ATOMHAWK CANADA

Tom May reveals how Atomhawk’s Vancouver studio is making a name for itself creating video games concepts – and wants to expand its team!

- Tom May

Long-time ImagineFX readers will remember that we featured Atomhawk in the magazine just a few years ago, in issue 138. But in 2016 the company, which provides digital art and design services for clients such as Warner Bros., Sony and Marvel, only existed in one place: Gateshead in north-east England. The following year, Atomhawk launched a brand new studio in Vancouver, Canada, so we figured it was about time we caught up with them, too.

The first thing studio director Chris Rowe makes clear is that, despite having two branches on opposite sides of the Atlantic, it’s still very much one Atomhawk. “As one team is finishing their day, the other is just starting, so the production teams typically do a daily sync-up on everything,” he explains. That said, each studio usually focuses on its own set of projects, and the latest one Chris can talk about is Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, a collaboration with Xbox Game Studios. “This was also one of the biggest projects we’ve ever done, with over 900 panels of beautiful, historically accurate illustrations and paintings being produced,” he says. “It required a truly phenomenal effort from everyone involved, over quite a long stretch of time.”

KEEPING ARTISTS HAPPY

Other projects launching last year included Mortal Kombat 11 and FIFA 20. And working on such big-name AAA projects certainly helps keep artists happy, Chris stresses. “Most of the gang are gamers themselves, with their own love and passion for certain genres and IPs,” he notes, “so it keeps them motivated to deliver.”