Latest news with #DmitryParkin
Entrepreneur
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Entrepreneur
The Vision Behind the Game: How One Artist Redefines Visual Storytelling
Dmitry Parkin is redefining the emotional and visual depth of modern video games by blending artistic mastery with decades of hands-on experience in character design, creature creation, and world-building. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Dmitry Parkin has quietly become one of the most influential visual storytellers in the global gaming industry. With a career spanning nearly three decades and more than 25 titles, his work has helped define the look and feel of some of the most celebrated games of the modern era. From Quake, Fallout 3, and Halo to Metro: Exodus, Ghost of Tsushima, and Mortal Shell, Parkin's character design and world-building have contributed not only to the critical and commercial success of these titles, but to the emotional depth and complexity that make them memorable. Born and raised in Saratov, a city in provincial Russia, Parkin began creating game art in his teens during the early rise of 3D game development. By the time he finished school, he had already built a professional portfolio, working alongside programmers and contributing to early projects that gave him both technical credibility and creative autonomy. Without formal training in art or design, Parkin learned by doing—experimenting with tools, materials, and techniques until he found his own distinct visual language. That language is rooted in a fascination with darkness, mortality, and the raw beauty of the natural world. As a child, he observed amphibians, leeches, and predators with equal parts fear and fascination—an emotional foundation that later shaped the terrifying elegance of the characters he designs. Over the years, Parkin has become known for building creatures that evoke not just horror, but empathy, ambiguity, and intrigue. His monsters are rarely one-dimensional; they often carry a narrative weight that deepens the player's experience and reflects the emotional tone of the game. Parkin's breakthrough on the international stage came with his contributions to Fallout 3, a game that helped redefine the role-playing genre and won 18 international awards. That project positioned him as an artist capable of shaping the emotional core of large-scale productions. Years later, he was recruited by Sony to join the Ghost of Tsushima team as a Senior Character Artist. The title became a global success, selling over 2.4 million copies in its first three days and generating nearly $400 million in revenue by 2023. It also won dozens of industry awards, including Game of the Year, Best Art Direction, and Outstanding Character Design. But commercial success has never been Parkin's primary motivation. He seeks creative freedom above all else — preferring projects that challenge convention and explore new territory. In 2017, Parkin co-founded Cold Symmetry, an independent game studio formed by four developers seeking to build games outside the constraints of the AAA system. Their debut title, Mortal Shell, released in 2020, became a breakout success in the Soulslike genre. Created on a limited budget by a tightly focused team, the game sold over one million copies, generated nearly $29 million in revenue, and its debut trailer drew over 1.6 million views, earning praise for its haunting visual design and emotional depth. In 2025, the franchise reached a new milestone. Mortal Shell II was chosen to open Summer Game Fest, the gaming industry's most high-profile global showcase. Introduced live by journalist Geoff Keighley, the event drew a record-breaking seven million views within just three days on The Game Awards YouTube channel. The reveal was framed as a testament to what passionate independence can achieve. One of the trailer's core features was its clear focus on character art by Dmitry Parkin. Nearly every shot featured new warriors and creatures engaging in combat, highlighting the visual direction that defines the game. Set for release in 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, Mortal Shell II marks the next step in Cold Symmetry's evolution — from indie upstart to a globally recognized creative force. Dmitry Parkin has made significant contributions to the evolution of character art and design within the game industry. His visual style has influenced a generation of artists, with many of his characters being referenced, studied, and replicated across both commercial and educational platforms. His unique artistic vision has been implemented in major commercially successful titles, helping to shape the aesthetic direction of modern games. His influence extends beyond development. His works have been exhibited at major international art events across the United States, France, Italy, and Russia — including Art Expo New York, the Carrousel du Louvre, and the 2nd International Biennale "Art of Palermo". Earlier in his career, his digital character Imrod, which earned first place in the international Dominance War 3 competition, became one of the most widely referenced models in the 3D art world. It appeared in tutorials, indie games, and academic presentations — including at events such as SIGGRAPH — establishing his influence beyond the boundaries of commercial production. This early recognition marked the beginning of a long-standing impact on the visual language of modern character design. As trends in gaming shift toward faster, more automated content creation, Parkin has voiced concerns about the industry's direction. He argues that many new games are visually polished but lack substance, character, or vision. In his view, the game industry is in need of a creative renaissance — one that returns focus to meaning, emotion, and originality. While he acknowledges the potential of AI tools in speeding up production, he believes the core of artistic innovation still lies in the human ability to evoke emotion, tell stories, and challenge perceptions. Dmitry Parkin's journey — from a self-taught teen sketching monsters in Russia to a global creative force behind some of the industry's most iconic games — offers a powerful example of how individual vision and artistic rigor can reshape entire genres. His work is a reminder that behind every great game is not just code, but a deep understanding of human emotion, fear, and imagination.
Business Insider
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
Gaming Industry is calling for Renaissance: How illustrator, designer and game creator is reshaping the global stage
Monsters, zombies, vampires, dark souls wandering the dark halls, prophets of doom and gloom - you name it, he drew it. Several generations of PlayStations, XBox, Microsoft Windows games feature the characters drawn by Dmitry Parkin, an award-winning illustrator, designer, and game creator who started his journey in a provincial Russian town. Almost three decades in the game-developing industry won Dmitry Parkin wide acclaim and various awards varying from many Games of the Year to Best RPGs, Best Art Direction, Best Storytelling, and even the Most Violent Game to Make It Past Aussie Censors. Whatever best-selling post-apocalyptic-world action role-playing video game you are choosing in PlayStore, it is highly likely to feature his characters or images. Monster Darlings Reaping Awards His pensive paintbrush created the Ghost of Tsushima, Mortal Shell, Metro: Exodus & Last Light, Fallout 3, Doom 4, The Order: 1886, Aliens, Halo: The Master Chief Collection to name a few. Some, like the open-ended Fallout 3 with its flexible character-leveling system, marked a major shift in the series by using 3D graphics and real-time combat, replacing the 2D isometric graphics. It is still considered one of the greatest video games of all time, with 18 international awards it got coverage by many national media: CNN, BBC, New York Times, Hollywood Reporter etc. Others, like Ghost of Tsushima, became the first American game to earn the Famitsu 's Game of the Year award. Some (Aliens: Colonial Marines) revamped the old film classics like James Cameron's 1986 film Aliens; others (Order: 1886) won rewards for outstanding visual effects in a real-time project. His games bring about nostalgia, allowing one to have the first impression the second time. Much like his Mortal Shell released in 2020 that many reviewers claimed to resuscitate the same emotions experienced when they played the good old Dark Souls. Hitting 1,6 million views on its YouTube debut trailer and thus being nominated as the Best Trailer of Gaming Awards 2020, Mortal Shell sold over million copies by 2023 ploughing in the gross revenue of about $29 mln. It was nominated for Best Debut Game at The Game Awards 2020. With a well-established reputation in the industry and extensive expertise in character art, Sony extended Dmitry a job offer and facilitated his relocation to work on Ghost of Tsushima as a Senior Character Artist. In two and a half years, the game was officially released, becoming an overnight sensation. It sold over 2.4 million copies within the first three days. As of 2023, the game had generated an impressive $397 million in total revenue. Not only that. Ghost of Tsushima received 38 nominations and won 26 awards, including some of the most prestigious honors in the industry — Best Art Direction, Outstanding Character Design and Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, Best Visual Art and Audience Award Winner, and it was just in 2020 alone. Even four years after release, Ghost of Tsushima continued to dominate the market. In May 2024, it was the best-selling game in the U.S., reaffirming its status as a modern classic. How can a man have his thumb in all those many pies? Where does that creative passion come from? Allure of the Dangerous The answer is simple. 'I never went with the flow, yet created the waves by myself', says Dmitry. The wave started with a ripple. Staring at the shallow waters of a small river, the young Dmitry was mesmerized by newts slowly paddling by, weirdly crawling crustaceans, slimy leeches and hissing snakes. 'All those amphibians evoked thoughts about the ones living in constant danger, the coldness and the darkness, hunting some and hiding from others, all those spiky shapes and wriggly tails were scary, hypnotizing, and irresistible', describes Parkin. Vivid illustrations found in the home library encyclopedias nurtured the passion for studying the structure and the movement of those unearthly-like creatures. The inexplicable allure of death and fear drove him to explore the mechanisms and images that cause these emotions. In general, it formed the foundations for the perception of fear, death, domination, the cruelty of nature where one animal eats another, the incomparable suffering of the devoured compared to the feeling of satiation of the other, there has always been a feeling that there is something wrong with it. 'Reading Nietzsche and listening to the deafening rumble of dense bass-and-drum metal rock solidified the idea that art should challenge and evoke emotions, otherwise, it is a meaningless doodling', explains Dmitry Parkin. Not by Art Alone Born and raised in Saratov, a city in the Russian 'midwest', Parkin could have become a local Banksy, drawing graffiti on the grey city walls. Yet, being inspired by H.R. Giger's works, he would have added more to Saratov's blues if his monsters had ever appeared there. Instead, he dived into polishing his techniques, experimenting with materials in the dire quest to discover a formula, a combination that would trigger a certain emotion. 'Eventually, it was acrylic or pencil that let add more layers in post-processing hence making the image more complex and allowing hiding technical nuances, brush strokes or touches to get away from the feeling that it was a drawing', he said. Back in the 1990s, when he was 14-15, Dmitry met a friend who was into programming, they started hanging out together — the guy programming, Dmitry drawing basic visuals for the games. This was the dawn of the era of the first 3D editor software, the best time to dive into the unknown and grow. Dmitry mastered some software, plunged into several projects which brought handsome pocket money for a schoolboy; he had got a solid portfolio and 4 years of working experience by the time he left school. Dmitry never studied design or art in high school. After graduating from school he made an attempt to study programming at a polytechnical university in his hometown but soon dropped out. 'Soon I realized that university lectures were too boring for me. On the other hand, drawing and creating my own gaming worlds enchanted me', Parkin recalled. Starry-eyed and passionate, he got project after project usually without test assignments, his works being the best proof of eligibility. The Way to the USA Building up his technical expertise, Dmitry made a perfect partner for programmers as few could do both - create art for the game and help develop it. The first job in Moscow in the early 00s was with a publishing house Buka where Dmitry worked as an artist, not limited by narrow frameworks. 'Working there, I realised the power of freedom and eventually moved to freelance which allowed taking up more projects. I went really global in the mid 00s, doing jobs for XBox, Microsoft, Sony, indiebrands, etc.', he says. By the time Parkin engaged in 3D graphics professionally, he had chiselled his art techniques and style — the fundamentals for any creator. Digital tools are just tools to enhance one's technical prowess, it is the idea and the message that gets the project skyrocketing. And sometimes luck. Hardly could Dmitry fathom when he agreed to participate in Liquid Development 's startup project, that it would turn out to be the Fallout 3 game he was signing up for. It was his favourite game, now being part of the art team, it felt legit. Winning the War of GameDev Dominance Winning 2008 Dominance War 3 was like 'fire meet gasoline'. 'In the art world, a benchmark for fame is not the amount of paintings you produced, but the amount of replicas and 'spin-offs' you generated', explains Parkin. The Imrod character after the personal award of 2008 Dominance War 3 became the most popular and replicated character, often copied by 3D artists. The original version was made freely available and became often used for various tests and demonstrations, indie game projects, youtube tutorials and even SIGGRAPH 2008 presentation. That victory brought an avalanche of job offers. When the focus within the game industry shifted to creature design, character art and 'digital sculpture', Dmitry's full potential became unleashed. The early passion for amphibious creeps coupled with advanced technical expertise raising the detail and quality to a new level helped to get as close as possible to hyper-realism, and become a key element that set the trend in the modern (at that time) game industry. Over years, he has been putting skins on, adding light, assembling the settings in games, reviving somewhat lame code into sturdy demos that went viral overnight and generated millions of views. Some games like Mortal Shell became great career boosters as working there he combined art and art-directing, thus getting the ultimate freedom of expression. 'I once did what turned out to be a life-saving project for Playstack who was virtually on its last legs and looking for a flagship project that would champion a good market share', recalls Parkin. With his vast portfolio of monsters, Dmitry happened to find himself in the eye of the storm, always trendy, regardless of the fleeting fashions in the industry. There has always been a place where he belonged. Dmitry's creed is to create characters with a mission, vision and message. Quite a refreshing view on the over-commercialised game-developing industry that churns out gazillions of games 24/7. 'The generic games developed now are mostly like a stack of books on a railway station stall - identical bland time-killing amusement. The industry is calling for Renaissance bringing about something tangible, real, savoury and wholesome. Everybody is getting tired of the trite eviscerated visuals and ideas that lack finesse and, most importantly, message. There is no art in it. The much-hailed AI cannot provide a valid substitution for human creative spirits. It might in the future, but now it is up to a human with a solid set of art skills to generate the ideas and navigate the art projects from concept to fruition', Parkin shares his thoughts about the industry development.
