In the studio with artist Scott Balmer

One of the greatest parts of working on Cyberpunk Legends has been working with awesome, talented artists from around the world. In this series, we’ll share a few conversations with artists who’ve contributed to our multifaceted, neon-tinged vision of Night City. First up: Scott Balmer.

Scott is a professional freelance illustrator living in Scotland, United Kingdom. He has created artwork for clients and galleries around the world including illustrations for magazines, books, and of course, games. His work has been featured in such diverse places as Computer Arts magazine, the New York Times, MIT Technology Review, card art for Magic: The Gathering, and now, Cyberpunk Legends.

—IM

Irene, Night Crew Games: You create artwork for lots of different commissions and publications. How do you look at illustrating for games vs other things you’ve done, like editorial publications?

Scott Balmer: Making something for editorial and other publications may seem like it may be different but its more or less the same since the overall process of creating rough sketches and then working towards the final artwork is similar. One big difference would be how more open working on a game like this is compared to working on an illustration for an article and needing to keep within confines of the subject. 

There is also having maybe more time to put more polish on the artwork since editorial work can be fairly swift with deadlines.

I think another would be on the scale of the illustrations as I am working at a larger size then usual while thinking about how elements would scale down [to game card size] and still be readable while also balancing it being fun and dynamic.

What do you most enjoy about being an illustrator?

Getting to work on fun and unusual projects where I can push forward with my work and make something that feels truly special. Its also nice to see the work as the final product especially when it gets in the hands of the audience and their reaction to it.

I love seeing people enjoy the end product, whatever that may be, since I feel like I made it for them to hopefully use and enjoy in their own way.

What have been your favorite things about working on artwork for Cyberpunk Legends?

[My favorite thing has been] coming up with some truly surreal and unusual people and subjects, since the future can involve practically anything and opens you up to ideas on what things could be like.

Couple that with the Cyberpunk aesthetic and you have a nice mix of adding old tech and combining it into new things, which kind of reminds me of the old sci fi books I read back in the day.

 

Above, top: Logic Bomb by Scott Balmer, for Cyberpunk Legends. Bottom, 3 concept sketches for Logic Bomb.

 

Can you tell us about a particular piece you’ve done for Night Crew Games that you like and the concept behind it?

I like the vibe I created for "Logic Bomb" since I was aiming for that illustration to be high energy as if it was going to go off any minute within the virtual world I created. I also wanted to feature a low-poly silver skull looking menacingly towards the player.

Another would be "Eyes Everywhere," since it has a nice dark theme of large figures watching a projection of someone in the middle. I got to go to town, making people with monitors for eyes and cables coming out of everywhere while also capturing the overall feeling of being watched by higher beings monitoring your every move in a dark, dingy corner of this world.