This week we talk to 2077 streamer and Virtual Photographer Valerie Silverhand. We discuss her artistic background, how she got into digital art and her thoughts about 2077 and where she'd like to see it go. Enjoy and 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’ve been an artist and gamer about as far back as I can remember. I grew up as the “always drawing” kid in the Sacramento area of Northern California, and when my dad bought my sister and I an original Nintendo Entertainment System in the early 90s, and I was instantly hooked on gaming too. I ended up following my creative passion and attended the Academy of Art in San Francisco, completing a BA in Fine Art Illustration. I’ve been happily painting and gaming in Bay Area ever since. After art school, I began a career as a professional fine artist and illustrator but always found myself drawn to other creative outlets such cosplay, photography, and video editing. The first time I came across “photomode” was in Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018). The game is gorgeous, and I enjoyed experimenting with the photomode, but options for it were pretty limited. It wasn’t until I discovered Cyberpunk 2077 that I really fell in love with virtual photography.
How did you learn this form of digital art?
Probably like most – trial and error? I started on a base Xbox One so my graphics left something to be desired, but I just loved using virtual photography to capture story moments and make up my own for my character. Since Cyberpunk2077 is in first person, I felt I could connect to my V more using photomode to see her. To be honest, virtual photography was probably the biggest reason I decided to switch PC gaming. Once I became a PC player I really started connecting to the fan community and so many kind people stepped up to teach me, answer my questions and inspire me to improve my craft. The comradery that came with virtual photography has been super rewarding. I owe most of my skills to other virtual photographers who pointed me toward tools and techniques.
What drew you to cyberpunk 2077 or/and the cyberpunk genre as a whole?
I’m a 90s kid, so I grew up on a lot of cyberpunk and science fiction entertainment. I was obsessed with a an early 3d animated show called, Reboot – about characters that lived inside a computer world and could project themselves into different game environments. When I saw The Matrix in 1999, that was an absolute game changer for me and I knew I wanted more! Some of my other favorites include Terminator, Strange Days, Johnny Mnemonic, Total Recall, Demolition Man, The Fifth Element and most David Cronenberg movies. I was also an avid Twilight Zone watcher – which often had cyberpunk themes or stories about humanity vs technology. I discovered Bladerunner a bit later through my boyfriend (now husband) who loved the film and genre. We seek out just about all the cyberpunk/sci fi entertainment we can get a hold of. I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of how technology could alter, enhance or even destroy – our humanity.
What message, to you, does the cyberpunk genre imply or relay as a viewer, fan of that aesthetic?
To me, the Cyberpunk genre asks us – “what does it mean to be human?” and “what do you stand for?” I find these challenging questions intriguing. They make for fascinating, and often cautionary tales. Though most cyberpunk stories take place in a distant future, much of it applies to the reality we’re living it right now. Without getting too political, there is a lot of things happening in our current society that make me want to join up and rage against the corpo machine.
What photo/GFX tools that are not in 2077 would you like to see in the sequel Project Orion?
Since I do my virtual photography on PC now, I’m fortunate to have access to all the incredible photomode tools and lights created by modders. However, since I began my VP journey on an Xbox, I can think of a few tools that could give console players more creative freedom.
- A 90 degree rotation for the camera, for vertical shots.
- Ability to spawn and pose an NPC
- Lighting effects, and add fog effects
- Change time of day or weather
- Sitting poses
- Improvement of the depth of field settings
What drew you to the 2077 game specifically? What keeps driving you to keep making content for it?
This is probably a surprising answer since I’m a Cyberpunk2077 mega fan – but I actually wasn’t drawn to it. I never knew much about it. I think my husband showed me one early trailer, but I never followed the hype or promos. I hadn’t played any game from CDPR so I didn’t have much of a reference point. I was a diehard Mass Effect fan at that point. I was skeptical that CP2077 might be a Grand Theft Auto type game with a Cyberpunk style. I bought the game as a Christmas present for my husband, and let’s just say he ended up having to wrestle it away from me so he could take a turn with it. I completely fell in love with the world, characters, story, music and V, herself. I was able to channel a lot of my own insecurities into V circumstances and adopt some of her fearlessness into my real life. I have 100% completion of the game, but at this point I keep going back to Night City to play in the world and write my own “head canon” stories for V and her friends.
What about the 2077 characters specifically got your interest? All time favorite NPC in 2077 and why?
They just feel so real! I think most of this is owed to the brilliant writing and incredible voice acting. The connections you make with them feel so genuine, even ones that aren’t with you very long, like Jackie. That connection felt so authentic so quickly. I only wish there was more content, with all the characters, and hopefully there will be.
You can probably guess by my overly obvious screenname, that yes – Johnny Silverhand is my favorite NPC. His character arc made such an unexpected connection with me. As V, I was completely repelled by Johnny early in the game, so it came as quite a surprise when I started feeling a chemistry building between them. Johnny is a painfully flawed character, yet as you get to know him, you find his frustration and rage veils a truly compassionate wounded core. Johnny is enraged by the injustices of society and the suffering of working class people. I found myself sharing in his frustration and relating to his cause – even if I disagreed with his solutions.
V and Johnny begin as two opposing forces yet, depending on your player choices, they can develop a deep soul connection. A connection that Johnny admits he’s never had with anyone before. He becomes incredibly protective and wants to do this one thing right. He is willing to give up his second chance at life to save V’s, in a true act of selflessness. I could go further and make an argument that it’s a rather romantic gesture, but I’ll digress for now! Haha!
What tools do you use to make your art? How long does it take to go from idea to posting a pic? What's the process?
Currently my most vital tools are Appearance Mod Menu, Reshade, Photomode Unlocker, and Otis Camera Tools. The time it takes kind of depends on how complicated the shot is. Single character portraits are usually pretty quick, but complicated shots with multiple characters and props often take a few hours to set up and find just the right camera angle and lighting. When I was still taking shots on my Xbox I was limited by the current location, lighting, and position of NPCs, and there was a satisfying amount luck to capturing a good shot. That said, the creative freedom and quality of shots I can achieve on PC is mind blowing. My only limitation is usually my own imagination. My process usually begins with a concept or story moment I want to capture. Then I’ll choose outfits and locations. From there I’ll sift through poses to find something as natural as possible for the scene, which is often challenging, especially with two characters. Once I have the characters and props placed, I’ll test different times of day for natural light, and/or set up lighting using Otis Camera Tools. Once everything is placed, then I’ll experiment with camera placement to look for a pleasing composition. I do all of this while praying the game doesn’t crash by the way… haha. I’m not a real-life photographer, but as an artist I still consider the elements and principles of design and rule of thirds. I always strive to avoid tangents and create a deliberate focal point. As a final step I will sometimes do some color correction and retouching to fix clipping or other wonky bits using Photoshop. Then, voila!
How long have you been doing this art form?
I started taking shots on my Xbox One in January of 2021. I think the first time I entered photomode was completely on accident while I was button mashing during combat. Haha! By February 2021, I had finished the game and actually began focusing on “virtual videography,” more than anything. I wasn’t satisfied with the canon endings of the games and spent the next 4 months editing together one of my own! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpq3fOJj73A) By November of 2021, I purchased my first gaming PC and that’s when I really began to fall in love with virtual photography.
Do you think these are skills you'd like to make a career of on some level or you prefer it as a hobby?
I’m definitely interested in potentially applying my artistic skills to game development! As a kid I was really interested in designing my own games. Recently, I’ve begun learning to make my own game mods and have a growing interest in the more technical aspects of game dev. For now though, I love virtual photography as a hobby and creative outlet that’s separate from my art day job.
I've seen a lot of memes from artists that imply if you do vanilla art you will hardly get any notice, but if you do spicy art you'll get tons of attention. Do you feel those memes are accurate for better or worse? What are your thoughts on that?
Who doesn’t love a little sexy time art? 😉 Of course “sex sells,” but I also think people gravitate toward authenticity, originality and quality even if it isn’t “spicy.” I think art with a passionate point of view is always valuable. I will say, as someone who sells art for a living, recognizable characters (aka fan art) often sells better than original characters. This can be limiting and frustrating sometimes. I love to do art in both camps, but I do wish my original creations got as much love as art inspired by existing properties. Speaking of cyberpunk though, what us artists should really be worried about is AI art replacing us all. That’s the topic making my inner Silverhand get fired up, but that’s a discussion for another day!
And my most controversial question... Which of the following labels would you assign to whom (one each)? ;)
Marry, BFF, FWB(friend with benefits), Casual Friend, Indifferent, Hate, Kill
Evelyn: Indifferent
Goro: Casual Friend but want to be BFF
Johnny: Marry + BFF and sometimes hate. LOL.
Judy: Casual Friend, FWB that one time
Kerry: BFF
Panam: BFF, my Nomad sister forever!
River: Casual Friend, FWB that one time – sorry Johnny.
I know you said only one each but I’m a cyberpunk. I break RULES!
And finally what are the socials people can find you, and do you do commissions? Any final words to the readers? Thank you for your time!
Yes! I do commissions! Both for virtual photography and artwork!
For my cyberpunk content you can find me at,
Twitter:
@MrsVSilverhand
Instagram: @ValerieSilverhand
YouTube:
ValerieSilverhand
Tumblr:
https://mrsvaleriesilverhand.tumblr.com/
Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/ValerieSilverhand/
For more info on my artwork, send me a message!