Head Count: Shane Gurno

Shane Gurno is both co-founder and lead artist at Human Head Studios. He attended Madison Area Technical College for commercial art with the intention of working in comics. He “fell into the gaming world on a whim” when he joined Raven Software as an artist. (Fun fact: co-founder James Sumwalt started the same day and they are still working together 24 years later!) After founding and working at Human Head Studios, he says that his favorite part of game development is how cyclical it is - the process never gets old! He also loves working with long-time employees that have become “like a family away from home.” When he’s not creating pixel art pieces at work, Shane enjoys spending time with his family and playing bluegrass music.

What advice do you have for aspiring game artists?

“It is important to have knowledge of all the disciplines that go into developing a game. There is no way to master everything, but within the art discipline try to have your main pillar. This is something that you’re best at, like texture art. Outside of this, be sure to spend time becoming a good modeler, concept artist, etc. This way, when your part of the game’s production is complete, your abilities will still be useful. Understanding the other disciplines allows you to have a basic conversation when applying your work to theirs, which makes you a stronger team. I know nothing about programming, for example, but I listen to them so I can do my work better in the future.”

Three Games that Everyone Should Play: