How to get a job at ILM

Tom May speaks to ILM and discovers what skills you need to join the studio’s concept art team

- Tom May

It’s many artists’ dream to work on a big film like Star Wars and with Industrial Light & Magic’s London studio always looking out for new talent, it’s possible to turn that dream into a reality.

At our Vertex event from earlier this year, ILM’s Jason Horley, Pablo Dominguez and Bimpe Alliu gave a talk on that very topic. Here, we bring you the highlights and reveal how to create a well-rounded and varied portfolio that’s geared towards the requirements of ILM.

BECOME FAMILIAR WITH 3D TOOLS

It’s been a source of debate among concept artists for some time: do you need 3D skills, or can you get by on 2D talent alone? Well, Jason was emphatic that at ILM at least, that debate is over. ”Every artist in our department has to have the ability to work in both 2D and 3D,” he said. “In our work, speed is a key factor, so you need to be versatile, and adapt to whatever the brief is. I’ve been to universities and met people studying concept art and I’m surprised that some of them still aren’t using 3D yet. It can be a bit daunting, but it’s definitely an essential tool.”

That said, you don’t have to invest in expensive software. “There are some free packages out there,” pointed out Bimpe. “For example, Maya has a free student version, and Blender’s totally free, even though it’s an industry worthy tool.”

SIMPLIFY YOUR ART

During their talk the ILM team showed the audience paintings that Jason had previously submitted as part of his artist portfolio. And one of the themes that emerged was the need to simplify your concept art – something that the artist had definitely taken on board.