This week’s artist’s spotlight focuses on Megan Tupper, whose creature design and eye for detail is breathtakingly gorgeous.

The Artist’s Spotlight is a Hypable weekly feature that will focus on someone who has caught our attention for fandom-related art, whether it be drawings, songs, crafts, or more! Every week you can expect a new talented artist we think you should be aware of!

Hypable: Tell us a little bit about yourself!

Every time someone asks me that question I suddenly remember how dull I am… Oh well. I am a concept artist currently working for Facepunch Studios, where I’ve been for the last three years. I live in the U.K. and I spend most of my time either drawing, playing video games or indulging in my recently found love of scary movies.

What first sparked your interest in art?

Like most people, I used to do loads of drawing as a kid, but I remember first getting really interested around the time that Pokémon came to the U.K. I was about 12 and I just fell in love with the weird and colourful creatures and characters, so I began drawing as many of them as I could. Then at about age 13 I caved into peer pressure and stopped drawing them because it had fallen out of fashion, and I didn’t draw much again until I was about 17. Stopping is still one of my biggest regrets.

Has anyone or anything inspired you in terms of how you approach your art?

Aside from Pokémon, my biggest influences definitely started with various anime and the few video games I could get my hands on, Skies of Arcadia being one of my favourites. I later started taking a lot of influence from various people on DeviantART like Loish and Charlie Bowater, which eventually led me to loving all things painterly. So yeah… There have been a lot of very different influences and changes over the years, meaning my art went from cartoony/anime style to my more recent experiments getting closer to realism. Still love the cartoony look though.

You draw a lot from video games. Have you always been interested and influenced by games as a medium?

I have always loved games. I remember being really young and my dad brought home a computer from work at a time when having a PC still wasn’t all that common. We used to play Lemmings on it and it was awesome (I also think work possibly happened on it). Since then, they kinda had me hooked and they still interest me in a way that no other media really can.

“You really need to start big and try not to get lost in the details.”

You have a real eye for detail. How do you typically approach a piece in order to get those details just right?

Thanks! Generally one rule I’ve learnt over the years is that you really need to start big and try not to get lost in the details. Sure, they’re the really fun bit of any drawing to do, but you need to start big (general shapes, block-ins, composition, perspective and whatnot) and work up to the details, otherwise your picture tends to fall a little flat. You also have to be pretty careful not to put in too much [because] that creates a whole bunch of visual noise and the viewer’s eyes need a rest now and again.

How do you feel you’ve evolved as an artist over the last few years?

I always feel my development has been a bit weird. I started out very cartoony because there was something so appealing and tangible about it. It gave me the feeling of “Yeah, you could learn to draw like this!” which I later came to realise was a lot more work than it looks. But in realising that you had to put a lot of work into learning general art skills to be able to draw cartoons well, I also developed an appreciation and desire to learn all I could about drawing and painting. The last few years most of my efforts have been put into facing my weakest subjects, learning better perspective, how to draw environments, as well as how to better paint colour and light. This has definitely made a good all around improvement in just about every aspect of my work.

A lot of your work is based on monsters and creatures. Do you tend to gravitate toward creature design?

Absolutely! One of the reasons I neglected to learn environment drawing for so long is because I just couldn’t stop myself drawing creatures. I was so bad that a teacher once told me she didn’t want to see another damn dragon in my sketchbook.

Have you had any memorable or inspiring responses to your art?

I’ve had a few private fan letters that really make me smile. I won’t embarrass anyone by quoting anything, but they reminded me a lot of how I felt about other artists when I was first starting out, and I absolutely love the fact I’ve managed to achieve that.

“Never ever stop doing what you love. The only thing you’ll ever regret is giving up.”

What advice would you give to any aspiring artists?

Try out a bit of everything arty, don’t worry about a style as that’s something that should come with time, draw a little something every day and never ever stop doing what you love. The only thing you’ll ever regret is giving up.

Do you have any upcoming projects that you’re excited to work on?

Pretty much all the projects we have going on at work are cool at the moment! It’s really open development so you can check out the Rust trello board for artwork and there are fairly regular updates on the company blog about other projects we have going on. I’m also doing some artwork for a few games my brother is making, which are looking pretty neat!

You can find Megan on Tumblr, which features loads of work-in-progress sketches, and Deviantart. You can also find the Rust trello board here.