Inteview with Fairfax

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Fairfax in Focus

The most busy graphician at Funcom these days took some time off to reveal
inner truths of his personal life. Please meet:

FAIRFAX / ANDROMEDA


By Cesium


Name..............: Torkell Berntsen
Handle............: Fairfax
Group.............: Andromeda
Former groups.....: Network, PMC, Offence
Function..........: Graphician
Age...............: 19
In the scene since: 1990
Occupation........: Game graphics designer at Funcom
Resident..........: Oslo, Norway
GFX equipment.....: None

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Computer graphician from the start
In opposite to many other people in the
scene,  Fairfax has never done anything
else   but   drawing  graphics  on  the
computer.   He  started  drawing some 4
years  ago and has followed the natural
development  from smaller groups to the
present membership in Andromeda.

-The  computer  environment  in my home
town didn't contain any skilled coders,
so  I never really got any contact with
assembler  programming.  There are some
famous  musicians  and  graphicians  in
Bergen, but as my musical abilities are
very poor, I feel that drawing graphics
suits  me the best.  I've never thought
about doing anything else.

In his spare time, he plays soccer.  He
used  to play active on a team earlier,


but  now  it's  just  occasionally.  He
enjoys  being  with  his friends and do
fun things together with them.


Famous     graphician    -    Brilliant
techniques?

There  are  many  ways  to improve your
graphics, Fairfax says.

-You  constantly learn from the work of
other good graphicians in the scene.  I
watch  pictures  closely  to  see which
techniques  they've  used, for instance
how  they did the aliasing.  I use this
afterwards  in  my  own  way  when  I'm
drawing.   I  also  experiment  a  lot.
Trying  and failing, trying and failing
again,  that's  what it's basically all
about.


To  do a picture, you need some kind of
an  inspiration  before  you can start.
Fairfax  has a lot of different sources
from  where  he gets inspiration to his
graphics.

-I  have  a  lot  of different kinds of
books  which I use to look through when
there's  a  picture  that  needs  to be
done.   If  somebody  needs  a  picture
fast, I've got some fantasy books which
I've  drawn pictures from before.  This
is  a fast and simple method, but those
pictures  are  not  what  I  like to do
best.
   I've got many photos which have some
good  motives  and  I've  done  several
pictures  from this.  Photos don't have
the  contrasts  and  shadows  fixed and
finished,  so  it often demands more to
draw such ones.


   Lately I've started to draw pictures
completely  by  myself,  which  is more
difficult, but yet much more satisfying
as an artist.


Eventhough    he's    been   into   the
Eurocharts  since June '92, and has the
4th place as his best position, Fairfax
is   not   the  graphician  who  spends
extreme amounts of time on his pictures
to give them an extra polish or improve
small details.

-I  admit  I'm  a  bit  sloppy  with my
graphics.   I'm not like Uno or Hof who
always does perfect pictures.  I admire
them  for  that, but personally I often
get  bored of a picture and stop when I
think it's OK.



Some  may wonder why he still is active
in  the  Amiga scene when he works at a
software  company and gets the money he
needs  from his graphics there.

-Competition  is  my  major  source  of
motivation  for  staying  in  the Amiga
scene.  I still haven't achieved all of
my goals in the scene.  My main goal is
to  reach  the no.1 spot at the charts.
Besides,  I  have  a  lot  of  friends,
especially   within  Andromeda,  and  I
enjoy being a part of the scene.


A  lot  of people think that Fairfax is
extremely  productive  making graphics,
maybe  the  most  active  in the scene.
But  those days are past now, according
to him.
   There  were times when he was always


working  on  some  new picture, logo or
design.  He always had several tasks to
do  -  maybe only with some slight lazy
periods in between, not long enough for
the  scene  to  notice,  though.   

-I  seldom  dropped a picture, I always
finished them and got them released.  I
think   that's   one   of   the   major
differences   between   me   and  other
graphicians in the scene!

It's   quite  the  opposite  now;  he's
beginning to get fed up with the scene,
mostly  because  of  his 8-10 hour work
each day with computers at Funcom.

Seven Seas - The scene charthitter
"Seven  Seas"  was  his first slideshow
ever, though he's been having the plans
for one for more than 1 1/2 years.


-You  see,  It  never  went all the way
through.   Each  time, the idea was hot
and  everything looked like I was going
to  get a slideshow done, but it failed
everytime until now.  I had a slideshow
almost  ready on the CRB conference way
back  in Porsgrunn '92, but then I felt
that the pictures I'd done was too bad.
   "Seven  Seas" was almost delayed for
a  year.   I remember I first announced
it  on  The  Party  2 to be released in
Easter, but you all know how it went.

"Seven   Seas"   is  one  of  the  best
slideshows  which have been released on
the  Amiga,  but he can reveal that the
way  to  get  it  released was not that
easy as it might seem.

-Things  take  such  an awful amount of
time!   "Seven Seas" actually gave me a


lot  of  disappointments  before it was
out  to  your  screens.   The coder was
very  demotivated for the production in
periods,  and  I  sometimes felt that I
was  the only one doing anything in the
group.



Only copying? - No way!
"Seven   Seas"   contains   a   lot  of
beautiful  landscapes  and motives from
the fantasy genre.  But he hasn't drawn
everything off from books:

-I   drew   the  wide  picture  in  the
beginning  all  by myself.  I also drew
mostly the whole titlepicture out of my
own  imagination.  Besides, many of the
fantasy   pictures  have  been  further
developed by me.


Simple code? - Come on!
When  looking through "Seven Seas", you
might  think  like  yours  truly - that
there  was  very little and simple code
in  it.   The  truth  is  actually  the
opposite;

-The  code in "Seven Seas" is good, but
it  is  a  bit  "hidden"  to the normal
user, that's true.  The zoom-routine in
the  middle  of  the  slideshow is very
advanced.    All  the  coordinates  are
calculated down to the smallest detail,
and  this  was  a  process which took a
hell  of  a  lot of time for the coder.
The  slide  also  contains a completely
new trackloader.


Compatibility seemed not so important..
For  the  lucky  owners out there, like


myself,  with  an  Amiga  4000,  "Seven
Seas"  was  a  pain  in the ass when it
comes  to  compability.  On my machine,
only  the  first disk works.  When it's
originally  going  to  load  the second
disk, the whole thing just "hangs".

-The  production  was  not fully tested
before  release.   When  I  came to the
coders  afterwards  and  said  that  it
neither  worked properly on the A4000's
nor  my  own  A2000,  they  were  a bit
uncertain  of what caused the error and
didn't care to fix it.
    To  me, compability is not the most
important  thing  in  the  world, but I
agree  that they could've relased a new
version  when  they found out what made
the error.




"Without R.A.W I'd be nothing"
-The worst thing is to not getting your
works  released.   Eventhough  I finish
almost  all of my pictures, I'm perhaps
a difficult graphician to work with and
most  of  my  works  doesn't really fit
into any production.  As I'm not a part
of  the  designing  of the demo itself,
the pictures and graphics "clash" a bit
with  the  rest  of  the demo.  I think
this   is  my  biggest  weakness  as  a
graphician.

   Still,  I've gotten a nice amount of
releases  through the times.  I did the
intro picture for "Mindriot", got three
pics  in "Mirror", two in "Sequestrial"
and  the  whole  "Seven Seas" slideshow
for   myself.    Besides   this,   I've
competed   in   most  of  the  graphics
competitions  at  the  parties the last




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years with good results.
   But  without  R.A.W, I'd be nothing.
It's definately all my releases in this
diskmag  -  intropics,  panel-graphics,
etc.   that has really made me known in
the scene!


Hights in the career
Eventhough   he   has   won   both  the
competitions  at Rendezvous 92 & 93, he
still  looks  upon the 2nd place at The
Party  2  as  the  biggest  thing  that
happened to him in his scene career.
   Of  course,  finally getting his own
slideshow released was also a big thing
for him.

Most popular picture
Fairfax  says that the picture from The
Party   2  gfx-compo  and  the  "Winter
Courier" picture are the ones which are
the most popular among his fans.

- I've gotten a lot of positive remarks
from  guys  I  know  on these pictures.
But  thinking  of  it,  some people say
they  like one picture, others another,
so...  There's not one picture which is


way  better  than  the rest, and people
have different tastes.

Which he thinks is the best himself
I   think  the  endpicture  I  did  for
"Sequential"  is the best I've done.  I
actually  made  it during X-Mas 92, and
the motive is quite cosy.
   On  the  other  hand, "Silkworm", is
the  worst  I've ever drawn, the motive
is reprehensible!

The hardest one to draw
-The  picture for TP2, "Winter Courier"
and  the  flute  player in "Seven Seas"
must  be  the  toughest pictures I ever
did.   I spent a lot of time working on
those pictures!
   You  know, what's typical for me, is
that  I  often  think that a picture is
going  to  be  very  simple and easy to


draw,  and  then  I  end up with a very
complicated    and   large   fullscreen
picture.
   Most  other  graphicians concentrate
very  much  on the foreground/motive of
the    picture,    and    neglect   the
background.   I  don't think like that.
In   my   drawings,  everything  is  so
distinct,  I  don't  just  fade out the
background,  with  some  loose fog-like
mountains,     but    prioritate    the
background almost 50%.

Work versus leisure
Fairfax    started   working   on   the
expanding  Norwegian  software  company
Funcom,   at  January  1st,  1994  He's
experienced  a  lot  since  then,  both
concerning his personal attitude to his
graphics, and the technical parts.



-The  biggest difference from the scene
to  games  developing, is that when you
draw  graphics for games, you have even
smaller limitations to work within than
in demos.
    It's  been  mostly  work  and sleep
during  the  last  months at Funcom.  I
left  my  friends and family in Bergen,
and  I  have  to  spend  a  lot of time
drawing.   This  is typical for many of
the  guys  that  work here.  Most of us
has  moved  away  from  our hometown or
even homecountry to work at Funcom, and
this marks our social life.

Funcom  is  doing so well that they are
constantly  on  the  look  for  skilled
artists  to join their forces.  They've
implemented   almost   the  entire  ex.
Norwegian  demoscene,  the  last one to
begin  working  here  was  Lone Starr /


Spaceballs.   Now they're raising their
heads, looking for wider horizons;

- Already in-house are Mithrandir (GFX)
and   Asterix   (code)   from   Sweden.
"Funcom  has  been  in contact with for
example  Walt (Melon Dezign France) and
others  which  I  can't  reveal  at the
moment.
   Newcommers to the company often come
in  as  primadonnas,  but they are very
fast jacked down.
   The  good  thing, is that we've been
able  to  sort  of  keeping our working
habits  from the scene into the new job
as  game  producers.   It's very loose,
people  can  come  and go whenever they
want as long as they keep the deadlines
set for each project (this might end up
like Ranx / BLC, who worked 10-16 hours
a  day,  7  days  a week the last weeks


before  his  deadline  for a golf game!
-Cs)

-  It's  not  so  long ago since Funcom
moved into a great new office building.
There  are  40-50 employees and many of
them  got  a  rise  in their wages just
recently.   We're  soon going to expand
the   office  area  with  another  1000
square  meters.   I  think  its success
will continue for at least another 5-10
years,  I  simply  cannot  find a point
where they should fail!  The people who
work  here  are  all very talented, and
everybody  wants  to impress the others
all  the  time  -  or  at least not get
negative critics of what you've done.

Funcom - Top secret, sorry.
When   asking  about  Fairfax'  current
projects  at  Funcom,  the guy suddenly


changes  from  being  very talkative to
only doing some silent mumbling.

-We're  not  allowed  to speak of games
not  released  or  finished yet, sorry.
My last project before this, though, is
the  so-called  "Santa  Claus"-project.
Since  it's  not  released yet, I can't
mention  the  exact  title, but I guess
you'll  notice  it when it comes to the
stores.   It'll be out both on Sega and
Nintendo.


Eventhough  he's earning well enough to
live  from  his graphics in the future,
he  says  he  won't  stay at Funcom for
more than a couple of years.

-  I  want  to  get a proper education,
perhaps  take  a  study of arts at some


university.    I've  taken  ex.   phil,
which  is  a  6-months course everybody
has  to  take  before  getting into the
studies.   But,  it's  also  a matter of
good  grades  in  order to get into the
universities in Norway, so I might have
to go abroad. 
   Within  2-5  years  I probably won't
stand   working  at  Funcom  any  more,
though  the  company seem unbelieavable
promising.


Below the magnifying glass
Personally,   Fairfax  admits  that  he
could've   been   better   to  draw  on
freehand than on paper.






No more copying!
From  now  on,  you will hardly see any
picture   by   Fairfax  with  a  copied
motive.   During  the  last  months  at
Funcom,  he feel that he's developed as
an artist and become more creative.

-I've  gotten  a  more  loose  attitude
towards  the  scene.   I think many get
quite    locked    up   by   the   high
expectations  from  the scene, and what
you make is formed by it.  There's less
risk  by  copying pictures, but this is
something  which is completely taboo on
Funcom.
   Now  I  want  to draw more out of my
own  imagination, and I've also started
taking up freehand-drawing on paper.  I
think this will be much more fun!
   I reckon most of my work will be AGA
from  now  on,  since  I'm  using  this


machine  at  work,  and  you  have more
colors  and  resolutions  to work with.
Of  course,  it  depends on which tasks
I'm assigned to.

But,   like  he  said  earlier  in  the
interview, he was quite fed up with the
scene,   and   in  my  last  chat  with
Fairfax,   he   certainly  didn't  seem
motivated for any scene work within the
nearest future.  Tough luck, fans!
   Though,  he  did  talk  of a diskmag
especially for graphicians which he was
perhaps  going  to do together with BCR
/ Stone  Arts  and Joachim / Ex.  Razor
1911 (both works at Funcom), but it was
a  bit  vague.   Besides, we've already
got one of those; Gallery / Intense FR.




·CONTRAST


- Other people's opinion about fairfax:


Ra / Sanity:
He was as good as he is nowadays when I
started my graphic activities.
Drawing mountains as a signature, he is
moving with fashions.
He  only uses Interlace, so he's a very
resticted style graphician.
In a way it's quite negative ...
He  loves pictures full of pixels and I
wonder where his part of creativity is.
Anyway  I  fell  in love when I saw his
face  in the Eurochart 25, he just need
to lose some weight to look the same as
one year before.









Archmage / Andromeda:
Fairfax  is  a very talented graphician
indeed  and  he  is  improving  all the
time.   This  development  may  best be
seen  in  his  slideshow  which  I find
stunning every time I watch it.
His  drawing-style  is  sometimes a bit
rough  and  I  guess he doesn't sit for
hours  trying  to  figure out whether a
pixel  fits  his picture or not, but it
is  his  overall  quality  that  I find
impressive.
Also   the  speed  of  his  drawing  is
tremendous   and   he  has  never  ever
exeeded a deadline that I know of.  The
period   of   his   "career"  that  was


dominated  by  nature-pictures lasted a
bit  too  long, I think, but he has now
started   moving   into  new  and  more
interesting   realms  of  motives.   He
really     deserved    to    win    The
Gathering'94,  and  I  think  that  the
picture  he  released there is his best
so far.
He  has by no means let his success get
to  his  head, as is the case with some
other  famous scene-graphicians.  He is
very  serious  about his work but he is
also  open  to  criticism, and he gives
very  constructive  criticism to others
as well.