I’m incredibly excited to announce that I’ll be delivering a talk at DinCon 2026 - and I have the honour of being the opening talk!
Over the years, I’ve spoken extensively about helping students and aspiring artists break into the games industry. For this talk, however, I wanted to focus on professional environment artists and share ideas that can help them grow and excel throughout their careers.
My talk is titled “Pretty Isn’t Playable.” It explores how environment artists can become stronger developers by focusing not only on creating beautiful art, but also on understanding project goals, gameplay needs, and design constraints.
In my experience, the artists who thrive are those who actively collaborate with designers and embrace healthy creative friction. By aligning their craft with the needs of the project, they often become invaluable contributors and core pillars of their teams.
DinCon runs over six weeks, from July 2nd to August 20th, and features talks from an incredible lineup of industry professionals. I hope to see some of you in the chat for the Q&A after my session!
See you there!
