Published on October 25th, 2019 | by Alex Novus
Melbourne artists selected for Fortnite
Melbourne-based artists George Rose and Justine McAllister are amongst a select few from around the world that were chosen to work with global gaming phenomenon Fortnite to have their art featured in the game.
McAllister is the second Australian artist to work with Epic Games’ Fortnite, while Rose was the first, recently creating six different Australian-inspired ‘sprays’, making Australia the first country to receive a dedicated in-game element. ‘Sprays’ can be used by players to place the design on any surface during a game of Fortnite to personalise their experience. Until now, sprays have been designed exclusively by Epic’s internal design team.
“It’s amazing to be selected to have my art featured in a game as popular as Fortnite,” said McAllister. “Personally I’m a huge fan of video game graphics so I’m happy that Epic Games reached out to work together.”
“It’s a surreal experience seeing my design in Fortnite,” said Rose. “It’s an honour to be the first Australian artist to work with Fortnite and it’s great to see Epic Games supporting my art practice. It’s super cool for me to be able to share my art with a whole new audience.”
Rose and McAllister were tasked with creating custom loading screens for players to earn through in-game achievements. McAllister’s two designs, Wiggle Trooper and Drift Print, can be obtained by players reaching Battle Pass Tiers 21 and 69 respectively, while players need to reach Tier 87 for Rose’s screen, Llamafields. Both artists drew inspiration from existing Fortnite designs, including the Skull Trooper and Drift costumes for players and the iconic Fortnite llama.
Rose’s ‘spray’ designs were revealed to loyal Fortnite fans during an event at Melbourne’s SEA LIFE aquarium on Thursday 10 October, where Rose finished a wall-sized version of her spray.
Fortnite players are able to unlock the loading screens and ‘sprays’ in-game since the launch of its new season, Fortnite Chapter 2 on October 15.