Peet Cooper

Peet Cooper at Blizzcon 2010.

Peet Cooper is a Senior Environment Artist for Diablo III.

Contents

Background

Prior to being hired at Blizzard, Peet worked as an artist at the game developer n-Space. He did character modeling and animation for the 1st-person GameCube shooter Geist and did concept art for the Nintendo DS versions of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Peet joined the Blizzard team some time after 2007.

At Blizzcon 2010, Peet shared information about himself and his path to Blizzard while he painted a piece of digital art, live on stage.

Peet Cooper: I went to the military and then they paid for my college - it was pretty awesome. I have a degree in computer animation - which I don't really use much of what I learned in school. I would say going to school is fantastic. I think school's super important because - if nothing else - you learn the basics and you get some great networking. If you surround yourself with the most talented people in school, you're going to be successful. You'll learn a lot from them - they'll learn a lot from you. And, at the end of the day, they're the ones who are going to end up getting the jobs. But, I did - let's see - I've done storyboards a little bit. I've done a little bit of animation, character modeling - just, I've kind of done it all on the art side.

Peet mentions on his blog that it was an experiment to put artists on stage for an hour, interacting with Blizzard Entertainment fans. He writes:

Peet: Overall it was a successful test, so I'm sure we will get a bunch more artists to do it next year… I'm calling you out Richie!

We may see the creation of more artwork, live on stage at future Blizzcons.

Peet currently works on Diablo III as a Senior Environment Artist.

Artwork

Peet maintains a personal website which he keeps updated fairly regularly. He even chats with people through the comment sections of his blog. Peet regularly posts sketches that he has worked on, all of them a testament to his incredible talent. In fact, the artwork which he made on stage at Blizzcon 2010 can be accessed through his site.

In his personal gallery, you can see other pieces that he has done - representing a number of different approaches/themes that highlight his flexibility as an artist. For Peet's World of Warcraft: Trading Card Game pieces, his technique definitely captures the essence of the Blizzard Irvine team's iconic style, but the sharp lines in his work add a unique edge that might as well replace his signature on the paintings.

Game Credits/Experience

• 2008 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Nintendo DS), nSpace; Concept Art
• 2007 - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Nintendo DS), n-Space; Concept Art
• 2005 - Geist (GameCube), n-Space; Character Modeling and Animation