How This Game Concept Artist Merges Cowboys and Aliens in Historical Settings

When it comes to personal work, Felix Riaño is always looking for "happy accidents". Born and raised in Colombia and currently working in the UK at Atomhawk, he draws inspiration from comics, movies, and weird internet stories.

Felix is a senior concept artist whose work sits at the intersection of technical precision and imaginative world-building. Specialising in environments and hard-surface design, he’s shaped everything from grounded urban battlegrounds to futuristic tech demos for studios including Globant, EA and Tencent.

(Image credit: Felix Riaño)

Grazing

"I had this idea of soil being carved into intricate patterns, brought it to an everyday scene and ran with it. I’m happy to let the viewer come up with their own story."

(Image credit: Felix Riaño Sanchez)

Songs for the heron

"I started by just exploring a couple of ideas. I ended up stretching some models and the whole thing started taking shape, then I added the birds."

(Image credit: Felix Riaño Sanchez)

The chase

"From a simple premise of bringing futuristic ideas to a historic moment, this turned into cowboys trying to rob an arriving spaceship."

(Image credit: Felix Riaño Sanchez)

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Ian Dean is Editor, Digital Arts & 3D at Creative Bloq, and the former editor of many leading magazines. These titles included ImagineFX, 3D World and video game titles Play and Official PlayStation Magazine. Ian launched Xbox magazine X360 and edited PlayStation World. For Creative Bloq, Ian combines his experiences to bring the latest news on digital art, VFX and video games and tech, and in his spare time he doodles in Procreate, ArtRage, and Rebelle while finding time to play Xbox and PS5.