The Life of an Icon Artist - May 10, 2004
Joshua Jones is better known as MindFad in the Mac GUI community, a name he made for himself by creating an esoteric series of icon sets based on Nintendo video games, with a cartoonish style that was perfect for the job. Today, Josh continues his tradition with a twist - his newest set, based on the hit game Metroid: Prime, is his first to be rendered in 3D, and infused with the darker style that Retro Studios created so successfully in their critically acclaimed game. In this Insider interview, Josh talks to us about some of the techniques that a premier OS X icon designer uses daily, the advantages and pitfalls of going 3D, and his favorite Mac artists.
MacThemes: So, to start off this interview, tell us a bit about yourself. How old are you? Are you pursuing a career as a graphics artist? What got you interested in your field?
My name is Joshua Jones, and I was born here in Miami, Florida one fine sunny day twenty-two years ago. I like butterflies, long walks on the beach, and designing icons every once and again.
Seriously, though, I was always the kid in school who, when I got to class, was the first to whip out his drawing tools—you know, those big thick black pencils with no erasers in kindergarten, which progressed to crayons in first and second grade. I even graduated to colored pencils and graphic pens at one point! I never beat anyone up for their art supplies, though it came close a few times. I was always doodling, always drawing something during my younger years. And, not surprisingly, I was usually sketching out a scene from a Nintendo game—most likely Mario Bros. or Mega Man. I even have drawings from when I was in elementary; it's funny to see those today.
It may or may not surprise you as to what got me interested in my field. As cheesy as it may sound, I never truly got into anything that could be called a digital art form until I was exposed to Mario Paint on the Super Nintendo. I believe I was around thirteen at the time, possibly fourteen—I can't quite recall—but it was something I was totally amazed with. My family was never really privy to the computer industry, or technology in general, and I didn't get my first computer until I was seventeen. Still, Mario Paint was a huge stepping block for me. It exposed me to pixel-based image creation, especially with the stamp creation part of game. That was truly my first exposure to 16x16-pixel icon resource work! Sure, the mini-games were fun, but I was all about working with stamps and animating them in the small animation program of Mario Paint. You could use up to a whole nine frames of animation. It was really from this point in using Mario Paint that I decided I really want to pursue this digital medium of art further—I had always wanted to create video games since I was a child and picked up Mario Bros. for the NES, but Mario Paint felt like a big step forward for me to one day meet that goal. Though my video game fascination started back with Joust and Xevious on my friend's Atari 7800, I was always captivated with the idea of actually making these games I spent so much time with.
From Mario Paint, I graduated to messing around with MS Paint at school. Laugh if you will—I know I do!—but it was certainly a step up from Mario Paint at the time, and if anything, it gave me more time and experience. Much of my Digital Publishing class in high school was wasted away fiddling with MS Paint all class. My teacher was apparently impressed, though, since at the end of the year when she gave out awards to the students, I snagged one for "best pixel artist." It was a nice gesture by her, and a bit of an inside joke since I scraped by and passed the class just barely!
I always really liked computers, and I had always liked the Macintosh from playing around with them in elementary and high school, but I never got my first computer—a Macintosh, of course, not surprisingly—until I was seventeen. It was a rev. A bondi blue iMac, 233MHz G3 with 96MB of RAM. One of the first things I put on there was a Photoshop demo, of course. At first, it was just a learning experience messing around with this application, and icons hadn't really occurred to me. At the time, it was very, very imposing—I'd never used anything or seen anything like it. The whole concept of layers alone was a mind-blowing revelation! Suffice it to say, I was enamored, and if you saw me on my iMac, I was most likely clicking away in Photoshop. Just about a year after messing with Photoshop did I finally develop an interest in icons, mostly because I had downloaded so many and really just wanted to customize my Mac myself—with my own creations.
Most people I talk to about it are surprised that I never had any formal training or schooling for my icon work through Photoshop, but I don't know that it's that surprising. I really just spent many years completely focused and determined to learn this application. And I still have more to learn to this day! But when I look back at my trials and errors, I realize it's the one thing I ever had such a strong passion for. Passion, desire, patience, determination, and practice—lots of it!—can really work, and hopefully the way I learned can be an inspiration to the budding icon artists out there today!
MacThemes: And I suppose the second part to this question is, tell us about your gaming history! The reason why I ask, of course, is because much of your icon portfolio is based on video games and consoles.
Well, as I mentioned earlier, I really got started playing video games with my friend's Atari, but the first console I ever owned myself was the NES. I used to have a picture of me on the first day I got my NES—biggest, brightest eyes and smile you ever saw. I was six at the time, and times were good! Mario Bros., Zelda, Mega Man, Excite Bike, Blaster Master, Castelvania, Contra ... these are the games that really stand out from my NES days. I never had a SEGA Master System, but one of my friends did, though we were usually much too busy with our NESs to bother with it!
Handhelds were the next big thing, of course, then the "16-bit" era of console gaming. I went from the NES to a Game Boy, a SEGA Genesis, and then a Game Gear. Gaming was good, and gaming was fun! But then came the Super NES. There was a collective "oooh, aaah" amongst me and my friends. Mode 7 graphics, 256 colors, tons of sprites, transparency, so many levels of parallax scrolling ... it was a pretty site seeing Super Mario World for the first time. And Super Metroid—you can't forget that. My friends and I loved all the SNES games that everyone loved. The SNES generation was probably my favorite years of gaming when I was younger, even up to today.
We won't speak of the Virtual Boy—luckily, I never fell for that one—but the N64/Saturn/PlayStation years weren't quite as exciting for me. I snagged an N64, of course, but what did you expect from me? Today, though I have very little time for much gaming, I try to give my GameCube a few hours of play every month. I also played plenty of computer games, online as well as off. The Myth II: Soulblighter days I am most fond of, playing with my friends online. It was my first exposure to online gaming.
I'm waiting for the next generation of consoles to make a big jump back into big time gaming. I could go on about gaming in general, but that would be a whole other interview—or editorial even!
MacThemes: So do you eventually plan on working as an artist in a video game company? Perhaps as a concept artist?
I do! It's something I'm actively pursuing. I should be dabbling in game development with a friend of mine in the near future. There will be more news of that to come, and I'll keep everyone updated through my website.
Comments
Posted by komisar at May 10, 2004 06:38 PM | Edit | Delete
Great interview i loved it... i wish josh the most succes in the future with his persuit of being a artist for a video gaming company
Posted by Steve Streza at May 10, 2004 06:45 PM | Edit | Delete
I've been waiting for SR388 forever. I can't wait until it's released, Josh!
Oh, and I've been a MindFad fan for at least a couple months now. :P
Posted by at May 10, 2004 06:54 PM | Edit | Delete
Great interview! I'm a MindFad fan, too. :)
Posted by danielgrenell at May 10, 2004 08:17 PM | Edit | Delete
i just wanted to say i'm a huge fan, i really love your icons. they clearly stand out above many other icons. i look forward to your future work, you truly put forth a superb effort.
Posted by paularms at May 10, 2004 08:43 PM | Edit | Delete
i know that this was brought up as a nuisance before, there is no like the the website of the person being interviewed. sure, it's easy to figure out, but there should always be links to relevant sources.
Posted by ZackS at May 10, 2004 09:48 PM | Edit | Delete
The Floridian will always hold a special place in my heart. We love you Joshua Jones!!
Posted by Benjamin "New York" Harrison at May 10, 2004 11:32 PM | Edit | Delete
Jones, Florida, 'Fad. You are a legend. A varitable internet rock star. I know you thought you were just fessin' when you said that, but I think there's a lot of truth in it. The new metroid set is looking really fresh. It would be awesome if you could get one of those theming cats to put some work down for release at the same time as the set. Even though I've never been all about themes on my computer, I would rock that for a while because I love you, man. Not in a republican way, though. Really the only complaint I have is that the folder icon jumps in its open state. That is mad silly if you ask me. Keep it real in the game. Peace,
Posted by Eric at May 10, 2004 11:46 PM | Edit | Delete
josh, i was there with you playing with mario paint at those damned lock-ins, i was there watching in awe as you flaunted your mushrooms and yoshis, and i was there when you busted out the SR388 metriod capsule at you house. hopefully, i'll be there when we're old men in our floating wheelchairs complaining about how they don't make games like metriod prime anymore. you're a good friend and i'm very happy for you. see you... uh tomorrow or something.
Posted by Sembazuru at May 11, 2004 01:08 AM | Edit | Delete
Nice. SR388 looks good.
(And in case you haven't noticed, Xanthic is from Florida as well.)
Posted by iNeusch at May 11, 2004 03:26 AM | Edit | Delete
Nice :)
Posted by esXXI at May 11, 2004 08:07 AM | Edit | Delete
Wow, nice interview. I can't wait to see his upcoming work (especially SR388)..
Posted by Phil "Liverpool" Sherry at May 15, 2004 06:46 PM | Edit | Delete
Greatest Ever Living Floridian. Period.
Posted by scaught at May 17, 2004 12:24 AM | Edit | Delete
i talk to a famous icon designer.
Posted by at May 18, 2004 01:32 PM | Edit | Delete
Great work Macthemes! Mindfad, my kids love the mushrooms as HD icons!;-)
Posted by Dace at May 21, 2004 01:44 AM | Edit | Delete
Too bad Mindfad isn't here in beautiful Montreal, Quebec where there are several game compamies including Ubi Soft
Posted by at June 5, 2004 11:10 PM | Edit | Delete
yawn.
Posted by What at June 7, 2004 04:06 PM | Edit | Delete
Please elaborate. ;)
Posted by mesothelioma at July 24, 2004 05:02 PM | Edit | Delete
nice site i like your stuff
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