Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2024 i ImagineFX

Working at a big studio certainly has its perks. Larger studios have luxurious facilities, and the projects you’ll work on often have bigger, better budgets. But sometimes less really is more; a stint at a smaller company where you have to work within tighter constraints can boost creativity and make you a smarter, faster animator. You also might get the chance to work across a variety of roles on different kinds of projects, and experience more of the pipeline than you would working at a bigger organisation. A director and storyboard artist, Kelsey Norden has spent time working at large studios such as Disney Television Animation and Warner Bros. Animation, as well as smaller outfits such as Six Point Harness, OddBot and Stoopid Buddy Stoodios. She explains that if you’ve…

I finally gave up the hustle and bustle of the New York City studio lifestyle. I made the move to lazy California about five years ago and have never looked back. My primary workstation is in a small bedroom. Most of my work is digital these days, so the setup is fairly simple: two monitors, a desk, and proper lighting is all I really need to get working. I live a pretty sedentary life, so the standing desk is extremely important for blood flow! My average month consists of a healthy balance of client work, personal work, and comic convention travel. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a luxury to be able to work from home, but it also forces me to be disciplined or else the bills don’t get paid.…

Artist PROFILE Songmutougada LOCATION: China Songmutougada is an artist from Luoyang. He has made art for League of Legends, and his work has also been used as part of the game’s charitable activities. https://bit.ly/4a6ZJ5k “When drawing this picture of Katarina, I started by gathering reference images. I then used dynamic sketching and moveable figures to establish perspective, before creating the black and white picture. After several sketches, I chose my favourite and refined it with Daz Studio to fix the lighting and camera position. At this point I worked in black and white to establish the hierarchical relationships; it’s important not to rush how everything sits together. From here I refined the details of the materials and environment. Filter effects such as Gaussian blur and lens blur enhance the contrast…

Artist PROFILE Andrés Aponte LOCATION: Colombia Andrés is a freelance visual development and background artist for the game and animation industries. He is mostly self-taught and enjoys learning challenging new tools to expand his artistic talents. https://bit.ly/4dwJaml Nowadays, 3D is becoming an essential part of the process for our pre-production, worldbuilding and concept art, including both realistic and stylised approaches. Free and friendly, I believe Blender is a perfect entry point for artists to get into 3D, especially those that have only dabbled in drawing and painting. There are many ways Blender can be advantageous and speed up the concept process. There’s no way to replace the fundamental expertise though, and adding 3D tools to your artistic skill set can only enhance your knowledge of composition, light and storytelling. And…

Editorial Editor Rob Redman rob.redman@futurenet.com Art Editor Daniel Vincent Production Editor Henry Burridge Contributors Dominic Carter, Tanya Combrinck, Ian Dean, Edwin Huang, Charles Lister, Hicham Habchi, Brooks Kim, Songmutougada, Jeremy Fenske, Andrés Aponte, Erkan Karagöz, Lina Sidorova, Maximilian Güttler, Margaret Morales, John DePianto, Ryan Wells, Gary Stuckey Advertising Media packs are available on request Chief Revenue Officer Zack Sullivan UK Group Commercial Director Clare Dove Advertising Director Matt Johnston matthew.johnston@futurenet.com, 01225 442244 International Licensing ImagineFX is available for licensing and syndication. To find out more contact us at licensing@futurenet.com or view our available content at www.futurecontenthub.com. Head of Print Licensing Rachel Shaw Subscriptions – turn to page 8! Online orders www.magazinesdirect.com Customer service email: help@magazinesdirect.com Telephone +44 (0) 330 333 1113 Consumer Revenues Director Sharon Todd Disruption remains within UK…

Artist PROFILE, Jeremy Fenske LOCATION: US Art director and concept artist Jeremy worked on The Elder Scrolls Online and Destiny 2, and led Palia’s art team at a start-up studio. He shares his process in live streams, YouTube and by holding workshops. https://bit.ly/3UymJEw This painting is a personal piece that was inspired by an idea I’d had in mind for a long time. It’s part of an ongoing series, and I’m excited to share this particular work first, along with some insights into my personal creative process. I’m fascinated by whimsical forest scenes, but I wanted to incorporate elements of decay and tragedy into the scene as well. There’s a unique beauty in abandoned objects and how nature reclaims them. In this scene, a crashed plane, seemingly downed during World…

“For this artwork, I experimented with using a workflow that incorporates both Photoshop and Krita. I started off the process by sketching the composition in Krita using the Sketching Chrome Thin Brush. I love this brush, as it feels like I’m drawing and painting at the same time. When I was satisfied, I hopped back over to Photoshop and blocked in the colours over the top of my Krita sketch with the help of clipping masks. At this stage, I was able to radically experiment with colours. When I reached a result I liked, all that was left was to render on top back in Krita. What helped me the most when creating this image was trying out all the different tools and processes. It can be scary, but it’s…

Where did you grow up and how has this inf luenced your art? I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. There are many parts of the Bay where art is celebrated. This included not only illustration but also music, theatre and more. I was lucky to have grown up in an area where creativity was encouraged. What, outside of art, has most inf luenced your artwork? Outside of picture book illustration, animation and comics, I’d say that my family has been very inf luential in my work. Growing up, I always enjoyed being around a family who had such strong, hilarious and caring personalities on both sides. What was your first paid commission, and does it stand as a representation of your talent? My first paid…

We had a blast at Vertex 2024, our live digital art event held at London’s Business Design Centre, organised alongside our friends from 3D World and Creative Bloq. It was wonderful to absorb the artistic goodness, speaking to a roster of talented speakers, going hands-on with new and exciting products from leading exhibitors like Wacom and Xencelabs, and checking out all the imaginative and hilarious sketch wall designs crafted by attendees. We hope you had a great time too if you spent the day with us! The event ran smoothly with a wide variety of talks held across the three stages, plus live demonstrations from the best in the business and life drawing sessions offering inspiration for visitors to draw from. Did we also mention the countless fabulous freebies handed…

Nathan Fowkes During the course of his stellar career, concept artist and teacher Nathan Fowkes has already witnessed huge changes in terms of how artists work. And while the industry is on the threshold of even bigger innovations, he explains to us how the humble sketchbook is still immensely valuable to students and professionals alike. Tell us a little about your artistic background. How did you get started, and what path has your career taken? My career has been such an interesting ride because I started back in the early 90s before the big animation and video game boom, and before concept art was really a thing. So no one was teaching those things, I just knew I wanted to do what I thought of as imaginative art. Early on,…

Keep the viewer guessing I avoid being too safe or consistent with my concepts, adding odd elements like the plane to create a sense of the unexpected. The girl’s almost telekinetic connection to the giant beetle suggests intriguing stories, making the image more than just a background or concept. off at the distant waterfall, adds authenticity to the story and completes the moment. RESOURCES WORKHORSE PHOTOSHOP CUSTOM BRUSH: WORKHORSE I used my favourite and versatile Workhorse brush for the sketching, blocking in my values, gradients, and textures. GET YOUR RESOURCES See page 5 now! BUILD A VISUAL STORY Place characters A powerful visual trick is to include actors in your scene. Even in background or environment concept art, characters help the audience to empathise, and mirror their emotions and gaze.…

Artist PROFILE Lina Sidorova LOCATION: Montenegro Lina is a concept artist, matte painter and art teacher who has worked on a number of video game titles. https://bit.ly/3JO4dmV Photobashing is a technique used to create images from photographs, before rendering them into a single, cohesive piece. This process enables an artist to quickly assemble an illustration from different elements of photographs without having to draw them from scratch, and can be a useful method when you’re seeking to develop a particular style. To help you get a head start with photobashing, in this tutorial I’ll analyse the creation of a piece of promo art that I made for the game Dragon Nest. The commission set out for me was to make a dynamic promotional design in a realistic style, and using…