Celerity is a fictional car brand for the game Trackmania (2020). Through this entity I do freelance texture work to create skins for players and communities.
-20+ Skins created and published
-Direct communication with clients
-Abstract and geometric style
Summer 2021, at my parent's in my hometown, France.
I Started playing Trackmania out of sheer nostalgia and I was pleased to discover the newest version of the game. The new graphics, the new engine. Everything was much more polished than the older Trackmania Nations Forever I grew up with. This (not so) old racing game about making the best times on various circuits using a car that looked like a Formula 1. I got some of my friends involved in the game and we tried to grind some of the maps to beat each others records and we started trying out the other features in the game.
Back in 2010, I used to play around with the in-game skin editor, I made all kinds of skins and I would swap them between runs, some of them even came with their own little persona. What kind of daredevil would drive a car covered with flame decals ? As a science-passionate kid, I would make those flames blue because : "they are way hotter than red flames" ! Nowadays, PBR (Physics-Based Rendering) is an industry standard and UX (User-eXperience) are letters that mean something when they are together, so the newest skin editor offers a lot more options and is easier to use. So I promptly tried to make myself a skin ! I had new ideas, now I have a color scheme, a logo, an aesthetic I liked, I felt like I could do something that I would enjoy playing with
The Substance Painter Interface
Okay, truth be told, I wasn't too proud of my first try... But I started searching for resources to learn how to do it better on the second try, to use my knowledge of computer graphics to do something better. First I learned how to import Targa files from Photoshop to the game to paint the UVs using a professional software instead of the in-game editor. It is potent, yes, but it's no match to the tools I learned to use during my studies.
That's when I blew some dust off the last months remaining of my Substance Painter's student licence. It was finally time to learn to use it properly. After seeing tutorials online and recalling what my game-artists friends told me about it, I pieced together my first skin on it (thanks to ressources from MCYC Productions, it was a lot easier). I later joined the official "Trackmania Skinning" Discord Server.
Do you want to learn about color luminance ?
On this server, everyone came around the same passion for creating visuals for the game. More specifically for the car that the player drives. Everyone here takes the time to answer most of the questions and "helping" is in the climate. I met established creators such as JustSpeeding, AntoSkins as well as Schmuskins that helped me through my first real steps. I wanted more. I pictured my first creations and I wanted to get started as soon as possible, I got hooked ! Soon enough I noticed that I was already comfortable enough to answer the newer user's questions.
I started writing these "lessons cards" to teach core principles about texturing. Most of the new users were players with no prior knowledge about computer graphics so I taught them about color theory, how textures work, how color mathematics apply to our work and soon enough I was recognized as a "Skilled" member myself. I didn't accept it at first as I thought I still had to work more. I had theoretical knowledge but I lacked practice. So I started making more skins, some for my friends, some for random strangers on Reddit.
"Trekants" my first commissioned wheels, different part light up depending on the car's current state.
Around September I started to take things more seriously, and I started "Celerity" my very own fictional car brand. It's a narrative that allows me to separate my name from the skins I make, to drive a narrative centered on the principle that "if your car advertises the speed of light then you should prove yourself worthy of it !" to push the players to try their best using a great looking car. At first I talked about it on discord but I quickly developed a business plan and opened a Fiverr freelance service. I got my first clients soon after that and talking one to one really made me realize how much I enjoy human interactions with the end-user !
Some of my strategies include modularity to allow faster skin production. If a client wanted a skin from me they could have it for a reduced price if they chose to use assets I created on other skins prior to this, in the end I save time so my client should save a bit of money as well, right ? I noticed that most skin makers would leave the "wheels" part of the car blank as it was harder to work with, but I quickly figured out how to do a lot of them easily, so I created the "Donut Pack" that is "just wheels" that could pair with your actual skin, and I sold some of them as it was cheap to produce and very cheap to get so I took this opportunity and I'm glad I did !
Aside from doing freelance work, I tried myself at competitions, I did skins around a theme for skin jams (limited time skinning competitions) and most of the time I would surprise myself because people seemed to enjoy my work ! I finished second on my first try and... most of the time ever since ! Recently I won both the second place of the jury and the community award for the Trackmania Seasonal Series Winter skinning competition which made me incredibly proud !
Nowadays, I'm a quite well-known member of the community among experienced skin-makers, I stopped taking commissions to focus on other projects for the time being but I still get asked quite often to do skinning work. In fact Celerity was chosen as a partner for the "Chilled Cup" which hosts an eSport competition once every three months.
One of the in-game visuals promoting Celerity on the billboards in Chilled Cup's Maps.
When I started making my first skin I never thought I would take it this far, and I never thought that I would even make money from this hobby of mine. But quite honestly I learned a lot about graphic design, automotive sports and self-branding. I searched for a lot of ressources to get better at it, like Satori Graphics or even other skinners' livestreams. I'm glad I followed my curiosity and while making this website and through my continuous experience with the community I proved myself that it will help me get even further in my future projects !
"Passion is the drive to go further. If you're passionate about something, eager to learn, you can achieve your objectives."
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