Nick Marks uses his passion for art to express his passion as a futurist. His love of the future and art spawned Ready Player World. In it he chronicles his hastily drawn visions of the future. His work usually center around technology. He is interested in how it will evolve. Every one of his pieces includes 2 dates. At the bottom the year it was created. Somewhere in the piece he includes a prediction on when this vision will occur.
Email nick at [email protected]
Past History
Nick by age 11 was a paid cartoonist in his local paper. Obsessed with comics and art Nick learned everything he could about traditional art. At age 18 he got his first computer and became hooked on digital art.
Nick helped create and found Turbo Squid. The world's first and largest online 3D model and texture repository for artists. Artist from all around their world sells their digital creations online. A revolutionary idea at the time way back in 1999. Turbo Squid was one of the first if not first site that sold digital files like 3D models and textures online. Now a multi-billion dollar industry. Nick created Turbo Squid because he saw a need and a way to help artist all over the world.
Nick is interested heavily in the idea of interactive media. He worked at Activision as an artist and designer. His games have been played by millions all over the world. His proudest achievement is creating the city for True Crime: Streets of LA.
One of his greatest and most personal achievements is his students successes. Nick loves sharing his love for what he thinks about and values. He taught and ran one of the largest and most prestigious video game design schools in the world the Art Institute of Los Angeles. His students won the Make Something Unreal million dollar challenge and went to work on many of the industries biggest games like Call of Duty, Halo, God of War, Bioshock, Journey, Guitar Hero are just a few off the top of his head. Here is a link to some of the artwork he would do for his classes as demonstrations.
Currently, Nick is one of the founders of UCode. A new company built on the idea of teaching kids to code their own games, apps, robots, and websites.
Lastly, yes....Nick does love Ready Player One.
Nick FAQ
Why does Nick's do this type of art?
He loves artwork that makes people think. What does the future hold? Can we make it a reality? What will it take to make it all happen? Artwork should only be asked to one thing. Inspire us to create and question. Okay...maybe two things.
What art influences you?
I think Jean Marc Cote is my spirit animal.
http://paleofuture.com/blog/2010/5/2/jean-marc-cotes-visions-of-the-year-2000-1899.html
Why does Nick's work look like crap? Is he trolling us?
It is deliberately awful. At age 8 or 9 Nick was drawing photo-real. I know hard to believe but here is a link to some proof. These were in classroom demos he did for my students a few years back. Most usually taking 4 hours to make. http://nickmarks.weebly.com/. Nick is also one of only 21 certified Zbrush teachers in the world. Link. He can make anything to look anyway he wants. But being a great artist takes a toll and time. After playing and seeing Minecraft he quit cold turkey trying to do AMAZING artwork and chase that dragon. Minecraft made him realize great game art was meaningless. It was about art that communicates ideas. The simpler it is the better. If people understand the art then Nick feels like his job is done. He is a fan of old school game graphics....not 8 bit...but 1 bit! Pong is perfection. He does not feel he has have anything more to prove to himself in art except the ideas he express.