

My name is Chris and I’m from Germany, but I am now lucky enough to call the tropical North of Australia my home!
I have been a pixel-pusher, vector-bender, and quad-turner for a long, long time. It all started on a Commodore 64, doing sprites and digital art. Back then my work involved calculating sprite values and using a joystick to place brick-sized pixels on my small TV screen.
I went on to illustrate games for the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, and early PC. This was followed by a long line of Flash games, one of which was “HeliAttack 3”, released in 2005. Coded by Chris Rhodes and illustrated with my pixel art, this game went viral (well before the term was coined). Many mobile and handheld game projects utilizing my pixel and vector-based art followed. When “Impossible Mission” for PSP and Nintendo DS presented as an opportunity, it was a project I felt strongly about, as I had played it nearly two decades earlier on the C64!
Some Xbox Live Arcade games, a long list of iPhone/iPad games, and many game development templates later, I started writing online tutorials geared at programmers with little to no art skills. The idea was to teach people how to build complex art assets by using deceptively simple shapes, rather than starting by trying to draw complicated designs. I wanted to prevent the discouragement of feeling like you’re taking on too much, the way it often feels when you’re just starting to learn a new skill. I very much enjoyed writing those early tutorials, and the blog became a project close to my heart. It was a way to share some of my knowledge and passion for game art and vector design. Initially, it was all about simple beginner game projects, but as the years went by (twelve of them now!), the ideas became more complex, and the audience grew to include more digital artists and graphic designers.
Eventually, I added YouTube tutorial videos, and included Affinity Designer, right back to the early PC beta version. These days, due to ongoing health issues, my focus is more on social media groups and answering questions about workflow and specific tools. However, I am still writing my blog and recording video tutorials, and will be for a while yet… It’s simply too much fun!




















Dear Sir,
I love your art work most especially the tutorials you do with inkscape. I’m currently working on a vertical shoot em up in unity and your art style is just the perfect fit for the project.
If I may ask, is it possible to engage your services in terms of asset creation?
Kindly communicate your terms of engagement. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thanks… I am currently unable to take on work due to ongoing health issues… but maybe I can help with some hints and tips… Feel free to send me some screenshots or videos of the game. c(dot)hildenbrand(at)gmail(dot)com
Ooh dear, sorry about your health. I wish you speedy recovery. I will include you in my prayer as there is nothing God cannot do. Regarding screenshot i will send them to you soon as I have them. However, I just downloaded the spaceship SGV files as a guide for practicing in Inkscape. To my greatest shock, I notice multiple layers of shading in many of the modular parts. Can you direct me to tutorials on how this was achieved.
Thanks
I might do one better… I you email me with a list of what’s needed for a first mock, I am sure I find a lot in my old tutorial files.