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By Tom Woolley on

Are videogames an art form? Neil Thompson thinks so

Watch our interview with Neil Thompson, Director of Art and Animation at legendary videogame studio BioWare.

Proceedings in the Great Hall at the University of Bradford drew to a close with a rather epic talk by Neil Thompson, Director of Art and Animation at the gaming colossus that is BioWare. Originally from Manchester, Neil recently moved to Canada and jetted back to the UK to appear at the Bradford Animation Festival.

Neil’s enlightening talk started with his time working on British 2D videogame classics such as Chuckie Egg back in the 1980s, before tracking his career through pioneering 3D graphics in games at the influential Psygnosis studio. Neil championed the need to see games as an art form in their own right and that if you want to work as an artist in the games industry you need to find inspiration in all types of media.

Neil also explained his role at BioWare and how to draw the best out of team of some of the world’s most talented artists and animators while staying focussed on creating the next interactive experience in the universes of games such as Dragon Age or Mass Effect.

If you missed the talk, but would like to hear from Neil, here’s some footage from BAF Game 2012.

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