Ian McQue

Garrick Webster Learns How The Boyhood Fan Of Ralph Mcquarrie Made His Name In Video Games And Is Now Living His Dream As A Hollywood Concept Artist

“Curse of the concept artist!” laughs ian McQue. “Without wishing to sound mysterious, i can’t really talk about what i’m working on at the moment, but i’m just finishing up on two movies and there’s some ongoing creative consultancy work on a game. oh, and i’m just kicking off a big personal project which i hope to announce soon.”

Well, there goes our scoop, but optimism is exuding from one of the UK’s leading concept artists as he updates us on his work. Having started his career at DMA Design ltd, which later became rockstar North, ian is known in the world of computer gaming for his concept art work on a slew of Grand theft Auto titles, going back to the very first one in 1997. Back then the game was a top-down gangland driving game, which ian helped evolve into the cinematic franchise we know today through titles like GtA: san Andreas (2004), where he was lead character artist, and GtA: the Ballad of Gay tony (2009), on which he served as concept artist.

Cultural Impact

“Working on the GtA franchise as a whole was obviously a significant part of my career, but it was with GtA iV: the lost and the Damned that i felt we’d created something that had a cultural impact outside of the games world,” says ian. “Being a big deal in the global media environment brought added pressure on subsequent releases, but feeling part of something so popular was pretty cool, and also rare!”

While working on the Grand theft Auto franchise has had a hugely significant impact on ian’s career, since leaving rockstar in 2014 a whole world of opportunities has opened up to the sunderland-born, Edinburghbased artist.