How to succeed
as a concept artist
Bright ideas Top concept artists tell Gary Evans how to get educated,
get employed, and get better in art’s most misunderstood field
ON YOUR
MARKS...
We hope you’re ready
for Inktober – it’s just
around the corner!
Founder Jake Parker
reveals his tips for
getting the most out of
the inking event.
Page 26CENTRE OF
OPERATIONS
Daren Bader shares his
Florida studio set up,
which shows how he’s
surrounded by the tools
of his trade. He also
reveals the funny secret
he’s kept from his wife...
Page 28YOU WRITE ,
WE REPLY!
This month’s letters
reveal a lot of love for
Kim Jung Gi, and our
choice of featured
artists, and the question
of age-appropriate
imagery in ImagineFX.
Page 33Are you sure you want to be a
concept artist? After all, concept
artists don’t get to draw whatever
they want. They don’t even get to
draw famous characters very often –
if ever. Plus, most of their drawings
will never see the light of day.
Disappointed? Hold up, there’s
more. Concept artists don’t spend all
their time playing video games. They
Ben Mauro says, “ I was
inspired by manga
artist Masamune Shirow
and the cyberpunk
novel Altered Carbon
by Richard K Morgan.”don’t generally hang out on film sets
or hang around with big-name actors.
They don’t live especially glamorous
lives. They’re not really famous.
They’re not really rich. Concept art is
repetitive. Concept art is labour-
intensive. Concept art is hard to get
good at and harder to get a job in. In
fact, you could even argue concept art
isn’t really art.“Concept art is very different from
just drawing,” Feng Zhu says. He has
over a decade’s experience working on
Transformers, Call of Duty,
and Star Wars. “In reality,
about 90 per cent of our
work is grounded and
pretty dry. Even when you
are on a high-profile project, the ‘fun’
stuff generally lasts about a month or
so. The other two or three months are
generally filled with more mundane
stuff: how landing gear folds out,
arranging button layouts in a cockpit,
say.” Feng reckons that only one out
every 10 images makes it to the next
round of production.Feng Zhu studied architecture before
becoming a concept artist, which makes his
buildings look extra-realistic.“This industry looks
fun and easy from the
outside,” Feng says,
“but it’s very difficult
once you try it.”