Gears of War character designer talks about his past

Success stories come from all sides of the world, even from the video game industry. From a child who just loved cartoons and sculpting, Kevin Lanning has come a long way and now finds himself as Epic Games‘ character and creature modeler.

As most success stories, Lanning’s path was a thorny one before his artistic mind even began creating art for Gears of War. He stated:

From as far back as I can remember, I have always enjoyed the freedom that comes from art. Art kind of runs throughout my family; my mother and grandmother are both traditional painters, and my brother Sean is currently a Senior Graphic Designer. Throughout my childhood, I would spend countless hours drawing and sculpting monsters from cartoons and comics.

The child prodigy worked hard, joining as much art classes as he could to hone his talents. “With the help of a pad, pencil, and a set of ear-plugs every class quickly became art class, in one way or another,” said Lanning. With his skills, soon he was able to join the Art Institute of Dallas on a half-ride scholarship. From traditional art, he invested his effort on digital animation.

After years of hard work and tons of books about 3D animation, he was able to create high quality art and posted them online. The exposure was enough for him to get in the industry, and it didn’t take long for him to get hired by Epic. Lanning’s life story proves that spending much of your time on something can pay off, and even create game giants like GoW.

So, to all aspiring artists who want to be game designers someday – we hope this serves as an inspiration for your future endeavors. The game industry is indeed rough, but you can only achieve your dreams through hard work and determination.

Success stories come from all sides of the world, even from the video game industry. From a child who just loved cartoons and sculpting, Kevin Lanning has come a long way and now finds himself as Epic Games‘ character and creature modeler.

As most success stories, Lanning’s path was a thorny one before his artistic mind even began creating art for Gears of War. He stated:

From as far back as I can remember, I have always enjoyed the freedom that comes from art. Art kind of runs throughout my family; my mother and grandmother are both traditional painters, and my brother Sean is currently a Senior Graphic Designer. Throughout my childhood, I would spend countless hours drawing and sculpting monsters from cartoons and comics.

The child prodigy worked hard, joining as much art classes as he could to hone his talents. “With the help of a pad, pencil, and a set of ear-plugs every class quickly became art class, in one way or another,” said Lanning. With his skills, soon he was able to join the Art Institute of Dallas on a half-ride scholarship. From traditional art, he invested his effort on digital animation.

After years of hard work and tons of books about 3D animation, he was able to create high quality art and posted them online. The exposure was enough for him to get in the industry, and it didn’t take long for him to get hired by Epic. Lanning’s life story proves that spending much of your time on something can pay off, and even create game giants like GoW.

So, to all aspiring artists who want to be game designers someday – we hope this serves as an inspiration for your future endeavors. The game industry is indeed rough, but you can only achieve your dreams through hard work and determination.