We’d like to welcome our first guest artist for April - Nate Hallinan . Nate is a concept artist working in 2d who will be well known to some of our regular visitors for his amazing, almost photo-realistic concept art. He places his wonderful characters and creatures in their natural environments to enhance this believability. But Nate creates more than just beautiful creatures. Some of his work is inspired by popular culture, and he’s also created commissions for companies like Coca-Cola, as well as the up-coming feature film, “Dust”.
Nate began his career working in 3D before moving to 2D, and he worked for a number of games companies in a 3D modelling and texturing capacity before landing a job at lead concept artist at Supergenius Studio working on a variety of video game projects for Marvel, Telltale Games and more.
In 2011, Nate was offered an opportunity to work with Microsoft Games as a senior concept artist. He was responsible for early style, IP, and content development for several projects. One of those projects ended up being the innovative game Project Spark. Since Microsoft, Nate has continued stay busy as a contract/freelance artist for film and commercials in addition to video games.
We’ve begun by asking Nate some questions below, but feel free to pitch in on this thread and ask him whatever you like! There will be a live webinar session at 6pm PDT (LA Time) on Monday 14th April 2014. Registration essential - click here to sign up.
Also, you can learn from Nate - he’s running a CGWorkshop with us beginning in May on the techniques he uses to create his unique style of concept art. Find out more here .
1. What inspired you to become an artist? Is it something you’ve wanted to do from a young age?
It basically came down to just wanting to have a job I would enjoy. Although, I never considered becoming an artist when I was young. I was always told that outdated and misleading anecdotal term; starving artist. Obviously I didn’t want to grow up to starve. However, I loved to draw in my free time. Giving me a pencil and paper was something that occupied me for hours as a little kid. When I wasn’t drawing, I was playing outside with my friends with a very active imagination.
By the time I went off to college there were a lot of careers I had considered, but I couldn’t really decide on one. I started out taking a lot of courses focused in biology because that was something I had enjoyed in high school. Coincidentally, the biology classes I took still continue to be an invaluable source of inspiration for all the creature and environment designs I’ve done. Unfortunately, in high school I never took any art classes, but when I was given the opportunity in college, I jumped for it. Those classes ultimately rekindled my affinity for art. I couldn’t deny it any longer and it became clear what it was I wanted to do. I started talking with my instructors and researching realistic art career options. After all that time, I realized the answer was there all long and it was something I had been doing most of my life. That’s basically when I started down my path of becoming a professional artist.
2. Why did you focus on concept art? What made you head in that direction?
As I had mentioned before, I began researching artistic career options in college. It was around 2002-2003 when I discovered the work of Feng Zhu. Understanding what he did as a concept artist opened up a whole new world to me. I found a person who was getting paid to do something I had done most of my life. Lightening struck and I realized I wanted to be a concept artist too.
Growing up, some kids liked to draw action scenes, like in comic books, and other kids enjoyed sketching things from real life. There are numerous subject matters that kids gravitate to, but coming up with ideas and trying new designs was what I relished. I remember when I was little how I used to try to come up with alternate stormtrooper suits from Star Wars. My friends and I would even have these brainstorming sessions where we would come up with tons of ideas and we would sketch them all out. Concept art just ended up being the natural course to take.
3. You’ve become well known for your photorealistic 'Is that really 2D?" feel to your work. How long has it taken you to achieve this?
I had been working professionally for about 3 years as a concept artist when I felt like I created something that made people say, Is that really 2D?" In fact, many people (and websites) assumed Smurf Sighting was 3D and I think there are some that still do. At first it was a little frustrating that my painting ability wasn’t consistently acknowledged, but by the same token, it was gratifying the painting was so convincing. I still get emails every once in a while from various potential clients asking for 3D work. I hate turning them away, but that’s how it goes.
Finishing Smurf Sighting was huge for me because it was the first time I felt like I artistically executed exactly what I imagined. The whole purpose behind it was to push myself as far as I possibly could. I didn’t care how long it took me, I just wanted to see how far my painting ability could go. The background and character were all completely painted without any overlayed photo textures. I consciously did that so I wouldn’t cheat myself out of learning how to create the details from scratch. There were a lot of things I painted over and over until it felt right, and that was part of why it took so long. It took about two weeks to complete the image. However, I did use one photographic element in the image, and that is the mossy conk he’s walking on. I did that so I could paint him against something realistic and use it as reference for the level of detail I was aiming for. However, I ended up painting over most of the photo because it was taken on a muted cloudy day. All the dappled sunlight, shadows, grass and other details are things I painted onto it.
It’s been a few years since I created Smurf Sighting and I’ve come a long way since then. Depending on the complexity of the subject, it usually only takes me a few hours to a couple of days to paint a realistic creature or character now. Production schedules are very time sensitive and speeding up my painting process was a necessity.
4. Can you tell us about the career achievements to date that mean the most to you, and why?
I’ve worked at a few studios, but being promoted to Lead Concept Artist at Supergenius Studio was a big step in my career. Not only was I providing concept and illustrative work for various projects, but I was responsible for the quality and output of the 2D department as well. It was an invaluable experience for me. They helped me become a better artist and imbued great business ethics that I continue to strive for. It was an honor to be a small part of their early development as a successful company.
Designing the Coca-Cola© Polar Bears for the 2012 Superbowl was significant to me for a couple reasons. First, it was a Superbowl commercial, and second, it was the iconic Coca-Cola© Polar bears. It was a really quick turnover too: over 20 character sketch designs for various arctic animals and three realistically painted and staged final designs all completed in three days.
It surprises some people when they hear that I haven’t done much film work. Its definitely not for lack of trying, but working with Ember Lab on the upcoming short film Dust was the first time I got to design creatures for a live action film. It was an amazing experience, and it only solidified my desire to do more film work. It was an incredibly fun project, and the crew at Ember Lab were a great group to collaborate with. They had a clear and imaginative vision, and I would jump at the opportunity to work with them again.
The various times I’ve gone a little viral with my personal work were also pretty huge for me. The first time was with Smurf Sighting, the second was The Order of X, and more recently my realistic interpretations of The Legend of Zelda creatures: The Hyrule Bestiary (which I’m still working on). Work can still be challenging at times, and it’s good to take a break and create things that renew my love for making art in the first place. It’s awesome to have people like your professional work, but it feels incredibly gratifying to have people commend my personal work. It just feels great to connect to so many people who enjoy my artistic skill, style, and overall vision. That is why I’m going to start working on a completely original and personal project shortly, so keep an ear out.
5. What are you working on right now?
I am currently working on an undisclosed video game project with Mothership-Entertainment. I can’t really say anything about it yet, but it’s a really fun project and I can’t wait to show people. The genre of concepts will be pretty different from what I’ve done so far. I’m also working on the new 2D Concept Art - Creature Design workshop I’ll be teaching here at CGSociety. If that wasn’t enough, I’m also in the process of relocating to LA and should be there at the end of April. I can’t wait to get down there, and I know there’s some exciting stuff on the horizon.
Please make Nate feel welcome by asking him questions in this thread - he’ll log in and answer.
Also I’d like to thank CGSociety for brining over such talented people to the workshop and giving us all an equal opportunity to ask question to these rare and extradionary people they have as guests in their workshops.
