Table of contents for March 2023 in ImagineFX

You might have heard of Dibujante Nocturno. The sensational Spanish artist – real name Francisco Garcés – currently boasts over 400,000 followers on Instagram thanks to the outstanding quality of his elegantly dark artwork. Having recently celebrated the launch of his artbook with 3dtotal Publishing and a new course on Domestika, his career continues to hit new heights. But how did he go from studying electronics to becoming a world-renowned artist? Tell us a little about your career as an artist. How did you start and how has it been so far? I drew when I was a child, I loved it. But I stopped in my adolescence because I had no interest in art. It was when I was 18 years old that it occurred to me to trace…

Artist PROFILE Jim Rowden LOCATION: US Jim lives near Seattle, drawing spaceships and robots in his sketchbooks and on the iPad. While everyone has a method for creating their art, his always starts with lots of doodling. The final versions of these pieces can be found on his Instagram feed. www.instagram.com/jimrow "Not every doodle is a winner. Eventually I do find something that gives me a little spark"…

Artist PROFILE Tony DiTerlizzi LOCATION: US International bestseller Tony DiTerlizzi has been crafting books for 20 years. From picture books like The Spider and the Fly, to chapter books like The Search for WondLa, Tony imbues each story with imagination. He created The Spiderwick Chronicles with Holly Black, which has sold millions and been adapted into a feature film and an upcoming television series. www.diterlizzi.com "Drawing daily helped quell my anxiety during this unsettling time" "I’ve often felt more akin to the monsters in fairy tales than I did the heroes" "I’ve been a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien since I first read The Hobbit in middle school"…

Artist PROFILE Joshua Black LOCATION: US Joshua grew up with a love of drawing, sculpting and creating alongside his twin brother, who now also works in the concept art industry. Joshua began his own journey in concept art when switching from ceramics to an animation major at Brigham Young University. After spending 10 years at Avalanche Software, he moved on to Player First Games, where he currently works as a senior concept artist. www.artstation.com/blackhunter "Getting a front-facing portrait to feel interesting and dynamic isn’t easy"…

Artist PROFILE Nicolas Weis LOCATION: France Nicolas Weis is a French concept and visual development artist who has been working in the animation and video game industries for over 15 years. He enjoys alternating between traditional and digital media to create intricate and imaginative worlds. He is also an event speaker and online instructor. https://nicolasweis.com "Still in the vicinity of my comfort zone, but just a little bit challenging and fun at the same time"…

Editorial Editor Rob Redman rob.redman@futurenet.com Art Editor Daniel Vincent Production Editor Henry Burridge Contributors Daniel Nikoi Djanie, Diego Munhoz, Jon Lankry, Airi Pan, Aaron Blaise, Ognjen Sporin, Dominic Carter, Antonio Stappaerts, Kevin Shah, Armel Munyaneza, John Howe, Rodrigo Luff, Felipe Magaña, Jim Rowden, Cameron Scott Davis, Cassey Kuo, Tony DiTerlizzi, David Noren, Charles Ratteray, Joshua Black, Andy Estrada, Kobe Sek, Nicolas Weis, Sparth, Brett Bean, Pernille Ørum, Dibujante Nocturno, Sergi Brosa, Sara Tepes, Ampreh Advertising Media packs are available on request Chief Revenue Officer Zack Sullivan UK Commercial Sales Director Clare Dove Advertising Sales Manager Mike Pyatt michael.pyatt@futurenet.com, 01225 687538 Account Sales Director George Lucas george.lucas@futurenet.com, 01225 687331 International Licensing ImagineFX is available for licensing and syndication. To find out more contact us at licensing@futurenet.com or view our available content…

Artist PROFILE Antonio Stappaerts LOCATION: Belgium Antonio is the creative director at Sqetch Studio, a small studio devoted to visual development for entertainment projects with clients including Sony, Ubisoft and Procreate. He is the founder of Artwod, a program for aspiring artists to learn to design from imagination. A passionate athlete, he applies CrossFit philosophies to his art training. www.artwod.com "The beautiful thing about drawing is the ability to create order out of chaos"…

Artist PROFILE David Noren LOCATION: Sweden David Noren is a visual development concept artist working in the video game industry and a collector of antiques based in Piteå, Sweden. He loves drawing detailed, culturally influenced images both in traditional and digital form. Whenever travelling or going out, David always brings along his sketchbook to collect new ideas from his environment. Many of the sketches he creates are inspired by what he sees on his travels and the culture in the countries that he visits. www.artstation.com/davidnoren "I love the eerie vibes and will base more of my future work on these ideas"…

A nimationhas been a lifelong passion for Danish character designer Pernille Ørum, and as an adult she’s turned that love into work, having collaborated with some of the biggest animation studios in the industry. We caught up with her to learn how she pushed boundaries with her work on DC Super Hero Girls, what she learned while putting together her book, and what it was like to work on Kevin Smith’s Hit-Girl comic book arc. How did you get started, and what has your career been like so far? I always knew I wanted to work in animation and went to school in Denmark at The Animation Workshop to study character animation. After school I discovered that I was more into the design aspect. I started focusing more on that…

Artist PROFILE Sparth LOCATION: US Sparth has been a concept artist and art director in the video game industry since 1996. He spent more than 13 years working on the Halo franchise at Microsoft, and served as the art director of Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite. He is also the author of the Structura art book series, as well as the cover artist for more than 150 novels and books published in the US and worldwide. He currently works in Seattle at Team Kaiju, a new studio under the TiMi Studio Group and Tencent. http://www.sparth.com "It’s always a pleasure to picture heavy machinery defying gravity" "I often try to give a purpose, as well as a good interconnected f low, to each spaceship part"…

Artist PROFILE Kevin Shah LOCATION: US Kevin works as a freelance artist in the Chicago area focusing on illustrations, character design and comics. His inspiration comes from Japanese and Western pop culture including anime, manga, comics, animation and video games, and he loves creating blends of styles from both worlds. Procreate is a major tool in his arsenal, but his comfort zone will always be drawing with a ballpoint in his sketchbook, where freedom of expression is limitless. www.instagram.com/colorreaper…

Artist PROFILE Felipe Magaña LOCATION: The Netherlands Felipe is a self-taught digital artist who is inspired by all of the fun media that he grew up with. He works in the animation and video game industries and is keenly interested in stylisation and personality, areas he has been fortunate enough to apply when working on a range of client projects. www.humanmgn.com "I’m usually drawing whatever it is I’m reading or watching"…

Artist PROFILE Charles Ratteray LOCATION: US Charles is an LA-based storyboard artist, concept designer and illustrator who has worked in the entertainment industry for the past 25 years. After starting out at the Academy Award-winning Stan Winston Studio, he went freelance and has worked with influential companies including Marvel, Netflix, Riot Games and Disney, and played a part in TV shows such as CSI, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Battlestar Galactica. www.artstation.com/charlesratteray "Sketching with traditional mediums is a gift I give back to myself as an artist"…

Artist PROFILE Sara Tepes LOCATION: US Sara is a freelance illustrator and art educator. She works with both traditional and digital media, focusing on magical portraiture that’s calm, inviting, and full of colour and texture. She is currently making over the studio space in her new Victorian home, where she lives with her fiancé and their three cats. Sara love plants, true-crime documentaries, and cooking with too much garlic. www.sarucatepes.com "I don’t draw men very often, but I enjoy figuring out the forms when I’m in the mood"…