Concept Artist – Employment Part 2/3

I would probably start a career in concept art here – with this small studio called Imaginary Friends.

This Singaporean studio does illustrations for comics, trading cards, board games and video games. They also take on the occasional illustrations jobs from the local advertising firms in Lion City.

They have gotten some work done for big names like DC Comics (owns Superman, Batman); Upper Deck Entertainment, a company printing and distributing popular card games such as the English version of Yu-Gi-Oh and World of Warcraft trading cards ; and Viz Media which handles the English translation and international distribution of Japanese Manga.

Also, they produce really good art books (portfolios, obviously) from time to time. Check out their Pepper Project and Imagine books! (Click on the images to head to their site)

(Image - Pepper Project, click image to head to the site)

(Image - Imaginary Friends - Imagine Artbook, the annually released collection of works from this group, click image to head to the site)

They seem to have a tight bunch of creatives there in Imaginary Friends, and they are passionate about anything they do. It would be awesome to work with a bunch like that.

I guess to make it with this company, I’d need to get my skills up to their level, and be just as madly happy about doing work for the game and comic industries. I might need to pick up some basic web design skills as most of their best work is accessed by the general public online (that’s how I found out about them anyway).

Concept Artist – Employment Part 1/3

My first obvious step would be to post my portfolio (after a good brushing up that is) on this website – CGSociety.(click the banner to go to site)

I would be showcasing an unlimited number of my works among some of the best in the industry in this website, for a small annual fee of USD 29.95. This website would be a good place for me to start building connections with industry giants, and maybe even gain a mentor.

This online portfolio archive also has some HUGE contests – such as this year’s CG Challenge

An excerpt from the site explaining this contest:

“The CG Challenges are the largest online art contests of their kind, with huge amounts of sponsorship and publicity for each challenge. Working within guidelines and software limitations, artists are challenged to create outstanding artworks based upon set themes while showing their work-in-progress to the community.”

I suppose getting an award from this community would be a good career advancement - and I've seen some entries that won top honors were not very polished in an artistic sense, but were chosen for having a good story behind it. I'd like t to produce work like that.

Concept Artist – Brushing Up Part 2/2

My second option – second only because of the inconvenience of higher living costs of living in a country with a higher-valued currency – is Gnomon.

This institute is in Canada – which according to a few knowledgeable acquaintances of mine – is one of the best places in the world to learn about the film and games industry. This academy is more focused on 3D, but they also offer courses for Concept Design Illustration – Great 2D works are the foundation of great 3D productions after all.

I’ll probably be enrolling in their 10 Week Analog programme. This programme gets students to master the basics of illustrations and then gets them to learn how to apply everything they know into capturing their mind’s images and the stories behind them in sketches, illustrations and even sculptures. There’s even a class called Acting for Artists – to get the artist to realize the way their characters move relating to the characters emotions, environment and reality.

They’re really serious about their craft here in Gnomon.

And this just in, they have online courses and training dvds as well, so I might just start with those. (click images to view more)

Image - Chet Zar's digital creature drawing - quick and easy tips and tricks to for character design.

Image - Speedpainting to Concept Art - David Levy shows how to turn sketches into full fledged concept drawings. Just Amazing.

Concept Artist – Brushing Up Part 1/2

In the concept design industry, artists need to capture EXACTLY what amazing new worlds and their inhabitants they see in their heads on to a tangible canvas. How else can they engage their audience enough to transport them into this new world of theirs?

Right now, I’m quite stuck at drawing manga styled visuals in black and white, so I’m thinking of enrolling in some professional training courses that can get me creating some believably realistic images.

First place that comes to mind would be The One Academy.

(Image - Mixed media by Liw Chek Kee, One Academy)

This local institute is famed for its Illustration programme. Its students have proven this college’s effectiveness and through testimonials from friends (happy la y’all, I’ve got one more year in a Certain Somewhere…) who have graduated from there, this college has a very strong creative community spirit, everyone’s so motivated to produce great work. I need a bit of that in my life again.

Concept Artist – Further Self Analysis

I love stories. Stories move me. Stories have this way in making reality more real to me. Stories distill the true essence of life for me and allow me to experience. They open up new worlds for me, they allow me to walk different lives and learn from them so I may enrich my own.

And that is why I’ve also fallen in love with concept art. Concept Art is the first tangible stage of story-telling in the video game, movie and other similar industries. Whatever new worlds, new realities story tellers would need to share are made REAL in concept drawings.

Words can form images in your head, but seeing these images fleshed out in living detail in front of you is mind blowing.

MANGA: Mainstream vs Independent - Introduction

History of Manga - In A Nut Shell


right, right, I know this is long overdue, but here's the Introduction to my research(can I call this a mini-thesis?)

Manga (Japanese Comics) have been around a long, long time - in fact, it started in 16th century Japan. In this long, long time, this simple form of telling stories through black and white drawings on a piece of paper has boomed into a 14 Billion USD industry worldwide.

(Image - the Great Wave of Kanaga, one of the first Manga)

Manga started life as dynamic drawings by a rebellious artist called Hokusai. He broke conventions of the typical woodblock drawings back then. He went against the rigid styles of the ukiyo-e drawings of then and drew according to how his brush moved across the empty paper - thus creating the Manga style, Manga meant "Whimsical Pictures"

(Image: Comic Strip by Ippei Okamoto, one of the early Mangakas/Manga Artist )

Manga remained that way til the 20th century - when Japan became more open to the world. De to this, the Japanese started picking up new things from other countries, especially America. One of these new and marvelous things were comic strips found in most Western newspapers. The Japanese adopted this humorous outlet into their lives and began making it their own - even using it to spread propaganda messages among the masses during wartime.

Then came along the Godfather - Osamu Tezuka. This man single handedly transformed the Manga industry during the World War Two into the endearing and inspiring medium it is today. He broke the tradition of stagnant frames and bland drawings of the old Manga and re-shaped it to look like the dynamic black and white movies of then (kind of like Hokusai, eh?). He wanted his readers to really EXPERIENCE the story, to be a part of the adventure...something previous Manga failed to bring.

Needless to say, the public were blown away with this new style.
His breakthrough Manga, Shin Takarajima (New Treasure Island - see image below), sold 400,000 copies in its first printing alone.


(Image - The Breakthrough Shin Takarajima /New Treasure Island - note how incredibly cinematic this strip is compared to the previous comic strip...)


Then, the Godfather of Modern Manga laid the foundations of the Manga industry since - specifically, the different genres of Manga. Two main genres of the industry include the Shojo genre - featuring romantic tales, love stories for girls - and the Shonen genre, which had adventure, action and good-old-fashioned butt-kicking. ,

From the Manga came its animated sibling - Anime. Both industries are inseperable now, since most big name Mangas, such as DragonBall and Bleach, will get animated inevitably.

(Image - A page from Dragon Ball's Manga - note the improved cinematographic quality)

(Image - The Cast of the Dragon Ball Anime)


And as time goes on, Manga and Anime continue to grow. Notably, today's Manga and Anime are spreading across the globe, gaining lots of love wherever it goes, even in the West.
Kind of ironic isn't it? It was the Western comic strip that inspired the evolution Manga in the first place.

(Image - Bleach, the Manga)


(Image - Local Bleach fans Cosplaying / dressing up as their beloved character)



























(Image - And LOTS of American Bleach Cosplayers)


So, what's up with all this love?

As a fan, Mangas and Anime have offered me a way into a better world - a world where anyone can chase their dreams just by giving it your all, and anything really is possible.
A World where friends are really nakama, friends you can bet your life to always remain by your side, to chase dreams with.
A world where the mediocre can rise by believing - where the outcast orphan can rise to bring entire nations to stop warring each other, and find the family he never had among friends (Naruto); where a normal, everyday girl can find herself among Gods and Demons (the Oscar winning Spirited Away); even where the ugly duckling of her school can find love with an unexpected prince charming (Ouran High School Host Club).

Mangas also brought that world back here to reality, for as a Manga fan, I can go anywhere in the world and find other Manga lovers out there whom I can relate too.

This industry has remained a pillar of strength and inspiration to its fans because of simple stories - powerful yet simple stories that every and any laymen can immerse into. And grow with.

Perhaps, more than any other story telling industry out there, the Manga industry is very, very involved with its fans. In Japan, huge Manga/Anime corporations hold multimillion dollar events just for the fans - even showcasing their favorite Manga/Anime voice actors, or even getting real life actors to play their parts!




(Image - Bleach Anime's Characters, and their actors. Bloody uncanny resemblance...click here for info)

These corporations also hold off suing fans that breach copyrights. Fans that get so madly in love with the characters of their favorite Manga/Anime they actually draw and SELL their OWN VERSIONS of the story to other fans. Fan drawn Manga, called Doujinshi, are seen as LEGAL despite their obvious copyright infringement. That's how much love the fans get.

(Image - Another Big Name Manga, Naruto - Click here to head to a Naruto fansite)




(Images - ...and SOME of the MILLIONS of Naruto Doujins out there!)

So, I've decided to investigate this crazy, symbiotic relationship between the producers and the fans - Who has more influence in shaping this industry? The Producers? or the Fans? Mainstream or Independent?

We shall soon see.



and... if I still haven't drowned you with History lessons on Manga, get more Here and Here...and Here

Concept Artist

If I ever were to reach my fullest potential as a designer and an artist, this would be the job for
me - A concept artist.

A concept artist draws out imagined scenes, characters, objects etc - mainly for the video game, movie and the comic industries. Concept Artists need superb art skills in order to communicate their vision for completely (awesome) imaginary worlds and characters.

They are the creme-de-la-creme of today's artists.

And they get paid very well, or so I've heard.

We're talking seriously lofty aspirations here as it'll take me yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaarssssss to be even remotely worthy to post my work along side the masters on this site:

Click on the image and head to a more captivating world beyond our own...
(Artwork by Linda Bergvist. I did not create this or own it.)