fit into the style of this film sequel.’ The
picture Christian comes up with is “just
the math formula we use to show our
solution to the problem.”BREAKING INTO THE INDUSTRY
Art school is more expensive and less
important than it’s ever been. Ben
Mauro says some of
today’s best concept
artists – particularly the
new generation – taught
themselves using free orcheap online resources. Ben is senior
concept designer at Seattle game
developer 343 Industries. His credits
include Halo and Call of Duty, and he
also worked on the new Metal Gear
Solid film. Ben would go down the self-
taught route, were he to start out
today. He likes tutorial sites Gumroad,
Schoolism and Learn Squared, but also
recommends smaller specialists
schools – like Feng’s FZD School of
Design in Singapore, or Concept
Design Academy, The Workshop
Academy, and Brainstorm School in
the US. The crucial thing is that you
learn from working professionals.
Two of the most important basic
skills, Christian says, are perspective
and directional lighting. You should
study frames from your favourite films
to see how these things are used to tell
the story. Master those and you can
move on to the exciting bit: finding
your own style.
To do this, Ben suggests you study
widely – automotive design,
architecture, fashion, film history, art
history, biology... In short: don’t make
“derivative works of other people’s
interpretations of these things; it’sChristian Alzmann says it’s not
uncommon to work on a design for
months, only for it to be
cut from the final film.
Christian is concept design
supervisor at Lucasfilm. He
worked on Rogue One: A
Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The
Force Awakens. His job isn’t making
art; it’s solving problems. His boss
might say: ‘I need some concepts – this
afternoon – for a vehicle that flies, but
can’t have wings or rotors, and has toAction shot of a
“crab-tonomous
military vehicle” – a
personal piece by Ben.Grenade and Spider’s
laptop concepts from
Ben’s work on the Matt
Damon movie Elysium.It’s better to go to
the source material
and interpret it
for yourself
ImagineNation News
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