THE ART OF MATTHEW SAVAGE

The film, TV and video game concept artist discusses his career path and creative process with James Clarke

- James Clarke

Having been a concept designer since the early 2000s, Matthew Savage has established himself as a leading practitioner in his discipline. We find out how his patience and determination was rewarded with work on a range of hugely popular films, including Alien: Romulus, The Batman and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Matthew, how did your career as a concept designer begin?

I graduated from University of Wales in Newport with a degree in design futures. It was basically product design and multimedia, as we called it back then, using software like Flash and Macromedia Director. After that, my route into the industry was through film and TV.

Like most people, I started with no contacts. I didn't have any way in and so I felt like I had to claw my way in. And my way in - which is probably a traditional way into the UK film industry, and it might feel a bit old-fashioned - was that I came into the art department through being a runner and art department assistant, which is the entry level. That's a tea and coffee and running-around-the studio job, and I was delivering drawings to departments on Thunderbirds and then Batman Begins. The really useful part of this was that I met everyone: the carpenters, the plasterers, the electricians, the director of photography. Basically, I got a little glimpse of every department.

I really enjoyed it and I was fortunate enough to go on and do Doctor Who for BBC Wales in 2004 for the reboot. As a big fan, that was a huge deal. It was poorly paid, but incredibly well-paid in terms of the experience and working on things I had loved. Doctor Who was very good because it was period, sci-fi and contemporary; a bit of everything, on a modest budget and so it was a very strategic job in terms of how you make things work. So that was the first two or three years: making tea and coffee, drawing Daleks and then on into movies.

What's a key aesthetic foundation for your work?