We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Reeve Schuetzenhofer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Reeve below.
Reeve, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
Throughout my training and career as a concept artist I’ve found that creativity blocks are a natural obstacle that comes with a creative path. To me, it’s about identifying what is blocking me; sometimes I’ve used up all my creative energies and I need to engage with more art, media and nature around me, other times the task is either too challenging or too easy and I need to find a new direction, set new goals. And some other times, perhaps all that is needed is some sense of community and sharing of ideas. Recently, I’ve enjoyed the genre of video essays and media analysis as a source of inspiration and broadening of ideas. Beyond that, an on-going process for me is to develop better habits, as I find that creativity and motivation are closely linked. There is an endless flood of books and media out there telling us how to become more productive people, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Habits exist to fulfil your needs, whether they are good or bad, so when trying to replace a “bad” habit with a “good” habit, it’s important to find a replacement activity that meets those needs and doesn’t lead to overexertion. If I have more energy, I have more resources to be creative.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Currently, I’m working in-house for Supermassive Games, a games studio largely focused on the horror genre. While I can’t speak about my NDA work, I can tell you how exciting it is to be part of a team, helping to shape the creative vision on projects together. The reason I chose to become a concept artist in the entertainment industry was precisely because my interests have always been so varied. Back in high school I was intrigued by nearly every subject, so I found I could never be satisfied doing the same work for all of my adult life, therefore, becoming a concept artist seemed like the perfect path. I get to research a large variety of topics, from science to history, architecture, geography and more, always keep learning, evolving and best of all, tell stories and share them with an audience. In my personal work, which can be found on my social media and my website, I love to focus on telling stories that see the beauty in the mundane as well as the grand, there is always a deep emotional core and a wider world to explore, from retired outlaws, a grim reaper in love to necromancing villains and troubled architects. Of course, as a queer individual, I also like to feature less mainstream perspectives in my work. I dream about being able to create such stories in large scale highly creative projects one day.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Your voice, curiosity and kindness. Let me explain. Believing in your own voice is such an integral part to creativity, no matter how self-indulgent or unserious you believe it maybe. Your interests and experiences make your art unique and no one can take that away from you other than yourself. All the opportunities I was given were because of the passion in the art I created for projects I truly cared about, that were self-indulgent and precisely because of this I was able to land exactly the jobs that I would enjoy doing. In such a highly competitive field, being unapologetic in your artistic voice can be a surprisingly powerful asset. It’s scary to put yourself out there to be judged, but eventually you’ll find other likeminds.
Let yourself be curious and don’t close your eyes to the world around you. Have those experiences, listen to the people around you, engage with the world. You’ll build a lot of knowledge and motivation to inspire you later down the line. In that sense, also study what interests you, lean into that drive, it’ll make your learning experience a lot lighter. Fostering a positive relationship to learning is far more important than your current skill set. Of course, that doesn’t mean there won’t be hardships but it’s important to identify when you’re throwing a wrench into your own cogs!
Lastly, kindness, and that is really an easy one. Your peers around you are just as important, and I’m not just talking about networking. They can lift you up, inspire you and provide valuable feedback and insights into your ideas. While the industry is competitive, it’s so important to help each other out, share information about opportunities, connect your friends with your new coworkers and most importantly, be there for each other in times of hardship. Listen to the struggles of marginalised groups and work towards making the spaces around you a nicer place to be.
With all that said, I’d like to add that my privilege growing up as a middle-class white European has also contributed greatly to the opportunities I’ve been able to take, like being able to travel for education and more.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
Without a doubt, the insightful teachers I have had in my two Summers spent at the Concept Design Academy in Pasadena, their dedication to teaching and providing feedback to students has been invaluable. Oftentimes, I have listened to their lectures and feedback and foolishly thought “I already know this”, only to realise months if not years later that I hadn’t known at all and only then understood their lesson. They’ve given me wisdom along the way that just keeps on giving! Just to name a few; Joshua J. Shaw, Kevin Chen, Alexander Mandrajiev, Bill Perkins, Polina Hristova, Christina & Dan Cooper.
Especially in the past year, my mentors Charlie Scott and Xavier Ward at Supermassive have also given me great guidance and feedback to help push my art to the next level, they’ve been giving me the freedom to explore my own creativity and processes whilst introducing me to various industry workflows. It is an honour to work alongside them.
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