussiness has come as a huge boon to the DotA community! How exactly did you land yourself in DotA after all of your other involvement in the gaming scene?

So, I never even knew what DotA really was before the polycount competition. I just knew it as that mod for Warcraft 3 that I never played. I’ve been a lurker in the polycount forums since 2003, so the polycount community is very dear to me. I think I learned most of what I know today by reading the insightful posts and feedback from the amazing artists who post there.

When polycount announced the polycount DotA 2 contest, I was like: “Oh! Thats kinda cool,” but it wasn’t until my husband, Troy, suggested I try to have a go at it that I actually read up on what DotA and DotA 2 were, and it all snowballed from there. He was actually going to enter the contest as well, but was deterred by the fact that it was only making items and not full characters. He has a thing for making sexy women.

One thing I’m always super critical of in games is females fashion and how many fashion choices they get. So when I looked at the list of heroes, I picked the coolest looking female: Enchantress. I just had to make some awesome stuff for her. I guess this is why I seem to only make stuff for the ladies in DotA 2; elegant designs and cute motifs are right up my alley, and a girl needs a good wardrobe, right?

I’ve become quite addicted to playing DotA 2, getting involved with the community, and watching tournaments. It’s such an amazing game. I feel like I feed way too much in my games, though. I should probably play less squishy characters. Need more female strength heroes!

 Agreed! Listen up, Valve! This girl knows what she’s talking about. I would personally love to see you design a set around an amazonian type hero, perhaps something with a blowdart… Anyway, I digress, and I also lack artistic vision. Obviously you don’t, however! Could you tell us a little more about the other games that you have worked on? 

So many games, oh gosh! The first game I ever worked on was Stargate SG1: The Alliance in 2004. We learned how to normal map when there were hardly any tools or documentation on how to do it. It was an amazing experience. Since then, I have worked on numerous small titles that never got to see the light of day, and also Edge of Twilight, which was cancelled but seems to be getting a release soon. The most recent title I worked on was RIFT. Troy and I got the job there in 2010, and worked in-house over at Trion Worlds for 18 months. Its a really great company, and we made some great friends.

Well we’re certainly all grateful that we get to claim you now! So let’s dig into history a bit. What was the first cosmetic set that you created?

For DotA 2, it was Enchantress’s “Blessings of the Wildkin”. I had no idea what I was doing. Every step of the way was a new challenge. I learned a lot about the pipeline, the art style, and the lore of the character during those first few weeks. I was working roughly 12 hours a day on it. I was addicted! Once I saw my item on the character in the preview window, I cursed, wondering where I had stuffed up. Eventually I got it working correctly and just fell in love with making items.

Making art for games is the most frustrating but rewarding experiences. Seeing your art contributing to the enjoyment of the game just makes it all worth it.

Twelve hours a day?! That’s some serious dedication! Hopefully the process is a bit smoother since the first one. Now, what’s your favorite set that you’ve created?

My favourite one is definitely the Snowdrop itemset. After creating the two Enchantress and two Naga Siren sets, I had enough experience with the pipeline, art style, and game to really try and pump out the best item I could. I took my time with it to make sure it looked good in game and made sure it was the best it could be. It was fun to make, too! I had the design on paper for three weeks, so it was rotting a hole into my brain which really helped me solidify it even more.

The Snowdrop set is my favorite as well. I personally love the fur and blue coloring which gives it its very northern, frosty, somewhat frigid feel in conjunction with the tassels which, in my opinion, makes it a little more playful and fun! Anyway, no one wants to hear about my art taste; we want more from you! So out of all the heroes you have used, which has been your favorite?

Oh this one is easy! Enchantress! She is so easy to rig, so fun to design for. Her colours are so nice. All the rest I have had to work a little bit harder to get it to all work. I’d totally recommend making items for Enchantress if you want to learn the pipeline. Her pipeline is very noob friendly, I think. 

 Now you mentioned earlier that you were working 12 hours a day on your first set. How long does it usually take you to complete a set?

It all depends on the complexity of the character items. Heroes with mounts, for example, will take longer than a character like Lina who had only four items. But if I work a standard eight to ten hours I can usually do a full set in ten to fourteen days.

But if I work a standard eight to ten hours I can usually do a full set in ten to fourteen days.

Have any of your sets taken an exceptionally long time to create?

So far the longest has been Snowdrop, just because I wanted to make sure it was perfect. That took the full 14 days. I’m working on a Mirana item set at the moment. It’s seven items, including the mount. The blockout alone took a whole day. Usually it only takes a few hours to do that stage, so this will probably the longest.

I have been livestreaming the entire workflow on twitch for people who are interested.

I know that I’ve been watching you work via the livestream, and I have to say that I am floored by your talent. I’m still stuck at the whole “draw the circle” part of my own art career. Now, I know that you can’t just do whatever you want with these items; there are certain restrictions that Valve has placed on the process. Do you feel Valve’s technical item restrictions are too limiting? Do you believe you’d be able to create better/more complex work with less stringent limitations?

Actually, I don’t. I think great art comes from great restrictions. There is a great sense of accomplishment when you can make your design fit within budgets, and I know many on the Polycount community share this view.

Though some limitations like Alpha Opacity not being enabled on all characters is kind of a bummer, especially since alpha is a great way to fake higher density, can make the work harder. So when a character doesn’t have alpha, you need to really take that into consideration when you design.

Very interesting insight. Valve, get this girl alpha opacity on all characters, stat! Now, moving outside of the technical realm of things, do you feel that the specific color palette for each hero is a good thing? In your opinion, would it be beneficial or harmful to the polycount community if artists were able to work outside the color palette for each hero?

Colour is a big thing for me. It’s very important, if not the most important thing in a game’s visuals. How colour works with the gameplay and with design is really critical. You could have the best model in the world, but if the texture is lacking and the colours are off or don’t work together, then an awesome model can fall flat on its face.

I really like the art direction in DOTA 2, and I think adhering to an art direction is a great way to learn, especially since when you get a job in the industry, unless you are the art director, you will have to adhere to an art direction.

I really like the art direction in DOTA 2, and I think adhering to an art direction is a great way to learn, especially since when you get a job in the industry, unless you are the art director, you will have to adhere to an art direction.

If you make an item that can work with the hero’s colour palette, then you have learned not only how to push an item into the game, but also how to use colour theory to make it work within the art direction. It’s a skill that is invaluable, and this is a great way to hone that skill.

Every time I make a new armour set, I re-read the art guide PDFs. I’m always learning a better way to do things, a closer way to make sure my item fits the style guide. I’m still learning how to make values and colours work, and I feel I still have a long way to go. It’s very exciting!

That’s the thing about the greats: they always strive to be greater! Let’s talk a little bit about the means by which your items get noticed: the Workshop. Do you believe the Workshop voting mechanism does a fair job of filtering content? Does the best tend to rise to the top, or does something sub par slip by every now and again? 

I have been watching the Workshop for only a few months now, and from what I have seen, most stuff gets a pretty fair review, as far as ratings go. Some stuff I see get rated over what it should be, but I think people sometimes rate the idea rather than the execution.

I think Workshop items that don’t have in game preview pics are pretty annoying, though. It is great to have a nice render, but its more important to see what it looks like in game. Once I started figuring out how to preview my items as a set in the test client, it made a huge difference in how I design itemsets and make adjustments. Hopefully we will see more in game item shots in the workshop from now on.

Comments are a great way to judge community feedback a little bit closely. I tend to weigh feedback heavily against my own vision for the item and my knowledge and experience, but sometimes the community makes a fair point and is cause for either a review of the item in question, or a helpful tip to keep hold of when you next make an item set.

Well, Valve would be pleased to know that their system works! Now that we’ve talked about all the restrictions that you love and abide by, let’s go in a totally opposite direction! Pretend Valve’s item limitations don’t exist. Any hero can utilize any color, no theme restrictions (a la Alpine Ursa); what items/themed set would you make for what hero and why? 

This one is easy! It would definitely be for Luna, and she would be riding a displacer beast dragon of some sort. I would make her have dark skin and silver armour with a big curly ponytail. Why? I dunno, displacer beasts are cool? Haha! I’d just love to make Luna items fullstop. Valve, hurry up and add the Luna model to the workshop importer!

Ok, Valve, I hope you’ve been keeping a list! More female strength heroes, Alpha Opacity, Luna model; chop chop! So, Anuxi, what advice would you give to individuals looking to break into the item design scene?

Just start making items! Grab a program, any 3D program, and start making items. It’s really that simple. You will suck but as you make more and more items, you will suck less. The best way to learn is by repetition, learning from past mistakes. Try not to plan too much, just go in blind, note where you fell down, and learn from it. I guess this is general advice for anything really, but it applies to game art all the same.

Once you stop sucking less, and you want to become much better, you need to start looking at learning proper character art. Anatomy, fashion, posing, presenting renders, edgeflow, poly flow, shader differences, rigs, material definition. All of these you do little bits of when you make a character, and it helps you learn more. Polycount is great resource of game art, so I would encourage you to go there and post work in progress threads to help get a bit of feedback, or at the very least, show people you are determined and willing to learn and improve. It’s great to see how far people have come in a matter of months. It really sticks out, as opposed to someone who just comes in and posts one piece of art then goes away.

So just have a crack and see how you like it. If you enjoy it you will naturally keep doing it, just don’t be afraid to start! I’m going to link here a great speach by Valve Software’s Chet Faliszek which is right on the money( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdwzvdZFxVM) and a great video by Feng Zhu explaining why a visual library is important and how to build up your visual library (http://vimeo.com/41480882).

The most important thing is just start!

Well folks, there you have it, Anuxinamoon the Snowdrop Queen spilling her secrets! I really hope you enjoyed reading this interview as much as I enjoyed conducting it. Anuxi was absolutely fabulous to talk to, and as you can see, her design skills and artistic talent and vision are superb.

Thanks for stopping by WhatIsHip.TV, and make sure to keep an eye out for future interviews with other fantastic people in the DotA scene! If you like Anuxi’s style, please consider purchasing her items in the DotA 2 store located in your local game client! Remember, just because supports don’t have the farm for the high tier items doesn’t mean they can’t look good!