Viktor Antonov

Viktor Antonov
Biographical information
Born	1972
Place of birth	Sofia, Bulgaria
Title(s)	Art Director Conceptual Designer
Time period	1999 - 2005

 

Viktor Antonov is an art director and conceptual artist who worked at Valve.

Biography

With a mostly steampunk style, Antonov has been in the video game industry since 1996. He holds a transportation design degree from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and has also designed for commercials, animation and film in the USA and Europe. Antonov has been living in Paris (France), where he immigrated at 17, Montreaux (Switzerland), Los Angeles and Seattle.

He has founded the entertainment design studio "The Building" in Paris, France. The firm provides design services and consulting for multiple platforms, ranging from video games, feature films, commercials to television series. He is also a visiting design instructor at the Baden-Wuerttemberg Film Academy.

Work for the Half-Life series

Antonov was an art director and conceptual artist for Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Lost Coast. He suggested that the team think of setting the game in the suburban and outlying areas around an Eastern European-style city. Antonov designed most of the City 17 style and the Combine architecture and technology. As it is commonly done during a video game's development, most of his concept art for Half-Life 2 was done with Photoshop on existing screenshots of work-in-progress maps. Some of these maps can be found in the WC map pack (see a comparison example). At Valve, he also worked on Counter-Strike: Source.

Antonov can be seen credited across the web as the composer of cut Half-Life 2 music. This is incorrect, as Antonov is not a composer and most of this miscredited music is actually credited to Kelly Bailey or is most of the time totally unrelated to Half-Life 2.

Half-Life 2 (2004)

• The Air Exchange
• The Canals (with Tri Nguyen and Dhabih Eng)
• The Citadel (with Jeff Ballinger and Dhabih Eng)
• City 17 (with Eric Kirchmer and Damarcus Holbrook)
• The City 17 Trainstation
• The Coast
• The Combine Factories
• Most of the Combine technology (with Eric Kirchmer and Dhabih Eng) and architecture
  • The APC
  • The Assassin tanks featured in the Borealis
  • The Combine Barricade
  • The Combine Prisoner Pod
• The Combine Smart Barrier (with Eric Kirchmer)
  • The Combine SWAT Truck
  • The Depot teleport
  • The Door / Guard Tower
  • The early Mobile Wall
  • The Razor Train
• The Depot
• The Manhack Arcade
• Nova Prospekt (with Dhabih Eng and Eric Kirchmer)
• Ravenholm (with Eric Kirchmer and Horia Dociu)
• The Skyscraper
• The Wasteland

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (2005)

• St. Olga's monastery

Gallery

Vehicles

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Air Exchange

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Borealis

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Canals

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Citadel

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City 17

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City 17 Trainstation

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Combine Factories

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Depot

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Manhack Arcade

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Ravenholm

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Skyscraper

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St. Olga

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The Coast / The Wasteland

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Selected gameography

• Half-Life: Source (2004)
• Half-Life 2 (2004)
• Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (2005)

Company biographies

• June 11, 2003 (archived)

Viktor Antonov - Art Director/Conceptual Designer

Viktor has been a conceptual designer for the videogame industry since 1996. He first joined Valve from Xatrix Entertainment where his responsibilities included designing environments, lighting and atmosphere on projects such as Kingpin. He holds a transportation design degree from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and has also designed for commercials, animation and film in the USA and Europe. Viktor was born and spent his childhood in Sofia, Bulgaria after which he has been living in Paris France, Montreaux Switzerland, Los Angeles and Seattle.

• December 7, 2003 (archived)

Viktor Antonov - Art Director/Conceptual Designer

Viktor has been a conceptual designer for the videogame industry since 1996. He first joined Valve from Xatrix Entertainment where his responsibilities included designing environments, lighting and atmosphere on projects such as Kingpin. He holds a transportation design degree from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and has also designed for commercials, animation and film in the USA and Europe. Viktor was born and spent his childhood in Sofia, Bulgaria after which he has been living in Paris France, Montreaux Switzerland, Los Angeles and Seattle. You can view some of his art at Vulkanbros.com.

See also

• Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar

External links

• Personal website
• Viktor Antonov at Siggraph on Planet Half-Life
• GDC Lyon: Antonov Talks Visual Design, Half Life 2 on Gamasutra