To be a successful artist, you have to work hard on developing your skills. But technique alone will only get you so far. You also need to generate creative and original ideas that will grab people’s attention and truly engage them. So how do you go about it? We asked four talented artists to share their tips.
For Kofi Ofosu, a visual storyteller and character designer based in Ghana, idea generation is a continuous process of gathering inspiration. “I’m constantly bookmarking images, videos and links that spark my interest on the web and social media,” he says. “I also get ideas for new concepts when I look back through my old sketches. Last but not least, I love to do studies. Studying enables me to practise my fundamentals, and it has lower stakes so I steadily build my confidence, too.”
LOOK TO THE PAST
Newcastle-based concept artist Gareth Davies, aka Spudonkey, similarly finds fresh ideas for his personal art by thumbing through his old sketches. “My sketchbooks are full of little doodles, where I’ve just tried to make interesting shapes that I see potential in,” he explains. “For client work, though, I find the process can be simpler. When you’re given a set of requirements, there’s often an ‘obvious’ path to take. So it’s about
I’m constantly bookmarking images, videos and links that spark my interest on the web and social media using your expertise to fulfil the problem that needs solving, and offering suitable options to the client.”
Esta historia es de la edición January 2021 de ImagineFX.
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Esta historia es de la edición January 2021 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.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
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.
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The artist talks about his journey into the mythological world