Innholdsfortegnelse for Sketchbook i Sketchbook

The sketching stage is integral to any piece of art – it forms the foundations that everything else balances on. Sketches can often provide interesting insights into the processes and thinking behind the finished piece as well as showing off technique and skill. An artist’s sketchbook is sacred and personal – often thought of like a diary – filled with uncensored thoughts, emotions and unique flourishes that are special to them. The freewheeling excitement in sketches – where artists don’t hold back, don’t over-think, don’t censor – is hard to beat. Ahmed Aldoori’s hands, for example, that can be seen in full on page 12 and as a background to this page, show what can be achieved when you set yourself challenges. By drawing 500 hands, Ahmed was able to…

Artist PROFILE Ashline LOCATION: France Taking her inspiration from fantasy worlds, nature and Japanese culture, Ashline is a self taught illustrator who’s worked as a freelancer for almost a decade on projects in the video game, animation and publishing industries. She paints concepts, characters and covers, uses her sketches as a way to develop her skills, and sells her work online as an independent artist. www.instagram.com/ashline_art “Usually, I have no idea what I’m going to draw. Most of them are meditative drawings” “My sketchbook is like a diary. I draw almost every day to express a feeling, an event… anything, really” “Nature helps me to find inspiration when I don’t know what to draw”…

Artist PROFILE Thomas Chamberlain-Keen LOCATION: England Thomas is a concept artist and illustrator, currently working on Fable at Playground Games in England. After neglecting sketchbooks and paper in favour of digital, he started to discover how special traditional sketching was again after starting his first job. Thomas continues to find the traditional route rewarding, because it enables him to tackle design problems. www.artstation.com/tck “Lizards are wonderful things and never stop being enjoyable to draw” “I started to play with the idea of mental stability; a strength outside the body” “I was trying to improve my storytelling, so the full set of 31 drawings are sequential”…

Artist PROFILE Chase Curtis LOCATION: US Freelance visual development artist Chase is based in California, and has always had a passion for sci-fi worlds and the supernatural creatures within them. He’s worked with companies such as Sony, Marvel and Oakley, and is always looking for new opportunities to bring original characters to life. www.pkcaconcepts.com “I combined animal anatomy with the geometric shapes of weaponry” “I was thinking of a character and his pet robotic protector…” “This character’s staff shoots lightning bolts into his enemies…”…

Artist PROFILE Hicham Habchi LOCATION: US Hicham, also known as Pyroow, is a senior/lead concept artist and comic artist working at Riot Games in Los Angeles, California. He immerses himself in the worlds of video games and comics, especially the concept development side of them. His art often references comics, video games, branding, music videos and urban life. Hicham has worked on many high-profile projects including League of Legends, Overwatch, Borderlands 3, Spawn, Naruto and Clash Royale. www.artstation.com/hichamhabchi1 “A tribute to one of my favourite video games from 2000: Jet Set Radio” “There are no shortcuts when it comes to getting what you want”…

Artist PROFILE Kekai Kotaki LOCATION: US Kekai is a Seattle-based concept artist and illustrator. He was born and raised in Hawaii, and is a veteran of the video games industry, most notably contributing to the successful Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 franchises. He can often be found online painting knights and dragons. www.kekaiart.com “I try to rotate through my different tools and techniques in a casual manner” “I decided I wanted to practise doing more environment and landscape drawings” “Sometimes you just get lucky and you’re left puzzled how it happened”…

Artist PROFILE Fred Rambaud LOCATION: Canada Fred is a freelance concept artist, illustrator and art director for the entertainment industry. With 15 years of experience under his belt, he’s worked for many games studios and franchises. When not doing client work, he enjoys spending time with his family, filling in sketchbooks and studying to improve his artistic skills. www.instagram.com/fredrambaudart “I’m not precious with my sketchbooks. The goal here is to explore without restraint” “You can see some colourful characters during the early hours” “I love comics, especially those from the ’80s”…

Artist PROFILE Max Ulichney LOCATION: US Max works as an animation art director and visual development artist, and has a background in CG. He has years of experience working as a caricature artist, and tells us that capturing a candid likeness in a moment at a café or bar remains a favourite past time of his. These days most of his illustration work is done on an iPad in Procreate using his range of custom ‘MaxPacks’ brushes. www.maxulichney.com “I was inspired by ’60s mods and the idea of a stranger with secrets” “This hair brought his human to the bar…” “I tried to keep the anatomy strongly indicated without losing any of the energy”…

Artist PROFILE Ahmed Aldoori LOCATION: US Ahmed graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Entertainment Design. He’s since worked in various industries, ranging from films, theme parks and video games, and has been travelling and creating content for teaching online. He loves sketching and writing out his thoughts to solve inner emotional conflicts. www.artstation.com/medders “I sketched an idea of boat merchants, with an Arabian Nights theme” “I recommend experimenting with proportions and shapes…” “It can be useful to start your character sketches on a ¾ perspective plane”…

Artist PROFILE Mauro Belfiore LOCATION: Italy Italian-born Mauro became passionate about drawing, cinema and video games during his childhood. After high school he began his adventure to become an artist. Today he works as an illustrator and concept artist for a range of clients, including Games Workshop, Activision and 2K Games. www.artstation.com/oruam “I like to smudge my drawings to create more depth and mood…” “I really like using all the range of values when sketching with pencils” “I used contrasting values to drive the viewer’s attention to the face and pincers”…

Artist PROFILE Longque Chen LOCATION: US Longque is a concept artist with a background in product design and illustration. He graduated from California’s ArtCenter College of Design in 2018 and has since been working in the video game and film industries. He likes watching and observing anything that can inspire him to create his own stories, such as animations, sci-fi films, insects, animals and vehicles – even unusual plants! www.artstation.com/chenlongque “I like to combine architectural elements with giant creatures” “The body is made up of wrecked cars, buses and even a submarine” “I really like using real-life creatures such as insects and mammals for reference”…

Artist PROFILE João David Fernandes LOCATION: Germany João works as a concept artist and illustrator, pursuing draftsmanship and visual ideation, in a variety of styles and projects. He has worked freelance for clients such as Axis Studios, Nuare Studio and Volta, and has had in house experience at SIXMOREVODKA and Karakter Design Studio. Since 2017, he has been a member of the artist collective, Superani. www.artstation.com/javidfernandes “I’m a fan of visual distortion, to convey otherwise proud characters as clumsier” “I always enjoy setting a comedic tone between characters, at any time” “Cartoons and animation, in general, were and still are a big influence in my art…”…

Artist PROFILE Benjamin Hayte LOCATION: Canada Benjamin is an artist based in Canada. Born and raised in France, he was always fascinated by graphic art and animation. For the past 11 years he’s worked at leading studios such as Disney, Marvel, Nickelodeon and Netflix, helping to design their TV shows and feature films. In his spare time Benjamin works on a range of personal projects. www.benjaminhayte.com “I heard my inner voice urging me to do more character designs” “In 2018, when I started to sketch on a daily basis, I did 29 designs in 29 days. Then I started to get tired…” “This design has a strong silhouette that’s shaped like a pyramid”…

Artist PROFILE Finnian MacManus LOCATION: US Finnian is a concept designer working in the film and games industry. He’s contributed to titles such as Jungle Cruise, the Avatar sequels, Ad Astra, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Solo. History, culture, architecture, science and nature are all inspirations in his work. www.fmacmanus.com “Doing lunch sketches are a great way to try out new ideas and unwind!” “Sometimes sketching with a rough idea can lead to great shapes and lighting out of nowhere” “I find that doing a traditional piece helps commit a scene to memory”…

Artist PROFILE Andrei Riabovitchev LOCATION: England Russian-born Andrei studied engineering in Moscow, but then found his way into the animation industry, gaining experience in the many different stages involved in making an animated film. In 2008, Andrei moved to the UK and began working in the film and VFX industry. He’s been a part of many interesting projects as a concept artist, including The BFG, Aladdin, Wrath of the Titans, X-Men: First Class, The Wolfman and the Harry Potter films. Andrei is currently working as a freelance artist. www.artstation.com/andrei “There’s nothing wrong with paper and pencil if they’re the only tools you have” “The way the sun came out just after the rain had stopped was magical” “Sometimes I do sketches just to understand the subject further”…

Artist PROFILE Halil Ural LOCATION: Finland Halil was born in Turkey and studied graphic design in Istanbul. He worked as an illustrator and a designer in many different creative fields before entering the game industry. He now lives in Finland and works as a 2D game artist. In his personal work, Halil likes using rough brush strokes and harmonious, bold colours. www.artstation.com/mrdream “I sometimes study shapes by observing how they’re lit…” “I sometimes draw childish, exaggerated facial expressions to loosen up a little bit…”…

Artist PROFILE Mia Araujo LOCATION: US Mia is an award-winning Argentine-American artist, born and raised in Los Angeles. She works traditionally, and is currently writing and illustrating her passion project – an illustrated novel inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Since 2007 Mia’s artwork has been shown in prominent galleries and conventions across the US and around the world. www.art-by-mia.com “The Queen of Hearts’ courtiers have kept their heads, but they’re dead inside” “Setting it in West Africa was a way to play tribute to beautiful people who don’t receive enough representation…” “It was tough to convey a mermaid with just a portrait (no tail!)”…

Artist PROFILE Max Berthelot LOCATION: Japan Max is a French freelance artist living in Japan. He’s addicted to the fantasy genre and creates character designs and concept art for video games and CG movies. He strives to find a new art style that combines Japanese and Western trappings. Max has worked with a range of companies in the JRPG industry, such as Mistwalker, Level-5 and Acquire Corp. www.artstation.com/maxberthelot “I tried to make the turtle believable with plenty of details” “I drew it like a decorative piece to show that there is beauty even in deadly things” “He’s scratching his chin, wondering how much gold there is inside”…

Artist PROFILE Xiao Qing Chen LOCATION: US Xiao Qing is a concept designer who’s creating theme parks at Walt Disney Imagineering. She’s an avid travel sketcher and enjoys observing daily happenings as inspirations for her work. The artist is involved in various projects, including one of the biggest expansion of Tokyo Disney Sea: Fantasy Springs. She believes sketching is a great way to improve your way of ‘seeing’ and to help design better visitor experiences. www.xqchen.com “The Harry Potter series has always been one of my favourite stories…” “Real-life observations are crucial in helping build my visual vocabulary” “Keeping a travel journal everywhere I go helps me”…

Artist PROFILE Nikolay Georgiev LOCATION: England Nikolay is a concept artist and art director working in the games industry, where he’s spent most of his career. He loves anatomy, design and architecture and tends to draw accurately rather than quickly. Although Nikolay’s happy working both digitally and traditionally, there’s something about traditional drawing on paper that always brings the artist back to his trusty sketchbook. www.artstation.com/fuelstains “I find Eastern European culture entertaining, especially gopniks and their fashion” “I like having strong contrasts somewhere in a design or drawing” “I sometimes explore ideas that test how much is too much…”…

Artist PROFILE Daniel Warren Johnson LOCATION: US Daniel is a Chicago-based comic book writer and artist. His creator-owned title, EXTREMITY, was met with popular and critical acclaim, netting him an Eisner Award nomination for Best Limited Series. He first came to the public’s attention with his own web-based comic, SPACE-MULLET. This led to work with publishers including Marvel, DC, BOOM! and Image Comics. www.danielwarrenart.com “I pause films so I can sketch the compositions as I watch the movie” “I try to get a sense of the tone and feel of all the locations that my characters will visit” “I love perspective grids but they’re a chore if you don’t put the time in”…

Artist PROFILE MOON LOCATION: France Moon started his graphic career by doing graffiti. He graduated in graphic arts and now works as an art director, graphic design teacher and illustrator. Outside of work he enjoys drawing in the woods, developing his own art and continuing to develop his personal universe by working on a new book. www.instagram.com/moon_mxtr “A limited palette can lead to so many possibilities”…

Artist PROFILE Cory Trego-Erdner LOCATION: US Cory is a freelance illustrator and concept artist. He’s been drawing creatures since he was six, and grew up looking at art books for the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings films. Cory’s been working in the industry for just over ten years, for such clients as Volta, Wizards of the Coast, and Red Fly Studio. He’s a huge D&D nerd and so most of his personal art features characters and creatures from his own TTRPG campaigns. www.artstation.com/corytregoerdner “It was a lot of fun coming up with different sea motifs to use in their designs” “Finding a new brush or tool can bring a lot of freshness and energy to my work…”…

Artist PROFILE GaryVillarreal LOCATION: US Gary graduated from Texas A&M University from the Department of Visualization. He’s since worked in various industries ranging from videos games, AR and VR experiences, and films. Gary is known for his traditional render style and has grown a love for storytelling, which further immerses viewers into his character’s worlds. www.artstation.com/villarrte “Aztec culture is intriguing, and I’ve always enjoyed drawing indigenous characters” “I’ve always been fascinated with cybernetic characters…”…