[2022] Community Focus - OLDQ

Hey Guardians! We all have an imagination, but only some of us can bring it to life. Artists are in that group of people. Our guest is a great artist, a visionary, and Destiny fan from far away. Please welcome, OLDQ.
It’s a pleasure to have you with us, OLDQ. Please tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? What do you do?

Hello, I'm OLDQ, you can also call me OQ. I'm from China, where I’m studying art in my last year of college. It's a pleasure to meet you.

  What made you choose Destiny for your art? What makes the game special for you?

Destiny 2 is my favorite game and I’ve been playing since Season 7. It’s a great game in every way. From the graphics to the art to the lore, I love it. I’ve learned a lot about video game art by making my own art inspired by Destiny. As an art student, I have been learning graphic design for about one year, so one day I got the idea to use the game as a design exercise. That’s when I started drawing artwork inspired by the game. 

In your art, we can see a lot of weapon and armor designs. What attracts you to this part of the game?

First of all, that's what I want to do in the future. Destiny 2 has great lore and art, and between armor and weapons, there are a lot of options for me to practice. I've actually thought about drawing story scenes, but I'm not very good at that.

   Out of all your work, what is your favorite ornament you’ve created? Can you share the story behind its creation and a picture with us?

My favorite, and everyone's favorite, is my take on Izanagi’s Burden. The inspiration for this design comes from the Destiny 2 story, where the boundary between Light and Darkness became more and more blurred. Guardians were granted the same Darkness power they tried to fight against, and Lucent Hive were gifted the powers of the Light from Savathûn. I had the idea of drawing two versions: one based on Light and one based on Darkness, so I chose Izanagi’s Burden since it is a beautiful Exotic and does a lot of damage. After finishing the design, I wrote a short story for each decoration, but they’re in Chinese, which is difficult to translate, so unfortunately, I cannot share it with you.

 
 Please tell us a little bit about where your inspiration is coming from? Music? Other artists?

Inspiration actually appears suddenly at a certain times. Sometimes I’m inspired by something that has nothing to do with what I’m designing, such as fairy tales from different countries or interesting things in reality. Sometimes it’s something in-game, such as the lore or other stylistic references. Of course, sometimes I’m inspired by other artists designs, but this is rare.

Any shoutouts for the end of the interview?

Thank you very much for showing love to me. I want to thank Bungie for the interview. I'm flattered to be honest. I still have a long way to go in my design skills, so this is a big motivation for me. I am very glad to meet you, and I will continue to improve my skills and bring you better work. Thank you to Bungie for making such a great game. Thanks again.

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Imagination has no borders, and it’s always a pleasure to see where it can get you. We hope you enjoyed today’s Community Focus. Follow OLDQ on Twitter, and stay tuned for more amazing designs to come. 
Don’t forget that a kind word can do wonders for a creative soul!  Ivan out.