Did you know that MultiH was one of the first authors of holographic skins in the workshop? Almost 400 skins in three years, 6 skins accepted by Valve. We asked MultiH about the secret of his success.
CS.MONEY presents a series of interviews with the best skin creators! And we start with the artists whose works were recently included in the Fracture Case.
– First of all, congratulations! We are glad to see Mainframe in the new case. Tell us a bit about yourself.
– Thank you! Glad you guys like the skin! I’m just some guy that likes weapon skins more than the average person should. If a First Person Shooter has weapon skins, then there’s a good chance that I’ve played it. I mainly play shooters but have slowly been branching to other genres. The last game I played that wasn’t a shooter was Helltaker. It doesn’t have weapon skins but it’s a nice game for other…reasons.
Other than making weapon skins, I do low-poly 3d modeling. Everything was self-taught; I never went to school for art or the like. Thank the maker for Youtube.
– SSG08 | Mainframe. How did you come up with the idea for this design? As we know, this skin has more than one author. Whose idea it was? Tell us please a bit about your team.
– The Mainframe skin was a joint effort between me and dC^. dC^ and I started working together in early 2017. Our skills complemented each other and since then we’ve made 400+ skins for Unturned, CS:GO, and Team Fortress 2 combined. Despite the timezone difference, we’re still able to discuss skins in-depth and collaborate on many different ideas.
The Mainframe series of skins was my idea; I came up with it by thinking about computer servers in the shower one day and thought that that would be an interesting skin idea. dC^ helped a lot by providing feedback and by fixing up the weapon models.
– I can’t help but ask about the Fracture Case in general. Besides your skin, are there any interesting works? Do you have any favorites?
– All of the skins are awesome and well-done in their own ways. But if I had to pick a favorite, it has to be 2Minds’ M4A4 | Tooth Fairy. I’ve always loved creepy surreal art, and the Tooth Fairy skins absolutely nailed that style.
– When did you start making skins? Are there any other games except CS that have your skins? What game was first? And how did you decide that you want to make a game skin?
– I started making skins for CS:GO the day they announced that players can make skins for the game. It was a glorious day; one that would change everything.
I’ve also made skins for Unturned, where 23 of my skins are officially in the game.
I’ve also made skins for Team Fortress 2 (called war paints over there) but none of them have gotten in.
In addition to CS:GO, I’m currently making skins for Krunker.io in an official capacity.
When it comes to making skins for games, I’m not picky. If a game has weapon skins and allows players to make skins, I’ll see if there’s anything I can do. If I like what I see, I’ll start making skins for them, otherwise I’ll let others take up the opportunity.
– You have a huge variety of skins in your workshop: some are so bright and cool that they should get the Covert quality grade. What skins are more interesting for you to make: for a Covert quality or Mil-Spec and classified?
– All of the rarities are interesting for me equally, I don’t have a preference. I typically make whatever is on my mind without thinking of its possible rarity.
– Which of your skins that are not yet in the game do you like the most?
– I really liked how my M4A1-S | Paint Killer turned out. I was messing around with grunge procedurals in Substance Painter and ended up with something that looked like hard paint strokes on a canvas.
I also really enjoyed the Lumberjack series of skins from Quzga and myself. When I first saw the concept of the idea, I laughed so hard because of how simple and brilliant it was.
Last but not least, also from Quzga and myself, is our FAMAS | Holo Spectacle v2, where the pattern on the skin changes depending on the in-game lighting.9
Read more about Holo Skins:
– Where do you get the inspiration for your works? Favorite books? Movies?
– I mainly get inspiration from playing other games with weapon skins. I often see a weapon camo in a game like Call of Duty and think to myself, “What makes this camo look so nice, and how can I make something inspired from it that would fit CS:GO?”
I also often get inspiration during and after a nice refreshing shower. I’m not much of a book reader and I don’t really watch a lot of movies aside from sci-fi movies.
– Why make skins at all? Is it profitable or so, for the soul?
– I’ve always loved the ability to customize my weapons in any game. I was beyond excited when I unlocked my first camo in Call of Duty 4. Changing out how my weapon looked blew my feeble little mind at the time. To have the opportunity to make weapon skins for one of the most popular games in the world is something I never thought I would be able to do. I would say that making skins has been extremely profitable for me.
– If you could change something about Dragon Lore‘s design, what would you improve?
– Nothing. It’s one of the sexiest skins Valve has ever made.
– Do you play CS? And if you do play CS then what is your favourite skin in your inventory? Do you play with your own skins?
– I used to play A LOT of CS:GO in my college days. Played a lot before skins were a thing but my hours exploded once skins were introduced. Back then the UMP-45 | Labyrinth was the only skin of mine accepted in the game, so I would try to buy the UMP-45 as much as I can, depending on the circumstances of the match.
I have way too many skins in my inventory to have a favorite!
– What is your favourite weapon in CS:GO?
– Probably the UMP-45 because it’s a clean model to make skins for. It’s also a solid investment when I can’t afford an AK/M4, which sadly happens more often than not.
– And what about favourite maps? Do you have one?
– Cs_office, by far. So many fond memories of messing around in casual modes on that map.
– Are you interested in CS GO tournaments? And what’s your favorite team if you do?
– I used to have tournaments in the background while I was doing stuff but I never followed them a lot.
– And back to the art. What are your favourite skins? No matter is it your art or maybe there are some other artists’ skins that you like?
– There are way too many skins I like! Instead of listing skins individually I’ll list some workshoppers who make some fantastic stuff:
Debski – abstract style, tribal, and sci-fi skins
Quzga – abstract, realistic, and sci-fi skins
dC^ – sci-fi, realistic, and metallic skins
Axerov – metallic, sci-fi skins
B3d – cute and wholesome skins and stickers
Ego Death – abstract, painterly, sci-fi, and illustration skins
Failbucket – abstract and sci-fi skins
There’s obviously more, so I recommend everyone browse the workshop to find some other great artists.
– Will we see some easter eggs in your skins?
– I typically don’t have easter eggs, but on my M249 | Warbird, the custom nametag is placed next to the text that says “PILOT”.
– What is your advice to those who want to become an artist? What advice can you give to those who are just thinking about creating the first skin?
– For advice on becoming an artist, just start making something. As stereotypical as that sounded, nothing will get done if you yourself don’t start.
For advice on making their first CS:GO skin, I would say to approach it with the right mindset. Don’t assume any skin you make will get in. It doesn’t matter if it’s your 1st skin or your 100th skin – there’s absolutely no guarantee it’ll get in. Spending 300 hours on a single skin or learning an awesome new workflow is irrelevant; there’s no obligation from Valve to include anyone’s skin in the game. As blunt as it is, Valve doesn’t owe anyone anything and they don’t care if someone complains that their skin didn’t get in.
Unfortunately I see this mindset among many new skin-makers (and veteran skin-makers alike, including those who already have skins in the game) where they believe Valve owes them (or continue to owe them) a spot in CS:GO for their skin.
To me, this is the wrong attitude to have. I would go into skin-making as a way to learn new skills. Don’t approach skin-making as a way to get easy money or if you believe that Valve owes you a cut. The competition is tougher than ever before and standards have only gone up over the years. If it were easy, then everyone I know would have had a skin accepted by now.
More arts and skins by MultiH you can find in his Workshop.
All Fracture Case skins ale already at our site!
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