A huge thank you to the Great North Museum: Hancock for working with us to bring this Q&A about careers in video game concept art to curious minds. This is just part 1, please keep your eyes peeled for part 2 coming soon!
Other Worlds: The Art of Atomhawk is an exhibition at the Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle. Click here to take a virtual tour of the exhibition.
Every July we invite concept artists from around the world to join our annual Art Competitions. In 2020, the theme was “The Adventure Begins”, a broad concept with infinite potential for interpretation.
The submissions were judged on creative details and ability to tell a compelling story. With over 500 submissions this year, we were impressed with sheer level of unique creativity from artists across the globe who incorporated their own cultures and personalities into their artworks.
After much deliberation with the judges, the final three winners exemplified storytelling, creativity and technical skill. Winners will receive a selection of incredible artist goodies from Escape Technology, Sumo Digital, Photobash.org and ArtStation.
We are thrilled to announce that first place goes to Baptiste Boutié for their heartwarming departure scene. “There’s something incredibly charming about Baptiste Boutié’s piece that invokes the spirit of The Adventure Begins competition theme,” says Atomhawk Lead Artist, Charlie Bowater, “It does so with this very first step of leaving behind all the warmth and comfort that leaps out of this artwork as out character sets off to the great unknown.”
From all of us at Atomhawk, we want to extend a huge congratulations to Baptiste!
Baptise is now the proud owner of a Cintiq Pro 16 and a Nintendo Switch, courtesy of our very generous friends at Escape Technology and Sumo Digital. Other prizes include credit at Photobash.org and a years subscription to ArtStation Pro and ImagineFX, as well as an Atomhawk swag bag.
Please check out more of Baptiste’s work at artstation.com/icarius34
Second place goes to Stefanie Buchanan’s mysterious and enchanting shipwrecked mech. “When I first saw Stefanie Buchanan’s illustration I was immediately confronted by so many questions,” says Dario Jelušić, Atomhawk Senior Artist, “What is this giant mechanical bird? How did it get here and what happened? Is this character a scavenger and is there any connection between the two? To be a successful storyteller, it is important to invoke all kinds of questions in the viewer’s mind and get their imagination flowing by inviting them into the illustration with colours, designs and storytelling elements which this artwork does so successfully.”
Please check out more of Stefanie’s work at artstation.com/stefbaz_n
Third place goes to Iain Thody with this otherworldly depiction of a human child moments away from leaving a robotic homeworld. “Iain Thody's image stood out for having a lovely art style, expressive mood, and really fascinating design language. The story here is compelling too because the boy is seemingly the only human in the image - what’s happened here and where is he going?” says Drew Whitmore, Atomhawk Art Director.
Please check out more of Iain’s work at instagram.com/iainthody
We were overwhelmed with so many great entries for this year’s competition and would be amiss to not award some honourable mentions that were standouts from our judges shortlist: Juan Salvador Almencion, Eleni Platnaris, Leonardo Ambrosini, Marko, Alben Tan and Paulo Torinno.
Thinking of applying to Atomhawk?
Empowered teams make better art. That feeling should begin from the moment you send a job application. We understand that applying for jobs can be an unnerving process, so please use our Portfolio Guide to give your work the best chance of standing out.
🎨 View the portfolio guide here!
👩🎨 Apply to join our team and work on awesome AAA projects here.
Keeping up with our Solarpunk competition? Last year Morten Solgaard Pedersen won a Wacom Cintiq for his Into the Void concept with impressive use of composition and contrast. Morten is now a Concept Artist at Atomhawk! 👨🎨🖼
Enter this year's competiton ➡ atomhawk.com/solarpunk
We will be at the The Northern Festival of Illustration in Hartlepool, UK!
🖼 Friday, May 31st: Meet Axel Sauerwald and Thomas Chamberlain Keen's at Friday's opening ceremony and check out their work in the exhibition!
📝 Saturday, June 1st: Our Art Manager, Darren Yeomans, will be giving a talk about employment in the world of concept art. Come down and say hi!
Event info ➡ festivalofillustration.com
We recently ran a Q&A on our Kickstarter! Thank you to everyone who asked questions, we hope you find the answers from some of the members of our team insightful and helpful.
Because of all the information overload on social media and art-share websites, it's hard to stand out from the 'crowd'. What makes you want to double-check/linger on someone's art page when you're on your daily ArtStation scroll?
Standing out in the crowd is something all of us artists have had trouble facing at some point or another. What makes me stop and linger on someone’s work is the way they use shape language and value structures in a painting. Use lighting and values to draw the eye along shapes to make statements with your pieces that will catch a viewer’s eye.
Look at old masters like John Berkey and Frank Frazetta; shape language and shape design are an important skill to invest in as a concept artist and will make it easier to catch someone’s attention on first glance. – Damian Audino, Senior Concept Artist
I am currently a junior Concept Artist and wish to someday reach the Atomhawk quality benchmark, how does your internship program work, and is it paid?
Our internships are offered to promising young artists, students and graduates looking to get their foot in the industry. The ultimate aim of the program is for the applicant to progress into a full-time Junior position at the end the internship. The program starts off by focusing on creating an Atomhawk-quality image with close guidance from the art team. The image is then revisited and reworked in a completely new way, the brief and process will be set by our team. Finally, shadowing tasks and further tailored training will test what you've learned and apply it to similar time constraints as our art team.
Applicants need to demonstrate a portfolio which shows experience in art fundamentals (light, form, composition, perspective, etc) and a sense of design thinking, storytelling and personality. Internships are granted on a case-by-case basis and are voluntary, with recoverable travels and expenses up to £500 per month. – Tim Wilson, Managing Director
Interested candidates please apply at jobs@atomhawk.com
What is the best way for artists to get noticed and get a foot in the industry?
An impressive portfolio will always be the best way to get a foot in the industry. We recommend updating your portfolio regularly and only including your best pieces. Look at the work that your favourite studios are producing and create a couple of images that would fit well with their style. ArtStation is the standard for portfolio websites these days and a great place to get involved with the art community.
Network is equally important to a good portfolio and try to do it as much as you can. If there are no art communities in your local area, we recommend getting involved in online competitions, Facebook Groups and feedback forums.
And of course, keep practicing! – Darren Yeomans, Art Manager
I’m interested in exploring UI art more. Where’s a good place for me to start to learn more about the medium?
If you want to learn more about UI art, I recommend looking around at UI artists online and seeing what kind of work catches your eye and gets you excited about the medium. There are tons of talented artists on ArtStation who do more than just illustration, and it’s where I like to browse for inspiration. Pinterest also has a fantastic range of content, as well as more dedicated sites like HUDS+GUIS.
For those who want to learn how to create UI art, I recommend looking up tutorials on YouTube, you’d be surprised how many amazing tutorials are on there for free! There are also a few paid courses on LearnSquared for UI that are designed to take you from a beginner to a professional. - Mike Howie, Senior Graphic Designer
How can I build my personal brand as an artist on social media?
Social media is a great way to get involved in the community and build a following and client base. It can be a slow start; building a following is an exponential process so don’t be discouraged if you don’t get thousands of followers right away. Here are some ways to get noticed on social media:
It’s key to note that social media can harbour trolls and bad-mannered people. If you or your friends experience harassment, blocking and reporting is your friend. Most trolls are looking for a reaction, so try not to give in to what they want. If you don’t humour a troll with a reaction, they’ll go away. – Justine Colla, Marketing Manager
How hard is it to work with different styles for so many different projects?
Working with multiple different styles definitely presents a challenge and can occasionally lead to tonal whiplash is you are moving from something dark, realistic and gritty directly to something sweet and cartoony!
In my experience, being able to make that switch takes practice and does get easier with time. I find it helps to have slightly different workflows for each style and to always have the references of the style you need up at all times. – Drew Whitmore, Principal Concept Artist
Are all the artists at Atomhawk adept in at least one 3D program, or just illustrate in Photoshop? Is there any cross-over between 3D and 2D?
There are a handful of artists in our studio who don’t use any 3D software, but many of us know our way around Maya in some capacity. As we’re primarily a concept art studio, rarely will we need to produce a 3D artwork completely on its own.
We often use 3D as a base for a piece of work to quickly map out block shapes and composition. Then we’ll paint on top of the 3D image and add detail, colour and pull the entire artwork together into a finished piece. - Morten Pedersen, Concept Artist
Where do you draw inspiration for your artworks? And how important is using reference?
As a character concept artist, my major inspiration comes from fashion design and movies. I think it’s important to get inspired by all different kinds of media like music, comic books, fine art in galleries and travel, whether is to a local park or on a hike overseas. Finding your own sources of interest and inspiration outside of video games makes every artist’s work unique and personal.
Although it can feel time consuming to put together, having a good reference board can save you a lot of time in the long run. I find that by spending ample time researching and analysing the subject and theme for each of my artworks, I also get to educate myself and enlarge my visual memory which helps me make the best possible work out of my ideas. – Vlada Hladkova, Senior Concept Artist
Does the process of creating concept art vary from video games to film work?
The process varies considerably depending on what the client wants! But for our average project a rough process is typically:
- Charlie Bowater, Principal Concept Artist
Concept Artist Thomas Chamberlain Keen takes us through the inspiration which helped him create the cover for The Art of Atomhawk, Volume 3.
Got a question for TCK? Leave it below and we'll answer them next week!
