Martin Sawkins
Professor of Practice
| Office Location |
316E |
| Phone |
214-768-5146 |
Biography
Martin Sawkins is a game industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience. Martin began as an Industrial Designer after graduating from Central St Martins College of Art and Design in London, picking up a High Commendation from the Royal Society of Arts and being selected for the Aram International Design Exhibition. Being a gamer, as soon as the chance came to get involved in the game industry, he jumped at the chance and joined Virtuality making VR games in 1992.
Since then, he has worked in the UK and US for companies such as Sega, Atari, Gearbox, and Boss Game Studios and has shipped over 28 games on almost every gaming platform since the SNES and Genesis. Martin has worked on projects ranging from modern console hits such as Borderlands 2 and Brothers in Arms, back down through time on hits such as Unreal 2, Mission Impossible and Top Gear Rally.
Martin brings his wealth of experience to help students understand what's expected from a game industry artist in artistic, practical and professional domains.
Specializations
Art CreationProfessional Experience
- GED Studios – Founder
- CastAR – Studio Art Director
- Gearbox Software – Project Art Director
- Concrete Games – Studio Art Director
- Paradigm Entertainment/Atari – Project Art Director
- Legend Entertainment/Atari – Senior Art Director
- Boss Game Studios – Studio Art Director
- Silicon Dreams – Founder/Studio Art Director
- Sega Europe – Lead Artist
- Graftgold – Senior Artist
- Virtuality – Senior Software designer.
Shipped Games and Contributions
- Interactive Metronome
- Interactive Metronome Home
- 3 Thumb Island
- BrainBeat
- RTI: 2013
- Stuntman Ignition
- Mission Impossible
- Stunt Racer (SR3K)
- World Driver Championship
- Twisted Edge Snowboarding
- Top Gear Rally
- Boss Rally
- Spider the Video Game
- Fever Pitch
- Empire Soccer
- Flying Aces
- Legend Quest
- Borderlands 2
- Borderlands
- Unreal 2
- Ottifants
Achievements
- Highly Commended by the Royal Society of the Arts, 1986
- Selected for the Aram International Design Exhibition, 1996
- Art Director on the world's first location-based fantasy RPG, Legend Quest
- Virtual Reality Product of the Year, 1992
- Co-Founded Silicon Dreams
- Designed Fever Pitch, which went to 2nd in the UK sales charts
- Unreal 2 wins numerous E3 awards
- Awarded an O1 visa 2001
- Certified Scrum Master
- "His talent and abilities are second to none." — Sam Houser, VP Development, Take 2
- "One of the best art directors in the international video game industry" — Cindy Armstrong, Director, Nintendo
- "Martin is a great art director and team player" — Aaron Thibault, Development Director, Gearbox