Disney Character Designer answers your questions about Concept Art, Character Design for Animation, Digital Painting & Illustration.
Legendary Disney artist Armand Serrano told me: "They hire you for your art, but they keep you because of your ideas."
There are a million concept art portfolios out there...
...and very few compelling concepts.
A professional concept artist designs the future. They don't simply copy current trends.
They envision environments, props, characters, costumes, color palettes and compositions that audiences have never seen before.
A professional concept artist is collaborative and infinitely curious.
A professional concept artist has an inexhaustible visual library.
A professional concept artist is a master of the fundamentals and knows numerous efficient, focused techniques.
Here's a collection of my best interviews and articles to help you stay focused on what really matters to concept artists who are serious about breaking-in, staying-in or getting a better gig...
This is the transcript for the podcast episode An Indie Sci-Fi Short Film With A Big-Budget Look: The Making Of ‘Project Arbiter’ :: ArtCast #78 To listen to the podcast click here.
Chris: This is Chris Oatley’s artcast, episode 78 – The Making of Project Arbiter, an independent sci-fi short film with a big budget look, an interview with director Michael Chance and composer Ryan Leach.
Craig Mullins, Iain McCaig and Neville Page got it all wrong…
If you want to be a successful concept artist, don’t follow their example.
It’s far too risky.
If they knew anything about concept art, they would stop producing such ground-breaking/ mind-blowing/ industry-defining work and just stick to slight variations of the familiar…
Of course, I’m being facetious.
In part one of this series, I challenged aspiring concept artists to consider the “concept” part of “concept art.”
As expected, some of them got defensive (some got mean) and insisted that the only way to succeed is to play it safe and propagate clichés.
These argumentative artists are half-right.
Some clients will pay for clichés.
But clichés are a race to the bottom.
…the boring, low-paying, highly-competitive bottom.
(Please understand that you can create relevant work without being cliché. The three artists I mentioned in my intro are ideal examples.)
But the truth is, your wild ideas float far above the big-fat-bottom.
You’re aiming higher and dreaming bigger.
Last week we talked about the “concept” part…
This week we’ll talk about the “art” part.
If you’re eager to take your surprising, new ideas and begin visualizing them with surprising, new designs, read on…
[Read more…] about Why Your Concept Art Portfolio Is Being Ignored (Part 2)
If I see one more green-tinted, over-textured digital painting of a wrecked spaceship I’m going to…
…do absolutely nothing.
I won’t tell any of my friends about it.
I won’t share it online.
…and I certainly won’t buy a book full of similar images.
Not because I’ll hate it.
…because it won’t make me feel anything at all.
Today I begin a series filled with some of the toughest love I’ve ever posted here at ChrisOatley.com.
Each part reveals one of the three most common problems I’ve found in concept art portfolios from all over the world.
If you’re worried that your work is being ignored by potential employers and fans, brace yourself and read on…
[Read more…] about Why Your Concept Art Portfolio Is Being Ignored (Part 1)
This is part two in a series about my top 10 favorite concept art books (in no particular order).
In part one, I explained that, to make the top 10, these books had to meet two criteria. I won’t repeat myself here except to say that they all possess both inspirational and educational qualities.
I know that this series is getting more expensive with every click, but nonetheless, I encourage you to read on…
[Read more…] about Top 10 Essential Concept Art Books: Part 2
My favorite concept art books have two things in common:
1.) The work inside is so inspiring that every time I open one of them, I’m overtaken by a wave of pure, tingling fandom.
2.) They each contain a unique revelation of the actual filmmaking (or game-making) process.
By popular demand (and in no particular order) I’ve assembled a list of my Top 10 Essential Concept Art Books.
In this post I share my first five must-own tomes and tomorrow, I’ll share the rest. (I didn’t actually rank them because that would be impossible.)
…and I reserved the comments section for everyone to share their own recommendations.
So if you’re looking for an excuse to buy a new bookshelf, read on…
[Read more…] about Top 10 Essential Concept Art Books: Part 1