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Rick M
Rick M
Philippines
Freelance Concept Artist and Illustrator
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Rick M
Hello Darkmode my old friend...
TeResA Bolen
👂🐛 😂
Rick M
Clown Doll
Rick M
Day 5: Ca(ndle)lavera :)
Rick M
OK... this was more challenging than expected. Some glow-ey Potion anyone? :)
Rick M
DAY 3: GHOUL Ok... I may have... just a teensy weensy little bit... added some practice on a female Écorché on this one :D (A bit late, but after this, I should be on track with the potions eh?)
Rick M
Beauty is in the "Eyes" of the BEHOLDER ;) .... OK, quite late... I promise I'll catch up with the Ghoul and Potions ^_^
Rick M
Not exactly spooky... but still a Spidey ;)
Rick M
New Generation Masters, Good day! My name is Rick, I am 31 yr old aspiring artist, hoping to get in to the video games industry in concept art. I mainly did art as a hobby, but found out about a couple of years ago after doing some freelance work (which I still do now), that there's still some hope for me to shift my career into art. Thus, for the first time, I am taking art and my art education seriously. Below is what I would hope to be answered/addressed from my post here. Goal:  - To be a full time Concept artist - Characters & Creatures Designs w/ a stylized aesthetic (Blizzard, Riot, etc) - To work in the video game industry (or animation/movies industry) Hope for feedback:   - Please point out the strengths and weaknesses on my latest work posted. I have applied to them most of what I've learned so far, so it would be amazing for someone with significant experience (such as yourselves) to point those out.  - Recommendation(s) on how to resolve observed mistakes/weaknesses, and what other areas need to be improved would be immensely appreciated.  - Lastly, as I want to focus in concept art (mainly 2D), with a focus on Character/Creature design, what do you recommend I have included/shown in my portfolio to be a hirable candidate in this regard? Thank you for your taking the time to read and answer my inquiries!  Best Regards,  Rick M
Antonio Stappaerts
Hello Rick! Great to see a fellow artist chase those goals! I was in your shoes not too long ago :) The first and most obvious thing I will point out is that you put a heavy emphasis on Character and Creature, yet you still choose to include a little stylized environment piece. While it's a beautiful painting, it does not contribute to your chance of getting hired...as characters and creatures are clearly your focus. I have a long video on how to present your portfolio on Art-Wod, but I'll give you some pointers here to address your questions: 1. Always create a "hook" in your portfolio, something that makes you memorable. In a sea of online artists, the more specific this hook is, the better. This means that just "character art" won't cut it. Make it something you love to do with characters specifically. Can be certain genre, style, IP or even personality (such is my focus). 2. Create secondary art that compliments your hook (such as creatures in your case), but again make it specific and noticeable. 3. Avoid anything that clutters point 1 and 2, such as the example I just mentioned about your environment. This will confuse potential recruiters or take away from the overall quality of your work. IF you do want to include environments, make them complimentary to your character focus. So create environments to display your character designs or their setting. From a technical POV, your current designs do not convey that you are eager to be a concept artist. As most of these designs are illustrations. As concept artists our primary focus is to alleviate as many problems as possible for the production pipeline (3D, animation, rigging, storytelling, etc). Thus it is better to show that you can solve problems, not only create pretty pictures. So try to compliment your character designs with call-outs for props, facial expressions, movement animation and so forth...And try to make it specific to a certain genre of game or film. An RTS game will need a vastly different set of concept designs than an RPG game. So show recruiters and AD's that you can design to brief. Lastly I would work a little more on your drawing fundamentals before rushing into painting. Not everything in concept art needs paint (I would even say rarely). So clear communication with line art can be a life saver! Work on your fundamental understanding of structure and try to become more confident with manipulating form. This will make you a better designer overall! Hope this helps and best of luck!
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