Mike Nash, a skilled concept artist, has sadly passed away at the age of 36. A talented artist, he was perhaps best known for his design and concept work on Guerilla's Horizon Zero Dawn. The cause of death has not been shared publicly at this time.
A friend and former colleague of Nash, Gavriil Klimov, confirmed his friend's passing on Twitter. He shared that Nash was a "hardworking individual who would put in the hours to get better and try to do the best work possible." Klimov then shared a thread talking about his friend's talent, the work he did, and how inspiring he was as an artist and human being.
In the thread, Klimov showcased several of Nash's never-before-seen designs sculpted manually in ZBrush. He shared that Nash was a digital sculptor, 3D designer, and artist. He also showed off Nash'd designs for Horizon Zero Dawn and disclosed that Nash was the artist that designed some of the most famous Horizon Zero Dawn mech creatures. Those designs are iconic and an integral part of the video game. Without his concepts and designs, Horizon's robotic creatures may have looked a lot different, and perhaps the game would not have been as successful as it was.
After serving as the Lead Principle Designer and Concept Artist for Horizon Zero Dawn, Nash went on to mentoring other artists and posting videos to his personal YouTube page. He used his page to highlight various artists and worked to bring attention to artists all over. He also offered a program he titled "Mike's Mentorships," where he gave design and mindset classes to up-and-coming artists in the game and film industry. He was a big proponent in inspiring others and helping people achieve the art they wanted.
Currently, there has been a memorial ArtStation account set up to showcase some of Nash's amazing design work. Plus, many are taking to social media to share their stories and thoughts on this artist that has been taken far too soon. If you are a fan of character design or interested in how the amazing visuals of Horizon Zero Dawn were conceptualized and brought to life, then definitely check out Nash's work.
Source: Twitter, YouTube, ArtStation