About

Over the years my illustration work has been highly influenced by old-masters painting techniques. My aim is to pursue both artistic areas on the common ground of making striking and well-crafted artworks. These dual interests require me to constantly keep in mind the respective attributes each genre demands for success; whether that is to grab the viewer's attention, or decorate an intimate space...

I attended the Alberta College of Art and Design in the mid-nineties, where I pursued a degree in Visual Communications as the best route I could see to obtaining some practical, focused instruction. There was an even split of illustration and graphic design assignments, giving students a broad, multi-faceted education. Upon graduating from College, I had produced a portfolio of assorted traditional and digital art that reflected the changing times in commercial art in the nineties. This was sufficient for me to land the role as an artist for a startup video game company making their first game title.

This situation was ideal for my broad-based skill set, as I tackled everything that was needed and produced a variety of art assets. This was in the days of DOS operating systems, primitive 3-D technology and "figuring things out for yourself". Our first game, Shattered Steel was critically acclaimed, and I was on my way to a long and gratifying career with BioWare Corp.

During my 12 years with BioWare, I began focusing more on the illustrative side of video game art, eventually shedding the animation and 3-d modeling skills in order to focus myself into a marketing illustrator. I brought my design education, technical experience and passion for painting together, to create much of the marketing art for this growing and successful company. I'm privileged to have worked on some of the game industry's most storied titles, including the Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights series as well as Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Jade Empire and the Star Wars game, KotOR.

In late 2008 I took the opportunity to set out as a freelance artist, to pursue illustration full time and to take my artwork to the next level. My current clients include Blizzard Entertainment, Wizards of the Coast and Paizo, whose various franchises keep me busy painting heroes and monsters.

Please enjoy your stay, drop me a line, and visit again!

Mike Sass