Hello! For those that don’t already know me, my name is Sam Paffenroth but I also go by Mystic, especially in online circles. My pronouns are they/them, and I am currently in my Junior year as an IMGD Visual Arts student– though I would have put my concentration in both Visual Arts and Writing if I could. I’ve lived in a couple places across the US, but for the past 10 years or so, I have been living here in Massachusetts– not far from campus in fact!
For nearly my entire life, I’ve loved drawing and writing stories, and as I’ve grown up, I’ve really wanted to see some aspect of that in my career. Between courses both here and at my highschool and the work I’ve done in my own time, I’ve played with a lot of different art mediums, ranging from paints, pencils, pastels, charcoal, and other traditional drawing mediums to digital and even mixed media and sculptural works. Of these, though, digital illustration especially is something I would love to do as a job. In the past few years, however, I’ve found I have a great fondness for mixed media works, which has culminated in my current biggest hobby: Doll customizations! The combination of sculpting, painting, sewing, jewelry making, and so on makes the process incredibly fun to work through, and while I have no intention of monetizing this work, I think it will continue to be a big hobby of mine for a while.
Games, too, have also been a very large part of my life; between socializing with friends, family game nights, and playing in my own personal free time, I’ve always loved games of all sorts. Hollow Knight especially I’ve been inspired by since it came out; the artwork in that game is just so detailed and worldbuilding heavy, and it makes me really inspired to put that same level of detail into my own work. Rainworld and the Ori games are also very high on that art inspiration list, though games like Book of Hours, Cultist Simulator, and Undertale / Deltarune really speak to the writer in me.
Before coming to WPI, I had little to no experience making games, but during my time here, I have certainly had the opportunity to stretch my legs more in this field. While I don’t have any larger projects under my belt, I’ve done a lot of smaller projects in a variety of engines (Unity and Unreal being the biggest among them) and I have also started trying my hand at making a board game– which I intend to continue polishing into a full project some time in the future. In terms of my art, I mainly look forward to having the chance to expand into making my art more modular and suited to the game development process, though learning more 3D art skills is also high on my list of things to accomplish. By taking this class, I look forward to seeing how my skills develop and what things I can make!
GORGEOUS: The work is so bright and beautiful, can’t wait to see what you make for the rest of the class!
Colorful: I love how your characters balance one another, and how bright your colors are. Your color choices are incredible!
Striking – all of your work is very interesting to look at and ponder. It is clear you have a great understanding of both 2D and 3D mediums and you show your skills here very well!
detailed – the environment in Golden Boxes has so many cool little things that make the environment feel fantastical yet grounded. the doll customs also look great!
Detailed: The texturing for the hair and wings on your featured image have so many little details in them and look very realistic
Detailed, you have really good attention to detail in your works.
Fascinating – your use of different materials in the picture following the first doll photo is very cool, I notice something new each time I look at it.
Gorgeous – I love the composition, color choices, and basically everything about your work! It looks fantastic!
Inventive: I tried getting into doll customizations a while back and I’m familiar with the amount of inventiveness and patience it takes to make it look good, especially custom legs. Looks very good.