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resources

This is an organic list of resources I'm going to keep updated for pedagogic use. I wanted to share the list of resources, tutorial pages, art communities and overall, interesting and useful links that I tailored for my students in hopes it's useful for more people. Your mileage may vary, of course, but here are some bits of internet and books which I found informative, helpful, interesting and/or inspiring and I wish I had back in the day when I started this little adventure. I'll be uploading this list regularly if time allows. Hope you enjoy it!

Tutorials and learning

  • Chris Oatley Academy. Ex Concept Artist for Disney that now teaches art and hosts a webpage full of resources like brushes and tutorials, some of those paid. He hosts interviews with professionals in his YouTube as well: https://chrisoatley.com/

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  • Conceptart.org. One of the biggest and most active communities dedicated to concept art and learning. http://www.conceptart.org

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  • Draw a Box. Excellent page to start from the very bottom, good tutorials and materials: http://drawabox.com/

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  • Gnomon Workshop. Webpage of the renowed Gnomon Academy of VFX, Games and Animation. Its online page provides paid access to a HUGE library of tutorials and online courses: www.thegnomonworkshop.com

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  • Gumroad. Portal to sell your own content. Many great artists and teachers have affordable or even free tutorials and workshops for download in there. Just search for their name: https://gumroad.com/

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  • Level Up. Made by Wojtek Fus, Jonas de Ro and Dareck Zabrocki, three polish concept artists. Online learning community of concept art and digital illustration with a strong YouTube channel that host regular demo sessions with professional artists and hold a thriving facebook/social media community. Their page is also full of video tutorials and resources like brushes: http://www.fusroda.com/

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  • Shaddy Saffadi’s webpage. Here you can find his studio’s portfolio, resources, examples of stylized concept art and photobashed concept art and his brushes and tutorials: http://www.shaddyconceptart.com/

Reference and textures

  • CG Textures. Paid-Free hybrid photo texture library for your specific texture needs. Nicely stored in categories and high-res: http://www.textures.com/

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  • Photobash.org. Photo ref and bashing library made by concept artists for concept artists and matte-painters:  http://www.photobash.org/

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  • Pinterest. Great site for reference and inspiration hunting and organization without having to spend precious HDD storage: https://pinterest.com/

Bibliography

FUNDAMENTALS

Books brimming with material, lessons, processes and tutorials useful for all artists alike by encompassing core fundamental artistic concepts.

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​SPECIALIZED CONCEPTS

Publications dealing with deeper, more specialized skills more closely related to visual development, design and concept art.

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ARTBOOKS AND REFERENCE

Collections of inspiring work or reference material to use for your own art or just to have it in your collection. There's hundreds of these, but try and look for the ones with actual concept art content and not only marketing illustrations.

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Events

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Portfolio building

  • ArtStation. Artistic social media with a strong focus on professional entertainment art. Much cleaner and simple than other options and even holds a job board. It is mandatory to have a presence here; Very good site for a simple free portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/

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  • Deviant Art. Biggest generalist creative social media and exposure site. Pretty much everyone know and use this site. amateurs and pros alike: http://www.deviantart.com/

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  • Wix. Hosting site with very powerful tools for customization:
    http://wix.com/

Art portfolios

Here are some portfolios worth spending a couple of minutes browsing for inspiration and reference:

 

THE CLASSICS

You should know these: They are the Blues before the Rock and Roll. Founding fathers of entertainment art and the ones who first embraced and led the transition from analog to digital:

 

 

  • Jean Giraud Moebius. He was one of the most influential, if not the most, influential comic book artist and illustrator of the past century. Master of line and flat color. His designs, drawings and influence can be found and felt all over contemporary entertainment art: http://www.moebius.fr/

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  • Ralph McQuarrie. Recently passed away but left an enormous legacy for concept art, matte-painting and industrial design, specially in sci-fi in movies being the main designer in series and films such as Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek amongst dozens of others. He’s got no unified portfolio but his pictures and influence can be found all over:  http://dflund.se/~ola/Starwars/StarWars/ 

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  • Syd Mead. Founding father of modern sci-fi imaginery and main influence in the aesthetics of some of the most influential films in history: http://sydmead.com

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THE PROS

These artists are currently active in the industry and have achieved world-wide recognition thanks to their quality and work. They were once in your place and got there through hard work and practice. They're no superheros but its important their names ring a bell because they are marking the style of today in movies, animation and videogames. There’s tons of other artists at the same or higher level, of course, and I’m biased towards sci-fi environments so it’s important you make your own “fanboy list” with your own styles and visions for reference and inspiration. In no particular order:

 

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  • Nicolas Sparth Bouvier. Great concept artist with instantly recognizeable style; Flat colors and simple shapes to produce epic designs and compositions: http://www.sparth.com/

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  • Jama Jurabaev. Amazing use of textured brushes and negative space and composition. You can download his brushes as well: http://jamajurabaev.com/

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  • Ryan Church. Concept artist and/or art director for half of recent hollywood blockbusters from Star Wars Episode 1 on: http://ryanchurch.com/

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  • Maciej Kuciara. Concept artist, matte-painter and illustrator. Amazing finish and photo-realistic style: http://www.kuciara.com/

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  • Andrée Wallin. Concept artist in huge franchises with equally huge and imposing compositions: http://andreewallin.com/

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  • Dan Luvisi. Illustrator and digital concept artist that’s carving his way out from high-profile franchises into his own IP: http://www.danluvisiart.com/

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  • Virginie Buordin. Not only concept artist qnd illustror in the past, she now leads a team of entertainment designers for studios such as MPC, Universal and Disney Pictures as art director: http://www.virginiebourdin.com/concept-art/

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  • Nacho Yague. Spanish concept artist with strong ties to Ubisoft franchises and an amazing production: http://nachoyague.net/

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  • Titus Lunter. This guy's mastered photobashing in environment design. He's got some amazing demos on YouTube: http://www.tituslunter.com/

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  • John Park. Concept artist for the high-profile movie industry and more. He's got some great libraries and demos as well: http://www.jparked.com/

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  • Feng Zhu. One of the big names in concept art. Manages a famous school of design in Singapore and does a lot of tutorials and demos both paid and free: http://fengzhudesign.com/

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  • Chris Oatley. Ex character concept artist for Disney. Holds a lot of tutorials and interviews in YouTube and manages an online school of art, good stylized character design: http://chrisoatley.com/art/

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  • Scott Robertson. One of the best industrial designers at the moment. He's got great linework and design skills. A veteran when it comes to teaching and tutorials: http://cargocollective.com/drawthrough

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  • Craig Mullins. One of the absolute best concept artists and illustrators in incoroporating and keeping classic painting techniaues and finish: http://www.goodbrush.com/

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  • Marc Brunet. Experiences artists who's worked for Blizzard, amongst other projects. Specialized in female characters within stunning backgrounds. Founder of Cubebrush: https://www.artstation.com/artist/Bluefley

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