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;
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.
What drew you to cyberpunk 2077 or/and the cyberpunk genre as a whole?
I’m a big fan of sci-fi and technology, so when I learned that Cyberpunk 2077 is a game set in a dystopian future, I knew this was something I would enjoy playing.
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?
In my opinion, one of the things that CDPR did a great job of in Cyberpunk 2077, is the architecture and design of the city.
I think Night City is a great representation of how a dystopian city should looks like, with certain districts being densely packed with crumbled and patched up houses, forming this urban jungle that’s hard to traverse and easy to get lost in, as well as areas that are the complete opposite of that, such as the city center with brutalist-styled skyscrapers that imply a dominating stance over the rest of the city.
I wouldn’t say CDPR purposely missed the mark on anything. However, the world does not feel as immersive as it could’ve been, because there isn’t much to interact with besides the quest objectives.
What message, to you, does the cyberpunk genre imply or relay as a viewer, fan of that aesthetic?
The message that I get from this genre is more of a question of survival. It’s a world where technology is mandatory if you don’t want to be on the low end of humanity in this dystopian society. But how much of yourself are you going to sacrifice to survive? Are you going to get in line with others and let yourself be controlled by the mega corporations or will you try to carve your own path of survival, free of influence? I find these questions intriguing, and the answers to them are not that easy to find.
What photo/GFX tools that are not in 2077 would you like to see in the sequel Project Orion?
The ability to individually move and rotate the subject’s head, torso, limbs and fingers via sliders. This would allow us to create our own poses with relative ease and save them as presets to use for later.
What drew you to the 2077 game specifically? What keeps driving you to keep making content for it?
Besides what I said previously, a few other reasons that drew me to the game is the fact that I enjoy single-player and story focused games, as well as the game having mod support.
As to why I keep taking screenshots in Cyberpunk 2077, it’s because I enjoy doing it. I like to challenge myself and try to get my pictures to look as photorealistic as possible. I’m still very far from it of course, but I always try to improve.
What about the 2077 characters specifically got your interest? All time favorite NPC in 2077 and why?
I wouldn’t say I have a favorite NPC in 2077. V is the character that I find the most interesting, but they’re the player character, not an NPC.
But if I have to pick one NPC as a favorite, I’d choose Panam because of her determination to make things right with her clan and her will to help V survive.
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?
The tools I use are the exact same ones most people use for Cyberpunk photography, those being ReShade, Otis_Inf’s Tools and Photoshop.
The time it takes from an idea to a final result gradually increased over time as I discovered tools and techniques.
During the early months it used to take me around 20-40 minutes for a screenshot, nowadays, it can take up to 4-6 hours over the span of a few days for a single shot, depending on how much effort I want to put in it.
The most time-consuming portion of it is setting up the lighting. After that is done, I take a break or come back the next day to edit the screenshot in photoshop.
I retouch the skin and hair, improve the colors so that it looks appealing to my eye and add whatever other effects I see fit for that particular screenshot.
How long have you been doing this art form?
I posted my first few screenshots around August 2021 so that would be 1 year and 9 months since then until today.
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?
I’m more than certain that none of the AI developers asked for permissions from artists to allow their galleries to be used as training data for their AI models.
The AIs have also been trained on carefully selected and very well composed images, that is why most of the pictures they generate are quite mind-blowing. Some are flawed or look weird, but the final result they generate is one way or another, unique.
This is still a very impressive technological achievement. In my opinion, I do consider their generated pictures as a form of art, but they belong in their own AI-generated category and should never be compared or put aside any of the art created by humans.
Fav couple (not necessarily official couple) you have done or would like to do VP for and why?
I always take pictures of the player character, so I don’t have any favorite NPC couple that I’d like to take screenshots of.
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 pursue a career in IT, so I believe virtual photography and any skills I learned while doing it will remain a hobby for me.
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?
If you are an artist that does mostly spicy art, then most of the people that follow you are likely to be interested in only that, not portraits or scenery screenshots. Likewise for people who are focused on non-NSFW screenshots.
In my opinion, the amount of attention you get boils down to what people are interested in seeing from you, as well as your own skills and efforts you’ve put into your pictures, not the fact if it’s NSFW or not. I don’t think those memes are accurate.
Fav 3 mods you use in the game and why do they make this list?
1. EquipmentEx. Customization of the player character is in my opinion one of the most important features in games, which also includes clothing. Having so many more separate clothing slots allows for creation of much more intricate outfits. This mod increased the available slots from 6 to above 30.
2. Appearance Menu Mod (AMM) - The sheer size of utilities and features this mod provides makes it almost mandatory for any kind of modded playthrough. Whether it’s for gameplay or photography, it is very useful to have it installed.
3. Photo Mode Unlocker (PMU) - As a person who enjoys taking pictures in Cyberpunk 2077, the ability to have an expanded photo mode with improved features and newly added ones is exceptionally good and convenient.
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
Johnny: Casual Friend
Judy: BFF
Kerry: Indifferent
Panam: BFF
River: Casual Friend
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!
I don’t do commissions. Sometimes I take pictures of other people’s characters, but only if they’re someone I know.
I use Flickr to store my entire gallery of pictures, and I occasionally post on my Twitter and Nexus accounts.
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ScorpionTank111
Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/194173188@N03/
Nexus:
https://www.nexusmods.com/users/59377041
I think the most important things to consider when doing any form of art, is to never give up and enjoy the art that you are creating!
Thank you for taking the time to read about my hobby!