The life of a concept artist
Concept artist Gennaro Grazioso’s career in the games industry has been aided by Autodesk SketchBook’s tools
Gennaro Grazioso reveals how he makes the most of SketchBook Pro’s tools to create innovative-looking concept art.
Gennaro Grazioso lives the kind of life many dream of. Having graduated from Teesside University in 2012, the likable artist is now greatly in demand as a freelance games artist, working with everyone from cool indies to triple-A studios. But the secret of his success is quite a simple one.
“It was basically constant grafting,” he says. “I was constantly at home, drawing, posting online, on forums like Polycount and communities like ArtStation, to expose my art to other people and hoping someone would see my potential. Eventually, I got an email offering me an interview for a job, and it snowballed from there.”
That job was as senior character and concept artist for Improbable, the London company behind the gaming platform SpatialOS, which recently achieved a $1billion valuation. During his 18 months at Improbable, he took full advantage to develop his skills, working on 3D characters, environments, weapons, prop modelling, animation, level design and prototyping. He also spent time art directing and concepting new IP, characters, robots, environments and props for projects.
Then in late 2014, Gennaro took the plunge into full-time freelance, and
hasn’t looked back since. But he’s so determined not to rest on his laurels that he devotes two hours every morning to advancing his artistic skills.
“I have a deep obsession with studying anatomy and expanding my drawing techniques,” he says. To make sure that happens, he gets up around 5-5.30am, goes out for a run, and then studies from 6 to 8am. “After that, I’ll go and walk the dog, do the things I need to do, then start my day’s work about 9 or 10am, finishing around six in the evening.”
FORWARD THINKING
But even that’s not the whole story. “Before I go to bed, I’ll plan out the next day,” he adds. “I’ve got a little whiteboard and I spend an hour writing out what I’m going to do.”
It’s the kind of discipline other artists will envy, and it’s born of a passion for what he does. “I always knew that I wanted to do art as a career,” Gennaro says. “Growing up, I was always doodling, drawing all of the Pokémon that you could possibly draw. So wasn’t really an option. It was what I was going to do.”
His style is strongly influenced by comic books: “I really like the kind of heavy ink work versus the more photoreal work that’s used predominantly in the gaming industry right now,” he explains. But more broadly, his inspirations are often drawn from all art forms, including architecture, fashion, and films. “And I think it’s important to stay true to what I like, versus being too concerned with what else is out there.”
Most of his work is done in Autodesk’s SketchBook, which is not the most feature-rich of drawing tools
I like how clean SketchBook is, and how it really is just about the drawing. It’s a nice experience
– but Gennaro sees that as a positive thing. “It doesn’t try to focus on doing too many things; it just gives you a really nice experience,” he says. “Painting and drawing software is so often filled with clutter. I like how clean SketchBook is, and how it really is just about the drawing.”
He does, however, say that the program’s Symmetry (Mirror) function is well worth a look. “It enables you to draw on one side and it will update on the other,” he explains. “I use this all the time when I’m designing characters, because it just speeds up the process so much – especially when producing more orthographic drawings.”
TOOLS OF THE CONCEPT ART TRADE
Gennaro will usually then use Photoshop to add finishing touches, while 3DS Max, ZBrush and Keyshot come into play for 3D work. But in general, this artist takes quite an oldschool approach to technology. So for instance, when an idea pops into his head, he heads not for a digital tablet but his trusty paper sketchbook.
“I carry it everywhere with a couple of pens,” he says. “I like the fact that with a physical pad, there’s no Ctrl-Z. I find that quite liberating. It enables me to not care about how it looks and just more about getting it down as much as possible.”
A work ethic, a determination to succeed, and a no-nonsense approach to tools: new artists could do worse than follow Gennaro’s example.