Ted Backman

For other uses, see Backman (disambiguation).

Ted Backman
Biographical information
Place of birth	Seattle
Title(s)	Art Director Conceptual Artist Illustrator Animator
Time period	1996 – 2015

 

Ted Backman is an artist who worked at Valve.

Biography

Backman was a freelance artist and animator in the Seattle area before joining Valve in the summer of 1996. He was hired months before the name or style of their first game was even contemplated and prior to the company's formal creation. Gabe Newell had roughly worked out what genre he personally wanted to do, and he looked to Ken Birdwell for a recommendation of a concept artist who could start on the project.

Birdwell remembered his friend T.K. Backman's little 12-year-old skater punk brother who used to draw things. He had just graduated from the University of Washington's art department where he studied painting.

Work

Backman was responsible for designing, building, and animating many of the characters, weapons and locations for Half-Life. He has modeled, textured, and animated approximately half of them. He designed most of the Synths met in Half-Life 2.

Trivia

Backman's likeness as seen in the Danger Ted Construction Set.

In Half-Life, Backman's surname appears in the Anomalous Materials Laboratory on a locker and can be heard in announcements as Easter eggs. A photo of his was turned into a texture but was left unused in the files. His surname also appears on a sign in the Hospital featured in Half-Life 2: Episode One.

His older brother, T.K. Backman, also worked at Valve. His likeness was used for an early design of a Black Mesa Security Guard in Half-Life, and for Citizen (Male 2) and cut Conscript variants in Half-Life 2.

During Half-Life 2's development, there was a time when the player was able to glue physics objects together. This gave birth to the "Danger Ted Construction Set". They had the Citizen model based on Backman in the middle of a desert level, and there was nothing but cars, canisters, other miscellaneous objects. The developers used Backman's body in humorous physics experiments. The map can be found in the WC map pack, inside David Sawyer's folder.

Gallery

At least one image in this gallery is not captioned. You can help by describing the files below.

Half-Life

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  Infantry Grunt.

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  Another version.

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  Human Sergeant.

Half-Life 2

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Half-Life 2: Episode One

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Half-Life 2: Episode Two

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Half-Life 2: Episode Three

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Other

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  Early version of Black Mesa security guard with Backman's likeness.

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  The Conscript.

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  Citizen Male 2.

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  Danger Ted Construction Set.

Selected gameography

• Half-Life (1998)
• Half-Life (Dreamcast port) (2001)
• Half-Life (PlayStation 2 port) (2001)
• Half-Life: Source (2004)
• Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999)
• Half-Life: Blue Shift (2001)
• Half-Life 2 (2004)
• Half-Life 2: Episode One (2006)
• Half-Life 2: Episode Two (2007)
• Portal (2007)
• Portal 2 (2011)

Company biographies

• January 11, 1998 (archived)

Ted Backman - Art Director/Conceptual Artist/Illustrator/Animator

Ted has been a freelance artist and animator in the Seattle area for the last four years. Ted developed many of the more unusual monsters for Half-Life, including the Head Crab, Mr. Friendly, and Big Momma. He is also a black-belt karate instructor.

• April 9, 2007 (archived)

Ted Backman - Art Director/Conceptual Artist/Illustrator/Animator

Prior to joining Valve in the summer of 1996, Ted studied painting at the University of Washington. During his time at Valve, Ted has been responsible for designing and building many of the people, places and things that inhabit Black Mesa, City 17, and the outlying environments. A Seattle native, Ted finds drizzle comforting and insists Paynes grey is his favorite color.

• August 18, 2007 (archived)

Ted Backman - Conceptual Artist/Illustrator /Animator

No changes.

See also

• Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar