"The history of game art is a lot like that of everything else related to videogames: People started making games, decided they needed art to go with games and hired artists to make it. When the art actually started appearing in the games was when things started to get interesting. And now that making art for games has become its own (lucrative) career niche, the potential for chaos and misunderstanding has snowballed into an ongoing debate from which none of us, it seems, will ever be able to extricate ourselves.
Not without help, anyway."

Russ Pitts Speaks with Pandemic's John Enricco, Joseph Hatcher (the developer of Bob Ross's The Joy of Painting) and Penny Arcade's Mike "Gabe" Krahulik about "The Definition of an Art Form."

"Midway through the game Psychonauts, in which you literally infiltrate characters' minds for some hands-on therapy, the hero, Raz, encounters a security guard named Boyd. As Boyd shuffles about, babbling incoherently about squirrels, conspiracies and fortified milk, it's clear he's not all there and his mind has been broken for quite some time. But he refuses to let Raz pass until he can locate 'The Milkman,' so the hero leaps into Boyd's brain to determine who and where this Milkman might be.
The subsequent stage, 'The Milkman Conspiracy,' is one of the shining gems in a game already crammed with memorable moments. But more than that, it's a striking and deeply disturbing portrayal of one man's lost battle against his own insanity. When I think 'art in videogames,' I think of this stage."

Lara Crigger explores the role of abstract art in the art of communication.

"'I've always wanted to be an artist professionally, I just didn't dream that many people would ever pay me to draw,' he says, describing himself as a fan of Disney animation. 'That was an early goal of mine: to be a great animator. Little did I know that my lazy California roots and lack of persistent training would prevent me from that kind of greatness.'"

Shannon Drake speaks to Earthworm Jim creator, Doug TenNapel.

"The art has nothing to do with the gameplay. When someone discusses a game, they rarely say, 'The gameplay was crap, but the art was so good, it was totally worth the $60!' And yet, if the art was crap, there would have been little visual pull to the game and little reason to purchase it."

Mur Lafferty speaks to James Ernest, Cheyenne Wright and Matt Milberger about art in tabletop games.

"'We were remarking on the rise of nostalgia [for classic games] in modern videogaming culture, from people wearing Mario and Zelda shirts to full blown cosplayers dressing up as their favorite characters. We then began to create sample art for our artist's alley tables, while finding out that many young, struggling artists have sketchbooks full of videogame character art done from the memory of a childhood spent playing videogames. ... There had been no place [where] all game characters were collected before Lifemeter.'"

The founders of Lifemeter Comics speak to The Escapist's Seth Robison.

Each week we ask a question of our staff and featured writers to learn a little bit about them and gain some insight into where they are coming from.

This week's question is:

Who is your favorite artist?