When working professionally for a client, you’re usually bound by a brief and have to work within a number of constraints. You have to depict the client’s vision in your image. Even your creative process might have to be adapted to meet the commission’s requirements.
However, when you’ve made time to produce personal work, it’s a whole different ballgame. There are an infinite amount of possibilities available, and the creative process is a lot more flexible. I’m always looking for inspiration in different things: books, films, comics, photographs from my travels or experiences. There’s really no limit to the number of sources that can provide that magical spark of inspiration!
Once I have an idea of what I’ll be making, I might do a small scribble so I can better visualise it, or just get started with a quick 3D mockup. I think experimenting with different processes helps in producing a range of ideas that I can explore further.
For this particular image I wanted to create a grungy, cyberpunk piece, inspired by the worlds of Blade Runner and Akira. The idea of having a rundown façade with a shop and a car in front came from a drawing by Katsuhiro Otomo that caught my eye as I was flipping through one of my Akira books. That single reference was enough to light the spark!
ADD REALISM TO A CONCEPT
Creating the façade
Esta historia es de la edición November 2020 de ImagineFX.
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Esta historia es de la edición November 2020 de ImagineFX.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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Jan Wessbecher
Dominic Carter talks to the visual artist about creating his own comic and why sketchbooks are great for creative experiments
Kyounghwan Kim
The Korean character concept artist speaks to Dominic Carter about staying open to ideas and the value of drawing regularly
Slawek Fedorczuk
Dominic Carter talks to the concept artist about what keeps him motivated and the advantages of using physical sketchbooks.
Raquel M. Varela
Raquel is inspired by magic, fantasy and fairy tales. She loves designing female characters from distant worlds. \"My greatest reference is Loish's art, thanks to her I learned to draw the movement and fluidity I like to convey.\"
Estrela Lourenço
Estrela is a children's book author and illustrator. Her work is influenced by her background in character animation and storyboards for clients such as Cartoon Network, and she channels comic strips like Calvin and Hobbes.
Daria Widermanska
Daria, also known as Anako, has been drawing for as long as she can remember. Inspired by Disney and classic anime, she loves creating new characters and often finds that a single sketch can spark a unique story.
Allen Douglas
Allen has been painting professionally since 1994 for the publishing and gaming industries. Inspired by folklore, he distorts the size, relationships and environments of animals, and calls his paintings 'unusual wildlife'.
Thaddeus Robeck
Thaddeus has been drawing from the moment he could hold a pencil, but it was the 2020 lockdowns that gave him the time to focus on honing his skills.
DRAW FASCINATING SYMBOLIC ARTWORK
Learn how JULIÁN DE LA MOTA creates a composition from his imagination with a focus on crafting figures, volumetric modelling, and light and shadow
First Impressions
The artist talks about his journey into the mythological world
