Profile - Michael Pagdon

Michael Pagdon is our lead artist / art director for the Starcade project. Here's a little bit more about him, in his own words.

1. Name and favorite flavor of ice cream: 

My name is Pagdon and my favorite ice cream is OF COURSE cookie dough!

2. What interests you most about being involved with the Starcade Project? 

I love the team aspect of it so far, the ideas we share at meetings and how open everyone is to each others ideas. Even if a direction is taken over another it never feels like it is because it is a "better" idea, just one that is more along the lines that all the other parts are leaning towards. 

3. Name a few of your influences!

Oh god... whipping out the hard questions at number 3... scifi movies, some anime, a lot of animation (dreamworks, pixar, disney), music, old master painters and illustrators… this is a tough question. 

4. What would you like to accomplish the most in the Starcade Project?

To make a game that people love and remember. To turn heads in a good way. 

5. Tell us about one (or a few) of your favorite projects you've worked on in the past:

I’ve been working on a robot painting series that is a metaphor for past relationships and the reasons for those artificial relationships, as well as their consequences. Been working on it for 4 months and still running strong. 

6. Where do you see Starcade going in the future?

Both analog and digital games. Comics. Posters and prints. Toys. Tv series. A franchise of movies directed by Michael Bay… ok that last one was a joke but the rest is serious. 

7. Top three favorite Science Fiction films/TV series/books/manga (not games):

The Fountain, Things to Come, Fifth Element, Brazil (had to sneak that one in) 

8. What's the strangest part of the Starcade universe to you, so far?

These weird people I’m working with… oh wait they’re reading this, aren’t they? 

9. What's a good principle for great teamwork?

Be receptive, don’t take ideas too seriously and learn to let them go if they aren’t picked. Have a lot of ideas in different directions so that you can enrich the final game. And listen. Listening is good. 

10. If you had a more exotic title in the team, what would it be?

Hmmmm LORD OF ALL THE IS AESTHETICALLY BEAUTIFUL or Visual Engineer.

Follow along at his website www.pagdon.com where you will see amazing illustrations like this one: