I started creating abstract paintings during the making of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. For about two or three years, I really immersed myself in them. I began collecting strange and interesting stencils from all over the world, cutting my own, experimenting with materials, and getting much better with spray paint. I’d used an airbrush for years, so in some ways spray painting felt like a natural extension of something I already understood—but abstract work pushed me in a completely different direction. There were fewer rules. That was probably what I enjoyed most. I experimented constantly with paint, layers, shapes, textures, stencils, accidents and things that weren’t necessarily supposed to work. Some pieces were on canvas, others on wood. Studying abstract art while actually making it became a great creative experience for me because it forced me to think differently about composition, color and balance. I was also permanently covered in paint. I must have created close to two hundred pieces during that period. It was intense, messy and incredibly freeing, and I think some of what I learned from those paintings still finds its way into everything I create today.
