Today we have Vance Kovacs to talk with us about concept art and the Kickstarter artbook project The Art of Eclipse: The Well and the Black Sea that he's working on with Justin Sweet.
Check it out out http://kck.st/IGJK2V
The project ends on 12 Jan 2014.
Qn: Can you tell us about how you got started in art and your training?
I took a few night classes at a local community college in Fullerton CA. Justin and myself met Marshall Vandruff there teaching anatomy and composition. Marshall was a great influence. It was his classes that really opened our eyes to the possibility of pursuing art as a profession. Justin was already taking art classes at the nearby Cal State Fullerton when we started taking Marshall’s classes.
Art from The Art of Eclipse: The Well and the Black Sea
I got my first art job at Interplay Productions in Irvine CA. I was hired as a concept artist. I recommended Justin for a contract job on a game called Dragon Dice. They loved his work so much that they hired him on. We worked at Interplay and shared an office for 5 years. Justin left to move into a freelance career. I stayed for a couple more years.
Interplay began to have it’s problems and during that time Justin was called to work on The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by Grant Major, the Production Designer on the Lord of The Rings films. Interplay was going under, my boss had quit and my project was cancelled. Justin got me onto The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and that began our careers in film.
We worked on all three Narnia films together and then ultimately got into the Film illustrators union years later. During our time in film we continue to freelance for games as well as do illustration jobs for Magic The Gathering, book covers, and concept work for Disney Imagineering.
Qn: Can you talk more about your book The Art of Eclipse? Is there going to be some sort of narrative? What's the inspiration behind creating such a book?
Justin and I have spent our careers visually exploring different worlds though picture making. Game worlds, Narnia, Marvel, each project a different universe with it’s own set of rules.
World building has always been something we both love doing. Eclipse is a world that we can explore deeper themes and a travel over a more poetic landscape artistically. It has captivated our imaginations for the past decade.
The book will be a document of this journey for us. There is a narrative, but it’ll be infused into the images we create. Each picture will be a piece of larger mosaic. We plan to use this book as a springboard for much bigger projects. We’re fans of games like Myst/Riven, Ico, Dear Esther, Journey and many other titles that strive to tell meaningful stories in a experiential way.
Crafting an interactive experience is something we’re very interested in developing if our project is a success.
Qn: You've created artworks for many movie titles. Tell us one great and one bad thing you learned about movie industry.
It’s been a very positive experience for the most part.
We’ve both been part of some great productions with very apt and skilled people. Justin worked closely with Grant Major on Green Lantern and I worked with Bo Welch on Thor and MIB3.
One of the greatest things learned about film is that each one is somewhat of a miracle. So many parts have to come together to get a project to green light.
We were often used early on to generate excitement to get the project going with concept art and illustrations. Our art is often the first people see of what the film could look like. On the flip side of that, that means that projects can also be abandoned early, even up to sets being constructed.
When we were on Dawn Treader all was set to go to Europe and start building the movie sets. The designer had materials on trucks and an art office about to open. Over night the American dollar plummeted instantly making the film 7 times more expensive to make. They halted the production and had to let almost everybody go.
Qn: What advice would you give to those who want to pursue a career creating concept art?
It’s a far more competitive field than when we first got in. When we started, concept art was a very niche job as an artist. Now it seems like an entire industry unto itself.
Art from The Art of Eclipse: The Well and the Black Sea
There are two main categories for a concept artist.
The first is to make great art. I’d recommend strengthening in the fundamentals: Drawing, anatomy, color, composition. These are the tools an artist has to communicate his/her ideas. It’s like having a larger vocabulary to use when you’re pitching an idea. There is great instruction available online nowadays. Students should take advantage of that.
The second is opening yourself to greater influences than what is popular, trendy or in the mainstream. Often directors and designers want to see a fresh perspective. They want to see a new spin on an old idea. This takes effort and time. You need to open yourself up to inspiration off the beaten path or draw from juxtaposing forces.
Art instruction you can find, but original or creative ideas are harder to come by.
Qn: What do you know now that you wished you knew earlier in your career?
That’s hard to say. I don’t really think that way.
More art instruction would have always been nice as we both want to continue to get better in our craft. I’m glad for all the experiences I’ve had both good and bad. They have gotten us both here now at the cusp of launching our own project and creating an original world that we can fashion and develop.
Most of what is going into this book is what we’ve been collecting along the way. Ten years of conversations, sketches and drawings we’ve been storing up. Now with the advent of Kickstarter we’ve get to draw from that well and share it.
Well, check out their Kickstarter project at http://kck.st/IGJK2V
They have several rewards and the top one is this concept art oil painting below:
