Today we talk to Nat, a VP artist based in the US whose been in the VP community for 7 years, enjoy;

Where do you see the virtual photo art form 5 years from now? Will we be able to easily tell it from actual photos by then and if not does that concern you?
I hope awareness of the medium increases. I wish for more opportunies of dev. Companies working in unison with VPs. They create such awareness for their products and extend the longevity of the game exponentially. As far as the latter, I hope graphics increase to that level but there are numerous games and VPs who photograph at all graphics range. I think as the technology improves that is very probable that we can no longer discern.

What trends in the VP space do you foresee becoming big in the field? What trends, aspects of VP do you hope gets left behind in the past?
My wish is that the space continues to grow and more spaces become available to showcase VP work. I recently showcased my VP work at the London Games Festival at an outdoor exhibition. I hope for many more of these opportunities for all VPs as it only increases appreciation of our medium. As far as trends, I hope photo mode tools increase and virtual photographers are able to convey necessary tools that become the standard for all games.

I hope that our passion for this medium does not result in paywalls which unfortunately has begun to already happen. Locked emotes, poses, skins/outfits these are tools we use to arrange a photo. Especially coming from the console, these are sometimes defining variables in how we are able to compose a photo. I hope we can get ahead of this trend now and convey that these things should be available to everyone.

What has been your most positive experience in the 2077 community and on the flip side what has been your most negative?
Luckily I have only had positive interactions. However, I think most of my VP in Cyberpunk circulated through my friends and followers. It’s hard to gauge if I would consider saying I have a foothold in the Cyberpunk community but after this interview I can now say otherwise!
 

What drew you to the cyberpunk genre?
The sci-fi themes, the futuristic technology, and cybernetics are very interesting, it gets me thinking about the distant future. I also absolutely loved The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and was excited when CDPR showcased Cyberpunk 2077, it got me pretty interested in seeing their take on the cyberpunk genre. Since playing the game I’ve grown a whole lot more interested in this genre.
 
What in your view is the best aspect of the cyberpunk genre CDPR got right with 2077 and what do you feel they missed the mark on?
Much of the aesthetic and the world design, it’s very beautifully crafted and fits the dystopian themes very well. All I’m too disappointed in is that the world isn’t immersive as it could have been and there’s just little to interact with besides the quest and story content.
 
What message, to you, does the cyberpunk genre imply or relay as a viewer, fan?
The means for survival within a cold dystopian society, how much of your humanity can you keep a hold of and what are you willing to sacrifice?
 
What photo/GFX tools that are not in 2077 would you like to see in the sequel Project Orion?
I’d like to see some depth of field improvements, more posing options with the potential to move some body parts around and it would be very helpful to be able to alter the time of day and weather conditions.
 

This week we have someone I have been following for some time. She is an amazing VP artist and I am so very glad she took the time for us. Here is Anna White 2077 VP from Europe;

What are your thoughts about AI art, cyberpunk or otherwise? Is it really 'art' in your view or just several 'stolen' images mushed together? What is your take?
It's a hard question but for me it's so artificial that I'm not really interested in that. I believe that art is always connected with humans beings. With their talent, emotions, experience. A lot of people can say that the human being actually tells the AI what to "draw" and therefore it's half-human made, but I saw a great example of how it can turn out bad for real artists. Unfortunately I can't find it anymore but I saw an article that showed how AI copied a style of some artist, it really just stole her arts, put them together to create something "new" but if you compare those pictures you can clearly recognize that these arts were originally made by her, the true artist. The sad thing is that the AI art got much more attention in a short period of time than this artist had ever before even though she spent years practicing and developing. That sadness me, I feel like it's not fair.

Where do you see the virtual photo art form 5 years from now? Will we be able to easily tell it from actual photos by then and if not does that concern you?   
Seeing the progress of the graphics in games I believe that in 5 years Virtual Photography can also be used to make shots for real fashion magazines, posters or different commercials. I hope it'll be taken more like a real profession so VP'ers can get different contracts from companies. I saw lots of examples that are just perfect for these purposes. Soon we'll not be able to recognize what is real and what is not, it's already happening, I love to trick my friends and show them some of my shots, they don't believe some of them are not real taken photos. I don't see anything bad in this, that's the progress lots of people have been waiting for a long time since first games appeared and I'm glad I'm living in this era.

What about the 2077 characters specifically got your interest? All time favorite NPC in 2077 and why?
Jackie Welles is my favorite without any doubt, a true friend that everyone would like to have. And in Cyberpunk 2077 that is full of lies it's really a treasure. Also I have a big sympathy for Rogue, she's a strong woman that keeps the city in a tight grip and survives. She is a legend in my opinion. Strict, demanding, hard but deep inside she keeps her feelings. That's what I love in these two characters.
 

Today we speak to NrKlaW from Belgium. He digs into his art and what he's like to see from 2077 and the community going forward, take a read and feel free to comment below;

First can you tell us a little about yourself, where you grew up and what attracted or inspired you to get into this art form?
I introduce myself, NrKlaW, i come from a small country called Belgium, i have always liked to take screens during cinematics on different games, when the environment allowed, i started the Cyberpunk adventure in December 2022 and I looked more seriously at the subject in early January 2023.

How did you learn this form of digital art?
I learned on the job by myself, as said just before, as soon as the environment allowed me, i took the opportunity to take different shots, even if at first it was more for myself, but later, i started to share them with my Cyberpunk period, i obviously received a lot of support and advice from several people, but more particularly of a person whom i consider a friend at the present time by the name of Grindera, he helped me a lot and advised me on what i could improve and it helped me improve on a daily basis.

What drew you to the cyberpunk genre?
Regarding the game, what attracted me a lot is its futuristic universe, the aspect that humans have of imagining a limitless universe where everything can be possible, a bit like a free universe. i think the Cyberpunk genre has belonged to something new and iconic, whether in movies or otherwise.
 

After we took a week off due to the Phantom Liberty info dump last weekend, we are back with our next community interview. This time from VP Ayghan who hails from France. We dig deep into his past, his thoughts on the VP scene and what he'd like to see for the 2077 franchise going forward;

First can you tell us a little about yourself, where you grew up and what attracted or inspired you to get into this art form ?
Hi ! I’m Ayghan, I’m from France and I work as a community manager in the video game field. I've always loved open worlds and contemplative games so I started taking captures to keep them as memories, but as time went by, it became a great escape and a way to highlight the sublime work of the developers. Now I spend so much time in photo modes that it takes a loooong time to finish a game x)

How did you learn this form of digital art ?
By practicing a lot and by drawing inspiration from other work. There are lots of incredible Virtual Photographers offering a variety of fantastic shots from various game. Participating in challenges or themed hashtags also helps a lot.

What drew you to cyberpunk 2077 or/and the cyberpunk genre as a whole ?
Stories about advanced technologies, AI, hacking, that explore moral, societal, and philosophical issues.  Matrix and Blade Runner are among my favorite franchises, so Cyberpunk 2077 quickly became my favorite game.
 

VCG does a deeper dive into the changes that GameSpot talked about in their video. They interview Lead Quest Designer Pawel Sasko as he talks about all the changes. Here is a snip;

According to creative director Pawel Sasko, virtually no system of the original game has been left untouched. The designer told VGC that, before he departs for a new adventure in the USA establishing the team who will one day create a sequel, he’s determined to leave the original game – famously criticised at launch – in the best shape he can.

“All the core, main systems of the game have been redone or updated in a major way,” he told VGC. “The biggest ones are the perks and skill trees, which have been rebuilt completely, and the next one is we’ve added vehicle combat which enables new car chases.

“We’ve also greatly expanded AI and completely redone the police system, which is rebuilt from the ground up and now has multiple levels with multiple archetypes of enemies who will chase you – it’s also different in Dog Town compared to Night City.

This week we go to South France and talk to TheCruellestFate whose had some issues with Twitter as of late. As his old account got shadow banned oddly. We discuss that as well as his thoughts about virtual photography and his views on 2077. Comment below with your thoughts;

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First can you tell us a little about yourself, where you grew up and what attracted or inspired you to get into this art form?
Well, my username is TheCruellestFate, I currently live in the south of France. I started taking screenshots on Fallout 4 in 2017 (Under another name), and since February 2023 i'm on Cyberpunk 2077 actively. I really like the fact of being able to capture a character or a scene and to be able to share my vision of it.

How did you learn this form of digital art?
I learned on my own, I'm a little self-taught. But also people who helped me like Hyst and Subleader for certain technical aspects as for Cyberpunk 2077.

What drew you to Cyberpunk 2077 or/and the cyberpunk genre as a whole?
I really like this question, to begin with, I grew up with movies such as Blade runner / Judge Dredd / Matrix / the fifth element. I am a very big fan of the Dystopian Cyberpunk genre. As for the game, I've been waiting for it since 2013 with the first CGI trailer. So I followed the game closely until it's released.

What in your view is the best aspect of the cyberpunk genre CDPR got right with 2077 and what do you feel they missed the mark on?
To be honest, Cyberpunk 2077 is a bit of a disappointment for me in some aspects. Let's start with the negative one, I don't like the 80s side with Johnny Silverhand and his band, I find that it distorts the cyberpunk genre and makes it less accurate to what it should look like in 2077. As for the positive one, I really like the city and the "No man's land" that surrounds it, the megabuildings and the atmosphere in general.
 

We are back! This week we talk to ScorpionTank from the misty vampire infested regions of Eastern Europe who does some amazing VP work as you will see below. He took some time to answer our questions, take a look;

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First can you tell us a little about yourself, where you grew up and what attracted or inspired you to get into this art form?
 Hello and thanks for having me here! I grew up in Romania and I still live here. I was never into virtual photography before, in fact I was just your average gamer that knew nothing about this form of art.
 
My only source of inspiration that got me into this was nexus mods. I always used to check nexus images whenever I went there to look for mods, and one day when I was bored, I just decided to try some screenshots myself.
 
It is thanks to a few people that encouraged me in those early weeks that convinced me to not give up on this little adventure of mine that eventually turned into a hobby.
 
How did you learn this form of digital art?
Through trial and error. I had no prior experience with any kind of photography or art, in real life or digital. My only goal was, and still is, to enjoy how my screenshots end up looking like.

We go to back to the UK for this in depth interview with VP and role player Nightmercisms! We discuss his background, how he got into this craft and his take on AI art and where this hobby is going. And also why in his view Evelyn is the best NPC int he game.Take a read below;

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First can you tell us a little about yourself, where you grew up and what attracted or inspired you to get into this art form?
Hey there! Just wanted to say first of all, thanks for having me here!

I guess I’ll start by saying that I’ve been heavily into fandom art since around 2010, I then found myself in a few writing/roleplay communities where it quickly turned into a much-loved hobby, before delving into the digital art side of things. Over the next few years, I taught myself to make fandom graphic banners, character posters and even HTML to keep fueling my pastime. This helped me to actually develop my skills enough so I was able to find a full-time job in web design, where I then moved from the outskirts of London, down South, to a coastal town. I’m still pretty much spending my downtime writing in various communities, but Cyberpunk is definitely my longest (best) roleplay stint so far, which has motivated me to start learning more about virtual photography. After coming across game photography and the amazing creators in this community, I’m always in awe of their work and it inspires me to throw myself into a new learning curve to help me be more creative.

How did you learn this form of digital art?
I touched on graphic design in school, but it was nothing serious, I’m mostly self-taught. Thankfully, there have been a lot of people who have pointed me in the right direction and helped me with tips and tricks. Most of what I have learnt has been through tutorials and just trying things for myself to see what works best.
 

This week we talk to Falero3D, a NSFW 2077 3D render artist. We talk about his background, his process to make his art and his interest in the spicy side of things. NOTE his images below are, obviously, NSFW.

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First can you tell us a little about yourself, where you grew up and what attracted or inspired you to get into this art form?
Hi, my alias is Falero. I am a 3D render artist from France, currently living in Paris. From a young age, I have been creating digital artworks that in some way were related to my favorite music artists, films and anime. More recently, I have really been enjoying Cyberpunk 2077 and the Witcher 3. These games in turn inspired me to get into this form of 3D art.

How did you learn this form of digital art?
Earlier this year I started to look up Blender tutorials on YouTube until I eventually came across the donut tutorial series. This eventually taught me the ins and outs if the software and I kind of went from there.

What drew you to Cyberpunk 2077 or/and the cyberpunk genre as a whole?
The Witcher 3 is actually my favorite game of all time. When CDPR announced Cyberpunk 2077, I was really excited for it because the game is set in a completely different reality. In addition to the game, the cyberpunk genre in general interests me as Blade Runner 2049 is one of my favorite movies. The thing I particularly like about this genre is that it is dark, yet colorful and expressive.