Twisted Metal

Twisted Metal was my first introduction to the gaming industry. Sure, I had played video games, but I had never seen behind the curtain. This was the kind of creative freedom that every artist dreams of. At that time, I was a freelance storyboard artist whose bread and butter was in advertising. Then one day I was sent by my agent to the Sony offices in Santa Monica to meet with David Jaffe. We got on like a house on fire and over the years collaborated on multiple games including Twisted Metal 1, 2, and Black; a whole bunch of titles that were never released; I even did early concepts for Kratos. I must have turned down countless advertising gigs if ever there was a hint that Jaffe might want to book me. Faced with choice of Martha Stewart lawn furniture or killer clown, Sweet Tooth won every time.
I got to concept the characters, vehicles, and environments. On Twisted 2, I even did the artwork for the character/vehicle select and animatic cut scenes. I wish I had held on to more of that stuff, or at least kept copies. It was all on paper back then and I had a small apartment.