Untitled - Academy of Art University

CONTENT
ABOUT ME
MY INSPIRATION
THE PROJECT
LESTAT
MACBETH
GRENDEL
AHAB
FINAL THOUGHT
CONCEPT SAMPLES
RESUME
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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first arrived at the Academy I had a very limited knowledge of the art
world and all its players. I have come far since that day and learned
a lot more about great past illustrators like Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth,
and Dean Cornwell, or more current illustrators like Bernie Wrightson,
Drew Struzan, Donato Giancola, and Greg Manchess. All of these
artists, including teachers at the Academy, like Bill Maughan, Stephen
Player, Lisa Berrett, Zhoaming Wu, and many more, have helped me
mature as an illustrator. Each of them has brought me to where I
am today, and each has contributed a little bit of their knowledge in
helping me execute my thesis project.
MY INSPIRATION
I have always been an avid film
buff. For as long as I can remember I
have been fascinated by movies. When
I was younger I was just interested in the
story, but as I grew up, I became enthralled by the special effects involved
in film making. Intricately detailed
creatures made into believable characters soon became the number one
factor in my decision to watch certain
films. Naturally, science fiction and fantasy became my favorite genres. Ridley Scott films such as Alien,
Legend, and Blade Runner,
as well as John Mctiernan’s
Predator and James Cameron’s Aliens and Terminator
opened up the possibilities in
the world of special effects
to me. I became interested
in how it all worked and soon
realized that I wanted to be
part of the process, instead
of simply viewing the final
product. In my subsequent
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The Predator
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The Terminator
explorations of the special effects industry I discovered that Stan Winston and the Stan Winston Studio had been responsible for the effects
in two of my favorite movies, Predator and Terminator, as well as in
countless other films.
From that moment on, I knew I wanted to be a professional illustrator. To be responsible for the design of all those amazing creatures and characters that appear in the films I love, and to make that
movie magic is my dream. I do not want to build sets or make models;
instead I want to design and illustrate the characters before they ever
reach the third dimension. Being an illustrator is the best way for me
to fulfill my dream of creating new and amazing characters, as well
as exciting original interpretations of moments from countless stories.
A number of artists inspired me down this road, such as Drew Struzan
and Alex Ross. Struzan’s poster work, and Richard Amsel before him,
related directly to my interest in film and Ross clearly showed how
character design was invaluable in storytelling. In addition, the recent
work of Weta Workshop with the amazing Alan Lee and John Howe
on the Lord of the Rings trilogy has only fueled my ambition.
The Masters Program at the Academy of Art University has prepared me in many ways to achieve my dreams of becoming a successful illustrator. With this experience I plan to move forward in my
ever continuing art education and spend my life making pictures that
everyone can enjoy.
Work by Drew Struzan
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Work by Alex Ross
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THE PROJECT
From the start, my thesis has been about tragic characters and
their hubris. As my project will show, the sadness and misfortune of
these characters is a subject of great interest for me. The tragic flaw
is the major theme for each character in my work. Originally, I began
with an idea to build illustrations for a long list of characters. However,
the project has evolved to focus more on a small number of characters. I wanted to pay closer attention to each character, and found
my energy flowed better with three or four characters rather than six
or seven. I felt I should be more concerned with quality rather than
quantity. That being said, the changes to the overall project were not
many. Originally I had planned on fifteen paintings as well as a small
sketchbook containing designs for each character. The thesis I am
presenting today contains ten paintings and a large amount of conceptual development materials for each character. I have focused
the bulk of my conceptual development and paintings on my favorite character of the four, Captain Ahab from Herman Melville’s Moby
Dick.
Because my ultimate goal is to
become a conceptual artist working
on motion pictures, I found that simply
doing illustrations for my thesis was not
enough to really develop and convey
my passion for movies and character
design. It became a project which
not only focused on creating multiple
illustrations of different subjects, but
also the development of characters
and their universes. My portfolio will
be a showcase of all these skills and
is dual formatted for freelance illustration and visual development for video
games and film.
My thesis focuses on four different characters in literature that are
each flawed in their own unique ways:
the vampire Lestat (Anne Rice’s InterLe Theatre de Vampire
view with the Vampire),
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Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Macbeth), Grendel (John Gardner’s Grendel), Captain Ahab (Herman Melville’s Moby Dick).
LESTAT
Early on in my thesis project I did a single Illustration for the
vampire Lestat from Anne Rice’s novel. I
found his excessive pride and arrogant,
along with his extravagance, made him
a wonderfully tragic character to work
on. Along with that, I painted a portrait
of Lestat. The project took a turn from
that point on. After having done minimal conceptual development for Lestat,
I decided to focus more heavily on the
design of the other characters.
Lestat de Lioncourt
MACBETH
My exploration of Macbeth was short because I already had
a fairly clear picture of the character in my mind. I wanted to place
him directly in the time period the play is set, which is something I have
not really seen on stage or in film. I dressed
him in traditional medieval Scottish armor and
clothing, wanting him to remain fairly realistic
and not overly stylized. I chose Macbeth for
his ambition which eventually led to his death.
The first illustration, and the subject matter for
all three illustrations, is Macbeth’s encounters
with the Three Witches that predicted his future and brought his downfall. The first painting in this series that I completed was of Macbeth standing over the witches’ cauldron, his
hand soaked in blood. As you will see, blood
became a strong element in a number of my
paintings. I initially did this first Macbeth illustration digitally and later painted it in oils for
the finish. I painted it with the intent of it being
Macbeth
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a possible book cover for the play. The two following illustrations were
produced with the intent that they could be interior illustrations for a
fully illustrated book. With both of these illustrations I explored the use
of atmosphere for depth as well as temperature for composition. In
addition, I produced a detailed environment for the Witches’ Tower
with the intention of bring to detail the main set for all three illustrations.
Macbeth Climbs
Macbeth and Banquo
Macbeth and the Witches
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Grendel
GRENDEL
was
my next character/
creature. I chose
this specific character because he is
unique and also provided me with the
opportunity to develop a non-human
entity. The monster
originally comes from
the epic poem Beowulf but I chose to
illustrate the namesake of John Gardner’s novel Grendel
because it is the Beowulf story from the
monster’s point of
view. The story describes Grendel as
a sad and childlike
beast, alone in the
wild and irritated by
the intrusion of the
men in his country.
His tragedy is that
of ignorance and
rage. I developed
the creature as a
massive hairless bear
Grendel and Beowulf
with somewhat human-like forelimbs and the look of a fighting dog or
scarred hyena. Two illustrations were painted for this character; the
first being the moment he meets the hero Beowulf, in the Viking Mead
Hall and the second is the aftermath of that meeting, Grendel’s death,
alone in the snow. With the first painting I wanted to establish a sense
of scale as well as the moment of reveal of the monster. Grendel’s
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death was an idea completely based on an abstract shape which
was formed by the blood, giving the image a strong dramatic feel. I
designed it as a wrap around book cover. I also provided some studies of the monster along with the creature design sheet in order to
establish a clear understanding of how Grendel appears.
Death of the Beast
AHAB
The greatest attention in my thesis went to Captain Ahab and
Captain Ahab
the story of Moby Dick. In my second to last semester at the academy I worked directly with
Randy Berrett at Pixar Animation Studios during
a directed study. We both decided to push the
visual development of Ahab because he was a
character many had seen before and would be
perfect for reinvention. Before any illustrations
were started, I really fleshed out the look and feeling of Captain Ahab, developing three distinct
looks for the character, as well as the many iterations that brought me to my final design. After
deciding which character look to go with, my first
illustration was a showcase for that look. I wanted
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to give the image an N.C Wyeth
feeling and ended up really pushing the atmosphere in order to silhouette Ahab on the deck of his
ship.
In my final semester I have
been working with Tim Evatt, also
at Pixar, and he has guided me
through more development of
not only Ahab, but also his ship
the Pequod and the white whale
himself, Moby Dick. I really wanted to develop the Pequod as if it
too were a character and vessel
for Ahab’s vengeance. The final
two illustrations for the Captain
consisted of the moment when he
is hunting the whale that crippled
him, and the final moments of his
Captain Ahab on the Pequod
life when he throws himself and his
wrath onto Moby Dick, becoming entangled in the ropes from his harpoons. With The Hunt painting, I wanted to develop a strong composition and convey the intensity of rowing a small boat on the high seas
The Hunt
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after a violent and angry whale. The center of focus is Ahab at the
very edge of sanity, reaching after the white whale. In the last illustration the focus is Ahab in a maelstrom of waves, blood and insanity. I
wanted the focus to be on only Ahab, so I worked loosely with the rest
of the image, keeping the contrast low and the chaotic atmosphere
high. The only true secondary read I wanted was the eye of Moby
Dick for a sense of scale in comparison to Ahab. The white whale is a
mighty leviathan and Ahab meets his death while trapped in his own
ropes, spitting his last breath at his one hate while it drags him into the
deep. His undoing is the result of vengeance and hate.
“...for hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee.”
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FINAL THOUGHT
The process of creating this body of work for my thesis has been
an incredible learning experience as well as a whole lot of fun. While
exploring these characters I ended up learning a lot more about them,
as well as more about my abilities as an artist. I had many failures and
struggles with mediums and techniques, but I learned from every trip
and stumble. I pushed very hard to make these visions truly match up
with what I saw in my mind’s eye. That can be a very difficult journey,
but in the end it pays off tremendously. Ultimately, I have created a
portfolio from this work that I strongly believe will help me find a job
as both a professional illustrator and a conceptual artist. I know now
that I can handle any new challenge that comes my way and from
this moment on, the sky is the limit.
Thank you
Business Card
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CONCEPT WORK SAMPLES
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CONCEPT WORK SAMPLES
MACBETH
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CONCEPT WORK SAMPLES
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CONCEPT WORK SAMPLES
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CONCEPT WORK SAMPLES
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CONCEPT WORK SAMPLES
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1- Image from Predator (1987). Property of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation
2 - Image from Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Property of Carlco
Productions and Artisan Entertainment. Created by James Cameron
3- Movie Poster for Blade Runner - The Final Cut (2007). Poster art by
Drew Struzan. www.drewstruzan.com Property of Warner Bros. Pictures.
4- Original Artwork by Alex Ross. Alex Ross Art, Inc. www.alexrossart.
com Property of DC Comics and Warner Brothers Entertainment.
All other images are original artworks created by Tyler Jacobson. All
rights reserved 2009.
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