Nick Pugh is a concept artist who has done character, vehicle, prop and effects designs for movies like The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Ring 2 and Serenity.
He is lead concept artist for the effects studio Rythm and Hues which also does concept design for high-end theme parks.
Pugh has a particular interest in concept vehicles and as well as pursuing his work in the entertainment industry. He designs concept cars for individuals, delivering a photo-realistic rendering in which the vehicle illustration is matched with a photo of the individual. He also designed his own concept car, the Xeno, that made it to a full-size version.
The Entertainment Design portion of his site contains pre-production illustrations in a variety of media, from sketches on vellum, mixed media, digital renderings and sculpture.
I particularly enjoy the monochromatic images in which he plays with disorienting juxtapositions of walls, streets, water and other visual elements of normal scenes in Escher-like impossibilities (image above). Unfortunately, I don’t know what project or projects they’re for. (I assume it’s a theme park installation.) If anyone knows, I’d love to find out.
In addition to his own site, I’m giving a link below to the Nick Pugh gallery on the Gnomon Workshop site, where he is an instructor. The page includes links to several of his instructional DVDs.
