Mac Smith, Scurry

Mac Smith, Scurry comic

Mac Smith, Scurry comic

Mac Smith is is a concept artist and illustrator who has largely put aside his work in the gaming industry to concentrate on his own comics project.

Scurry is a post-apocalyptic survival story in which the protagonists are mice. The setting is an abandoned house and the surrounding woods, now mysteriously devoid of humans. With the disappearance of the humans has gone the availability of food their presence provided.

The mouse colony, within which Smith has developed distinct characters and political factions, is faced with the dangers of moving vs. the inevitable decline of food supplies. Scouts are sent out, facing terrifying challenges in the form of cats, wolves, birds of prey and the other dangers that real mice might encounter. These are seen largely in upshots, from the point of view of the mice.

This is the setting in which Smith unwinds his story, told with the cinematic acumen of an experienced concept artist, and beautifully drawn and rendered, with nicely textural attention to naturalistic environments. I particularly enjoy the way he handles rain, mist and similar atmospheric scenes.

Scurry can be read online as a webcomic, which Smith has been supporting through Patreon, offering, among other things, tutorials, walk-throughs and PSD files as perks for supporters.

Smith has also been offering Scurry as a series of printed graphic stories, two of which are available as both hardback and paperback. He is currently raising funds for the third book.

You can find examples of his artwork for the strip on his Artstation and deviantART galleries, and some videos and instructional material on YouTube.

 
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Johannes Helgeson

Johannes Helgeson, concept art

Johannes Helgeson, concept art

Originally from Sweden and now based in Copenhagen, Denmark, Johannes Helgeson is a concept artist and illustrator working in the gaming industry.

in his online presence, Helgeson emphasiszes character and costume design. His style can be springy and cartoon-like, brushy and textural or highly rendered — sometimes all at once.

Many of the images on his Artstation site are accompanied by their preliminary drawings.

I particularly like his homage to one of J.C. Leyendecker’s most famous Arrow Shirt advertising illustrations (images above, bottom two).

 
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Sylvain Sarrailh

Sylvain Sarrailh, concept art, environments, illustration

Sylvain Sarrailh, concept art, environments, illustration

Sylvain Sarrailh is a French illustrator, concept artist and environment designer working primarily in the gaming field. He has worked with companies like Guerrilla Games, Illumination Entertainment, Rocksteady, Amplitude, Sony Picture Animation, Ubi Soft and Dreamworks.

Given the dark and grungy vein of illustration common within that industry, Sarrailh (who also goes by the handle “Tohad”) has an unusually bright and often naturalistic approach.

He has recently become the director and designer of a new game project, Forest of Liars, and he points to the painters of the Hudson River School of painting as inspiration for his approach to the illustrations for that game’s environments.

His ArtStation portfolio can be sorted to feature that project as well as other genres in which he works. There is an ArtStation blog with updates. You can also find his work on Behance and deviantART.

 
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Arthus Pilorget

Arthus Pilorget, French concept artist
Arthus Pilorget is French concept artist, illustrator and visual development artist based in Lyon.

He graduated from the remarkable Gobelins, l’école de l’image (Gobelins School of Communications) in Paris, and has been working on a nmber of animation projects since.

He has a lively, vibrant style with a nice edge of darkness and feeling of atmosphere.

You can find a variety of images on his ArtStation site, along with some short animated sequences, and a longer group project from Gobelins, titled Que Dalle (which can be translated as “Bugger All”, the subtitles contain strong language). There is also a “Making of” video on the same page.

 
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Cameron Mousavi

Cameron Mousavi, illustrations and concept art
Cameron Mousavi is a freelance illustrator and visual development artist based in the Los Angeles area.

Mousavi works in an appealingly naturalistic style, with the kind of feeling for texture and atmosphere that suggests experience in painting from life.

I particularly like his drawings and architectural renderings.

 
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Su Jian

Su Jian, concept art
Su Jian is a concept artist based in Beijing, China and working in the film industry.

Beyond that, I know little. I haven’t found an official website other than a presence on ArtStation, and that has no information on projects of companies worked for.

Su Jian’s illustrations are sometimes in the vein of common concept art themes, but often more eccentric, with interesting subjects and approaches.

 
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