Category: Concept & Visual Dev.

Concept artist and illustrator Sam Nielson works in a lively, cartoony style, in which he almost seems to be rendering caricatures of his already far-out imaginary characters. Nielson combines his springy drawing style with a digital painting approach that pays great attention to the lighting of his subjects — sometimes dramatic, other times muted and…

Jake Panian is a visual development artist workign in the animation, film and gaming industries. His animated film credits include Rio, Rio 2, Epic, Ice Age 4, and the upcoming features Peanuts and Ice Age 5. Panian has a blog and Instagram feed that feature some of his professional work but focus largely on his…

Jen Zee is an illustrator and concept artist for the gaming industry, and art director at Supergiant Games. I initially came across her crisp, colorful and strongly geometric illustrations for Transistor (above, top). In searching out more of her work, I was also impressed with her more moody and atmospheric pieces, and her strong, theatrical…

Sung Choi is a concept artist based in Seattle, working in the gaming and entertainment industry. His concept work is dramatically atmospheric, with subdued colors and muted values not only creating depth but mood. Choi has tuned his digital painting tools to create a very brushy, painterly effect, and uses the same characteristics in what…

James Paick is a concept and visual development artist who I first featured back in 2007. Paick is the founder of Scribble Pad Studios, whose clients include Riot Games, Naughty Dog, EA, Sony, Respawn, Epic Games, Activision, NC Soft, and Wizards of the Coast. Paick excels at suggesting detail and texture in environments of monumental…