Get into theme parks

Nathaniel West reveals the five art areas you’ll need to master…

Do more colourful work

Theme parks are all about happy colours and a whimsical mood. Using animated films as a colour guide is a good idea. It wants to feel real, but pushing the colour to have a bit more style is always welcomed. A lot of concept artists from games and film struggle with this approach, and sometimes you’ll see artwork that feels too moody and depressing.

It’s all in the planning

It’s good to understand the basics of theme park masterplanning and how crowds flow through them. That way, if you need to conceptualise an area, you’ll be able to mass buildings and planters properly. Retail, and Food and Beverage go hand in hand, and showing happy people spending money is always a plus in pitches with business-minded executives.

Getting paid

The pay range depends on your skill level. If you’re starting out at a company, I would expect you can make $1,200-1,500 per week. If you’re freelancing, your rates should be higher than this. The higher your skill level and reputation, the more you can charge.

Save your money

Theme parks can be cyclical, going from extremely busy to very slow. Most of it depends on the global economic climate and which countries are thriving and developing attractions for their populations. Many companies will thrive one minute and be gone the next, so you have to keep that in the back of your mind at all times.

Be a team player

Things often change on projects, and you’ll be asked to redo artwork. Being easy going about changes is key. Always try and add value to a team. You want to be an asset, and never a liability.