simon green

https://www.artstation.com/simongreen

Creature artist, Industrial Light & Magic

I saw on your artstation that you currently work at Industrial Light & Magic, is that correct? If so how did you get this job, and do you have any tips for beginning artists who are looking for work / a job within the industry?

It's great that you are 21.You have a lot more potential than I did at that age trust me haha. Yeah you’ll get a job eventually just keep smashing at it,

Don’t be disheartened if you do t find one immediately though, it’s quite difficult straight from graduation, although is possible if you get lucky!

I worked for 2 years doing 3d visualization of buildings after uni as it was the only 3d job around at the time, then finally got a job at an indie game studio for 3 years, then MPC I entered vfx and was there 3 years, and now ILM. But yeah it doesn’t always fall straight into your lap but don’t worry about that :) just use your time to keep pushing skills and eventually it just happens.

Yes I currently work at ILM, I think I had sent an application once years ago so maybe they had me on record for that, but I left MPC as I wanted to take a break and travel, and ILM contacted me soon after that MPC I just applied for as I had seen an artist get a job there and checked their site,

Most studios post jobs on their websites and can apply via those. But they do get thousands of applicants and recruiters are not always very responsive unfortunately, but really the key is to just develop your skill and create a killer portfolio, that’s the main thing that matters

My next question is about creature design, when someone asks you to design a creature, do you have a certain process that you follow and what do you think is important to create a unique and believable creature design?

Creature design wise well I don’t follow any certain process, but good creature design in my opinion takes inspiration from nature, not other artists work which I see happening commonly. Nature is the best designer and there is endless inspiration there. Also an understanding of evolution and adaptation is paramount, what environment the creature is in and how it’s features help it survive and reproduce. Too many people just throw on elements for no reason and we instinctively feel that they don’t work when we see them. and when taking inspiration from nature it’s good to blend in a way that the original source of the inspiration can’t be recognized, it should look like a functioning living creature not a mish mash of animals

But looking at your work you are clearly already doing this, and your work is much better than the vast majority of student work I see already, so I think you are on the right track and know a lot of this yourself already

Clean form in sculpting is also very important to create good sculpture, and Gio nakpil is a master at this I would recommend watching any videos involving him on YouTube and taking in anything he says, his teachings were a turning point for me years back

I am working on a big land creature on a planet with less gravity and I was wondering if you could give your thoughts on it? (This can be very brief. What you like / don’t like etc)

I’ll try take a deeper look at your creature for feedback when I get the time, but it’s actually pretty great already haha it’s easier to give feedback on worse art, but I’ll take a look for sure.

For the feedback on my designs he recorded a video which can be found here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VV1y_jiiKEGaeIt9VueHAEHgXdYT6mNs/view?usp=sharing

Zachary berger

https://www.artstation.com/zacharyberger

Creature designer, currently working on "Avatar" sequels

Worked for Netflix, Disney, Marvel etc.

I saw you did work for a lot of amazing projects / films etc.

How did you get these jobs, and do you have any tips for beginning artists who are looking for work / a job within the industry?

I don't know if there is a magic "silver bullet" for getting jobs within the industry. I can say there are things that probably increase your chances. For me, trying to work in the film industry, I think being / living in Los Angeles gives me an advantage over someone who doesn't, just because a lot of Hollywood film projects still start here, a lot of directors and producers and production designers are still based here.

I see you are based in the Netherlands on your profile, in which case I would say the closest film "hub" to you is probably London (the big ones currently are big cities in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the US), so being there might give you an advantage if you wanted to work in film.

Not to say that you can't get jobs remote / online, its just you are then competing with a much larger talent pool of people (all of artstation), so you just have to be that must more talented / visible online to start attracting clients. It's certainly do-able, and I know many people who get consistent work and don't live in London or LA, so I don't mean to sound discouraging! :)

Now, if your target industry was games as opposed to film, the field is much broader -- there are great game studios all over the world, and they routinely hire freelancers / remote artists if they like their work. I would definitely begin by looking to see if you have any game studios near where you are, and seeing if you can get in touch with any artists or art directors there to see what they are looking for in a potential portfolio.

I got my start in games! It was actually great for me to work in house and learn the dynamics of working with a big team, and it gave me the opportunity to build an entirely new portfolio after art school that I used to get my first film job.

One thing that has been really beneficial to me, is to have a targeted portfolio. So my work is very "live action" looking, so all of the clients I was going after in games and film fit that look. There is no way I could get hired at a place like Riot or Blizzard, because my portfolio just doesn't fit what they do.

That being said, one thing that has been really helpful for me to get my foot in the door is to have a specialty: creatures, but have enough range where I can do a little bit of everything moderately well. So, while I am not the best artist in the world at it, if a production designer or art director needs me to work on an illustration of a set or a prop, I can do it well enough. I have been on projects where they hire "specialty" creature designers, and they come in, work for a few weeks/months, design all the creatures, and then get let go of the project, whereas I come in, help out with the creatures, once the creatures are designed, I can be moved on to sets or keyframes or vehicles or costumes, or whatever, so I am employed for a year. At least when starting out, it has been really helpful for me to get my foot in the door. Now that I am starting to get more established, I can turn down work I don't want to do, and pick and choose my projects that are more creature "focused".

Honestly, having really great work in your portfolio is of course the real "key" to getting work, but almost as important as that is relationships with people. Almost all of my jobs have come from word of mouth with people I have worked with before. So the first few jobs were the hardest to get, and after that, I kept getting referred to new ones, and I'm at the point now where I commonly refer my friends. Whenever I am on a job and we need to hire a new person, it almost always goes something like the AD or PD coming in and asking if anyone knows anyone who is talented and easy to work with who has a specific kind of portfolio, and all the artists go "oh I think this guy really cool, oh it looks like he's not available, hmm, maybe you should call this guy" and someone else says "oh, I heard he's kind of an asshole, I don't think he'd be great to work with" until we find someone.

Only after we exhaust everyone off of the list of people that we know / have worked with before, do we go to someone that nobody knows. So, I guess the point I'm making is, you being in school, your classmates will likely be that group for you, at least starting out. As soon as one person gets hired, they will likely recommend someone else they know when there is a job opening, or you will do that for them, etc.

My next question is about creature design, when someone asks you to design a creature, do you have a certain process that you follow and what do you think is important to create a unique and believable creature design?

I don't know if there is a method that I follow every time, because so much of it depends on the client I'm working with, schedule, etc. Some clients really respond to pencil sketches at first, but some have to see really "finished" looking 3D images before they even know what they are looking at. I can say a lot of how I've been working recently is starting out with a variety of options with looser 2D sketches, once we pick a general direction, we then move into a rough zbrush sculpt, where there is a lot of back and forth with the director / production designer, we may change the design a lot in this stage, we consult animation to see if things need to be considered with how it has to move (i.e. move that leg a bit to help with how it will walk) then I take it to a more finished looking design in zbrush and provide some more finished renders or illustrations, often showing the creature in action to show off how it might behave.

But, like I said, I've been on projects where we stay in the 2D "pencil" stage for a long time, or other projects where we just jump to the "final" stage and start the design there. A lot can fluctuate with the particular director's taste, or if we have a lot of time to figure out the design or we just have to get something out really fast, etc.

I am working on a big flying apex predator creature. On a world with lower gravity. I was wondering if you could maybe give your thoughts on this one: (it can be very brief, something you would change / add, what you like or don’t like etc)

Where my head is at right now on what I think is important in good creature design is this: I think your designs should have internal rationalization for why they are designed a certain way. For example, if the design is supposed to be a really fast creature, but you have all of these giant frills hanging off of it, those might create a lot of "drag" or wind resistance. Usually really fast animals are very "aerodynamic" -- kind of bullet or fighter jet shaped, with very few things extruding off of them. I guess what I'm saying is every decision in your design should have a purpose: nothing is arbitrary. So if it's fast, it should look it. If it's poisonous, it should look it, etc. Why did you put that particular thing there? It should be obvious to the viewer.

Not to say that those decisions have to obey "Earth" rules, it can follow its own story logic -- so if your design lives in a world with very low gravity, how would that affect its anatomy? What are the physical characteristics that would allow a creature survive in that environment?

Perhaps if your creature lives in lower gravity, and it flies its "wings" would behave more like an aquatic animal on Earth? Or maybe more like an insect? I'm not sure, I'd have to do some research on the affects of low gravity. My guess is its bone density would be much lower then Earth -- so what are the physical attributes of that?

Anyway, I've ranted enough for now. I hope that all helps! Best of luck on your project!

Suzanne Helmigh

https://www.artstation.com/suzannehelmigh

Art director at Ghostfire Gaming

Ik heb een aantal vragen, ten eerste, aangezien ik binnenkort afstudeer zou ik graag willen weten hoe jij aan je eerste baan in de game industrie / werkveld bent gekomen?

Mijn eerste game studio bana kreeg ik in 2010, bij een bedrijf wat immers niet meer bestaat. Het was een mobile dev in London UK. zij hadden via de Deviantart Job forum een post geplaatst waraop ik gereageerd had. Heb anderhalf jaar voor ze werk gedaan. haha dat waren andere tijden. Dit was nog voor dingen zoals Artstation en er was ook niet echt een art communitie. Tegenwoordig ligt de instap lat veel hoger, omdat er inmiddels veel meer skilled concept artists en illustratoren zijn.

En heb je daarin tips? (Bijvoorbeeld waar kijk je naar in een portfolio? Of wat is belangrijk om te weten voordat je gaat solliciteren?)

Cater je portfolio af op waar je wilt werken. Elke game studio is anders en vereist een andere skillset van hun artists. Het is dus belangrijk om je onderzoek te doen naar die werk plekken. Wees daarin ook realistisch, als je je inzet voor 1 studio op de wereld, is de kans klein dat het gaat lukken. Ze moeten immers wel een positie open hebben en dan moet je ook nog eens de beste Kandidaat zijn.

Hoe ziet een normale werkdag er voor jou uit? En wat zijn jouw belangrijkste taken als art director?

Ik ben inmiddels Lead Artdirector. dit betekend dat ik niet alleen zelf projecten art Directs.. maar ook leidinggevende ben van ene team andere Art directors. Ik manage dus hun projecten vanauit allerlei hoeken, en een project die ik zelf run.

Voor dat moet ik cinematics organiseren (script scrhijven, layered illustraties tekenen en commissionen, animatoren regelen, soundtrack, voice actors, noem het maar op). Wij werken met Kickstarters als promotie element, dus die pagina's moeten ook bij elkaar gemakat worden met een info video en info graphics.

daarnaast heb je natuurlijk het product zelf, wat in mij geval TTRPG boeken zijn. In samen werking met game deisgners plannen we van te vooren wat d einhoudt gaat worden en zit ik aan tafel met een graphic deisgner die de pagina's samen steld. Terwijld e game deisgners de inhoud schrijven en aanpassen, heb ik genoeg info om artwork the commissionen en elke ook zelf te illustreren. Ik recruit artists en maak hun opdrachten. regel contracten, en ook feedback op het werk wat zij insturen. Elke dag is net even ietsje anders, afhankelijk waar ik ben met een project en waar andere afdelingen (en mij artists en artdirectors) mij voor nodg hebben.

En als laatste, waarom ben je bij Ghostfire Gaming gaan werken, wat vind je het leukste aan deze baan?

Meeste studio's (helemaal in TTRPG) doen artdirectors zelf geen concept art of illustraties meer. Maar bij mijn studio mag ik dat gelukkig nog wel! Dit vind ik dan ook een pluspunt aan mijn baa bij Ghostfire Gaming.

Ghostfire Gaming was in 2018 opgezet door 2 mannen en ik was hun eerste collega. In middels zijn wij een bedrijf van 12 mensen in loondienst en extra freelancers onder contract. als Lead art director ben ik de baas over alles wat met art te maken heeft en heb daarin veel zeggenschap. Dat is natuurlijk ook niet slecht! Het is tevens een super tof gevoel om andere artists te directen en de juiste opdrachten aan de juiste mensen te koppelen en daar dan de resultaten van te zien.

Vincent coviello

https://www.artstation.com/vcoviello

Creature and concept artist, Boston, US

Are you working at a company or are you doing freelance work? How did you get your first job within the industry?

I currently work as a freelance artist. My first job is the product of hard work, having a presence online and a bit of luck. An art director happened to stumble upon my profile on Deviantart.

Do you maybe have some tips for beginning artists who are starting to look for jobs within the industry?

In regards to tips. The most important is to have a portfolio that showcases your talent as an artist. Be sure to customize your portfolio when presenting them to respective clients. if you are applying for a character artist be sure to have plenty of orthographics, concept art sheets, costume designs etc. It’s important to tailor your portfolio accordingly. Secondly, be sure to have an online presence. Many art directors actively hunt for talent on various platforms so be sure to have an active Instagram, website or other platforms for your art to be seen.

And of course a question about creature design! When someone asks you to design a creature, what do you think is (most) important to create a unique and believable design?

When trying to create a unique and believable creature what is most important in my opinion is reference and balance. A creature can have 6 wings, but how does it work? That’s your job as a creature designer to make the fantastic, believable. Balancing real world anatomy with fantastical depictions.

I am also making a flying creature, and since you do a lot of amazing flying creature designs I was wondering if you could maybe give your thoughts on this one.

Love your designs so far. right off the bat #2 is my favorite body design. It’s balanced and has a strong readable silhouette. Think about what this creature might eat, does it have predators. questions like that can inform your design.

Rowena Frenzel

https://www.artstation.com/rowenafrenzel

3D creature freelance artist, Germany

Did work for Ark, Dragonpunk etc.

Alright so my first question is: how do you find work as a freelance artist? And how did you get your first job within the industry?

So my jobs as a freelancer come all from actually my online presence. I don't apply at all to any of those jobs I get because clients and companies come to me and offer me jobs.

The thing is, when you apply normally (what is also an option) to specific job roles or companies, then you need to compete with 1000+ other applications. And we all know how busy people are so your application get a few seconds to impress them.

While having an online presence, is all about you. Your art, your person, your skills, your posts, your designs and layouts etc. Many companies prefer searching their candidates through social media or people they know.

Do you maybe have some tips for beginning artists who are starting to look for a job / work within the industry?

So I highly recommend, when you wanna work as a freelancer, get your art and person out there and fill social media account with your content. (I get offers from Instagram, Twitter, Artstation, a lot from LinkedIn)

And my first freelance job I got from another artist friend of mine who recommended me to his client.

So caring for connections is key too.

When working for a client do you have a certain process you follow? If so what do you think is most important within this process? (Like a thing you will always do or can't forget)

Mhh certain process. Depends on the job. Normally I try to ask for a lot information about the project like is there a concept art or should I do the concept, any deadline, payments, any more info about the project etc. And then normally I start with blockouts (for boardgames I also pose the blockouts so they can decide what they want), and then just going through the whole creature design workflow. Feedback round every day or every 2nd day (I think this is very important so the client knows u are working on it and that u care about their opinion. Also helps a lot to not get too much done in the wrong direction.

As you mostly do 3D work, when sculpting a creature what do you think is most important in order to create a unique and believable model?

Most important key points for me in creature design (or any design u are doing) is to tell a story and bring personality into the model. Stories can help to form the shapes (for example, why does the creature has horns on the head. For protection? For surviving? For impressing females? For getting food?.. or why does the creature has this colors, why does it act how it acts). All of that comes down to a good backstory. Anatomy is key as well. But like I said, most is storytelling for me.

Florent Desailly

https://www.artstation.com/lakoh

Freelance Creature Artist, Paris, France

Are you currently working at a company or are you doing freelance work?

I'm currently working as a freelancer. I used to work at dontnod entertainment. I'm also doing miniature for my own company with a friend. For the freelance most of the time its people contacting me directly.

Do you think your following helps with getting you jobs?

Of course. People contact me mostly through mail. I think they get it via artstation mostly.

So when someone asks you to design a creature, what do you think is important in order to create a unique and believable design?

For me it's important to be sure that you understand exactly what the client wants. For believability you need to use Real world reference, but honestly a lot of clients don't really want believability. I think it's important to make sure your design works in a different position. Make sure the creature can do what it's supposed to do.

Feedback on my designs:

If the main threat for them comes from the sky, be careful that they can see the sky. Their eyes sticking out to the side is an option but don't focus on that too much. Marmots watch the sky all the time and their eyes are pretty basic, it's just with the hammerhead style head it's easy to have a big blind spot. But for me they look cool. It's a good starting point, just don't get too fixated on an idea yet, explore a bit more. Sometimes it's hard to not get stuck on your first idea. I like your work! Just a quick thing don't try to go overly weird and complex sometimes simple stuff are way more effective.

Gabe McAlpine

https://www.artstation.com/gabemcalpine

Freelance Concept Artist focused on creature design, Brighton, United Kingdom

How do you get your creatures to really stand out in their own unique way, while still having the design be believable?

That's a really broad question. I'll answer it in parts, firstly on believability. In my opinion it all comes down to having realistic anatomy. A lot of these creatures feel somewhat lacking in terms of muscle and bone structure, especially in the area of the legs. I know this is a lower gravity world, and I'm not saying that you can't come up with a new and interesting leg structure to reflect the way this creature lives, but you do have to have a clear structure in mind.

And with a clear structure you mean bone and muscle structure?

In this case yes, as well as any shell or carapace that might cover the skin. This also applies to anything you might design though, creatures or otherwise. I always try to keep the movement in mind. The top right sketch on the second image for example, I can't work out how that double leg arrangement is supposed to work. Doesn't mean it's not possible, but you at least have to understand how it works. Just make sure you understand the structure. Right now it's not clear to me where the bones of the leg are, and where the muscles attach.

To a certain extent this depends on what your goal is. What do you want to do as a career?

In the case of a freelance creature designer, it is absolutely crucial to know the anatomy of your creatures. I mentioned in my talk that a large part of my work has been fixing other people's designs to make the anatomy make sense. Think of it from an animator's point of view. If you get saddled with a design that just doesn't make sense in terms of structure, it will be almost possible to animate well.

Now I don't know what experience your teachers have, so take this with a pinch of salt, but personally I would not follow advice given to you by people outside the industry. I've heard a lot of awful advice (second hand, as I never went to uni) from teachers who never worked as concept artists. In that case I would just ignore them to be honest. No one in the industry cares about qualifications, only the quality of your work, so who cares what the university thinks. Obviously opinions will differ, and I'm certainly not the ultimate authority on creature design, but make sure whoever you ask is actually working professionally.

How did you get your first job within the industry?

In my experience it tends to be a lot about who you know, not just your skill. A lot of the people I know in the industry I've never met in person and only know online, so if you want to start building connections it might not be as difficult as you think. All my jobs have been online.

Do you have any tips on building connections?

Well I've had a fair amount of success with just messaging people and chatting with them. That works a lot better with people at about the same level professionally as you are, then you don't come off as begging for work. For example I chat with Alex ostrowski, and I'd consider him a friend, but we've never met or talked face to face. Don't discount people who aren't in the industry yet, those will be your peers, and they might well be able to help you out if they make it in before you do. The other way is at conferences and events like that, but right now that's not really possible. When the pandemic is over, go to as many events as you can and make as many friends as possible. Most students just seem to watch the talks at conferences, don't do that! The most important part of a conference is when everyone goes to the bar afterwards. Go abroad too if you have the means! Lightbox in LA was fun, although expensive to get to and pretty crowded (lots of people to meet though), and industry workshops and Vertex here in England. Plus the one in Paris I forget the name of

After lockdown ends and they start running these events I think I'll be going to a lot of them. Maybe I'll see you there.