Eric Kirchmer

Eric Kirchmer
Biographical information
Born	September 1, 1978
Place of birth	Southern California
Title(s)	Conceptual artist
Time period	2002 - Present

 

Eric Simon Kirchmer is a conceptual artist who has worked for Valve since 2002. He is currently living in Seattle.

Biography

On the previous version of Valve's official website, his function was described as follows: "Eric came to Valve after graduation from the Art Institute of Seattle in 2001. Originally from San Diego, Eric was a freelance illustrator who left the sun to work on more of a healthy monitor complexion. As part of the HL2 team, Eric is responsible for the game's visual density, by modeling everything from cars to broken concrete and debris. In the other few hours of Eric's life he can be found sculpting, raising bansai and working in his sketchbook." Another version of his biography stated: "Eric has been an artist with Valve since 2002. In that time, he has helped with the visual design of Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and other Valve titles. Originally from Southern California, Eric now calls the Pacific Northwest home."

He was also among other Valve employees to give his likeness to Gordon Freeman, as well as the stripped Combine Soldier and the Citizen Male 4, "Eric".

Most of his work for Half-Life 2 consisted in rough sketches often made to help mappers build their maps.

Work for Half-Life 2

• City 17 (with Viktor Antonov and Damarcus Holbrook)
• The Coast (with Viktor Antonov)
• The Combine Smart Barrier (with Viktor Antonov)
• The Combine technology (with Viktor Antonov and Dhabih Eng)
• Human props, cars, debris and buildings
• Several schematics for Nova Prospekt / the Depot, as well as the Gunship Bays
• Kleiner's Lab (with Dhabih Eng)
• Nova Prospekt (with Dhabih Eng and Viktor Antonov)
• Ravenholm (with Viktor Antonov and Horia Dociu)
• The Ravenholm traps (with Horia Dociu)
• Some Resistance graffiti art

Gallery

Half-Life 2

Modeling

• 

  Kirchmer's image used for Freeman, the stripped Combine Soldier and Citizen Male 4.

• 

  Stripped Combine Soldier face texture.

• 

  Citizen Male 4.

Concept art

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Textures

• 

  "Evolution" graffiti.

• 

  "Caste" graffiti.

Portal 2

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Selected gameography

• Half-Life: Source (2004)
• Half-Life 2 (2004)
• Half-Life 2: Episode One (2006)
• Half-Life 2: Episode Two (2007)
• Portal (2007)
• Portal 2 (2011)
• Half-Life: Alyx (2020)

See also

• Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar

External links

• Personal website (Archive)
• Blogger profile