Gabriel Lamas - Houston, TX

 Who are you?

- Gabriel Lamas, Senior at Houston Community College – Southwest studying to receive his Associate of Applied Science in Digital Gaming and Simulation.

What's in your bag?

- An Expedition Traveling Bag, a HP Pavilion dv7 Laptop (w/ laptop charger and battery), My portfolio, x4 Number 2 pencils, 2 Sketchbooks (x1 “9 inx12 in”, x1 ”5.5 inx8.5 in”), a 1TB Western Digital External Hardrive, a Pencil bag (a pack of 4 Fine Line Markers, Blending Stumps and Tortillons, an assorted bag of mechanical and 2B, 6B pencils, and a metal sharpener, and a PrismaColor set of 12 Pencils(F - 9B)), one Wacom Bamboo Graphics Tablet, 3 folders (two black and one red), both Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood mini art booklets, a small case of 0.5 mechanical pencil lead, one white eraser, one kneaded eraser, two Hi-Polymer Plastic Erasers, two sets of business cards, one wireless mouse, 3 chargers (cell phone, Digital Camera, Sony Walkman), an OfficeMax tablet, a bag of 4 batteries (x2 AA, x2 AAA), and “The Animator’s Survival Kit” by Richard Williams.

Favorite game(s) of all time?

- Either Super Mario Bros. 3 or Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening (I seriously can’t decide!!!)

What are you playing right now?

- New Super Mario Bros, Resident Evil: Revelations, Kid Icarus: Uprising, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Who, or what, is your biggest inspiration?

- My Parents (They go through life WHILE taking care of my little brother and me!), pretty much any historical figure who worked hard, even if at a particular craft (Leonardo Da Vinci, M.C Escher, and Walt Disney quickly come to mind), Shigeru Miyamoto (without him making SMB3 I probably would not be interested in this industry in the first place), Alex Alvarez (Founder of The Gnomon  School of Visual Effects, and the guy that put us Production Artists on the map for (further) education…’nuff said) and anyone to GRADUATE FROM The Gnomon School of Visual Effects (These artist take 3D art to a WHOLE.’NOTHER. LEVEL).

What made you want to study game design?

- In an instant when I was continuously losing in the very first level of Super Mario Bros. 3, I thought to myself “I wanna do this!” What I mean by that is doing Game Design in addition to Animation.

Favorite piece of video game memorabilia (tshirts, props, etc) that you may or may not own?

- Pretty much ANYTHING that Nintendo makes on their own and my Ezio Auditore statue that came with the Assassin’s Creed II Collector’s Edition (that thing looks like it should be placed near a doormat to scare people off….XD).

Guilty pleasure of the moment?

- Sweets and Soda (It all tastes so good!!!)

Any last words?

- Follow your dreams. Work your butt off….EVERYDAY! You may just be human, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take your craft beyond your limits. No one can tell you can succeed and make into the industry…no one in this world deserves that honor. Have a clear mind and stay level-headed, but remember to enjoy and love what you do, and you will succeed sooner than you think.