Vera Velichko is CEO at Owl Studio. At Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki (September 11th to 12th) she's going to be talking about running a successful business without investment.
Click here to get more info about the show and to buy your tickets.
Vera Velichko is a professional artist who's been drawing for more than 20 years. She's been in the game industry since 2008 year, and in 2015 founded Owl Studio. It provides high-quality outsource services, working with 2D, 3D, animation, FX, UI-UX, Art Direction, Art Consalting.
The studio was started without any investments and now counts more than 50 people. Velichko is also a regular speaker at many conferences since 2016, a teacher (in 2017 we started an online school named Artnest, right now there are five courses, three of them run by Velichko).
PocketGamer.biz: What does your role at the company entail?
Vera Velichko: Well, I have many roles. The most important of them, of course, is the CEO (with all the stuff the CEO could possibly carry on). I present the company in the industry, speaking and writing about us and about some professional cases in of art development and business development which could be interesting for my colleagues. I'm also acting Art Director: I'm screening all the projects our studio do, and I help with issues if it's necessary. The next area of my responsibility is educational activities: the online school, weekly drawing sessions, personal lectures (if one of my artists needs it).
What do you think have been the most exciting developments in gaming since the last Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki?
It's not such a reсent thing, the first mentions I heard a few years ago, but this year I've seen an actual use of this technology. It's drawing and graphics creation in VR. The most exciting thing is that the whole team could work on the same art object in the same time. I really think there's a future here, and actually I think that it's closer than the future global popularity of VR games.
What are your thoughts on the way the industry has grown in the last 12 months?
If we're talking about art, there is a total renovation in there. We have lots of tasks involving redrawing something or improve the quality of some old game. It happens because the market has become bigger and bigger day by day and the customer of today pays much more attention to the graphic part of the game. Actually it makes me happy- it's my dream become true, and today my personal perfectionism in art production is starting to be the norm, even on small mobile projects.
What do you think the next 12 months in mobile gaming are going to look like?
They'll be in 3D. Not long ago ago the majority of mobile games were in 2D, but today the technology to make 3D games is easier to use than ever, the devices have become faster and we're even seeing 3D graphics in match 3 games.
Which part of Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki are you most looking forward to and why?
All of this is for networking. This is the major priority for me: to meet new people, to refresh some contacts, to make a good base for the future collaborations. This event gathers very interesting and productive people, and I'm looking forward to meeting them.
About Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
In a few short weeks the whole mobile gaming industry is set to descend on Helsinki for Pocket Gamer Connects. The event, which runs from September 11th to September 12th, is packed full of talks, tracks, networking opportunities, and more. You can read about the full conference schedule here.
There are still tickets available for the show, and if you click this link right here you'll get all the information you need on how to buy them, and what's going to be happening in Helsinki over the two days.
