Working as a concept artist in film

Screen break Tanya Combrinck finds out that creative talent alone won't open doors to the movie industry

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The work of a concept artist in the film industry goes well beyond the dreaming up of fantastical creatures, machines, costumes and environments: at heart, you're a storyteller and a problem-solver.

Keith Christensen, a concept artist who worked on both Dune films, The Batman, and Avatar: The Way of Water, tells us he has always had a strong urge to make images that are driven by story: “A landscape is nice, and a landscape with a cabin is better. But the overgrown, burned-out ruins of a cabin with someone - or something - crouching in the shadows: that's the kind of thing that's fun for me.”

Good concept artists, says Matt Hatton, whose recent projects include Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, have the ability to “think holistically, like a director”. He explains: “Use that angle, that length of lens - or indicate it in the distortion of the image - and use those colours, that shape language, to relay the story. Or you're just doing 'cool' pictures that don't tell people anything.”

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