‘ Call of Duty’ creator Glen Schofield reveals his passion — exhibit of drawings will benefit veterans’ scholarship fund
As the creator behind such addictive video games as “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” and “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare,” Glen A. Schofield might be considered a master of the cinematic first- personshooter diversion. How ironic, then, that Schofield can be distracted by something as simple as pen and ink and a memorable face.
“I can’t stop. I’ve been drawing since I could walk. It’s just a drive to draw, draw, draw,” said the San Ramon resident, who studied art at Pratt, made the jump to video games in 1990 and now heads Sledgehammer Games. “I wonder if I’m doing enough with it. Am I here to make video games or am I here to draw?”
He may get his answer with the unveiling of “Icons,” his first major solo show, 100 blackandwhite drawings and acrylics at Golden Gate University, where Schofield earned his master’s in business. We talked to the artist as he drove to his daughter’s softball game.
Q: How did this show evolve?
A: I make video games for a living, and I started out in art. I just draw all the time. It’s just one of those things. So during the course of making this last “Call of Duty” game, I was traveling all over, and I just drew all the time. I draw on the bike at the gym. I draw in public, on planes. It doesn’t bother me. I did 300 of these over the course of making the game.
Q: Proceeds from the artworks are going toward veterans?
A: I’m giving half to the school, and they’re going to put it into a fund to help veterans. You know, with “Call of Duty,” we do a lot with veterans, so I want to help them. I work with them, go to bases and do research for the games I make, and they play the games all the time.
Q: How do you decide who you’ll draw?
A: I’ll come up with a celebrity and look through thousands of pictures and put them together in Photoshop and work with them and exaggerate them here and there. I’m trying to capture some kind of emotion.
Q: How do you reconcile your art and business degrees?
A: I was at Electronic Arts and moving up the ladder, from artist to art director to producer to the executive producer who runs the game. I knew if I wanted to keep moving up the ladder, I needed more of a business background. I started my own studio with my partner six years ago — I couldn’t have done it without a degree. I’m still very, very creative — that’s my life — but the business guys can’t pull the wool over my eyes.