by Sarah Lawrence-Moye
Who are you?
My name is Kieran Booth and I’m a concept artist originally from Manchester, but I’m now based in Leeds.
Why did you pick comic and concept art?
I’ve always been interested in designing things and telling stories and this course combines both. I originally studied mechanical engineering and architectural design at college but found myself enjoying drawing and designing characters, environments and props so much more. Once I left college, I spent a year looking for an apprenticeship in engineering but couldn’t find anything. Over that year I spent more time drawing and painting before finally deciding to join university studying comic and concept art.
Have you always been creative?
I’ve been creative since I was a child and have always drawn and created things even when I wasn’t studying an artistic course. Before I decided to go into comic and concept art, I studied mechanical engineering, but wanted to be an architect which I guess is also a semi creative profession.
My dad has never been in a creative line of work, but always used to read comics, look through art books and draw things when I was younger, so I think part of it has come from that.
What inspires you?
The main thing that inspires me is looking through other artists work on platforms like artstation or Instagram. I also own quite a large collection of concept art books and comic books, which I use as a reference quite often. Video games are one of the other things that inspires me, and I often find myself designing things that resemble the environments, characters or props that I have seen in the games that I have recently played.
How has your work evolved over time?
The quality of my work has naturally improved over time but, the speed at which I complete my work has also improved. I’ve started to develop my own style now, whereas earlier on I would try to mimic multiple different artists depending on who I was interested in at the time and, which style I found the easiest. Since I’ve started studying concept art in a more professional manner and less as a hobby, the quality of my work has increased at a much faster rate.
What research do you do?
The kind of research I do depends on the subject in which I am drawing. If I am designing something for a sci-fi or fantasy setting, then the amount of research I must do decreases, and I usually just find a couple of reference images. However, if the setting is much more realistic then I tend to gather around 10 times more reference imagery before putting them all into a mood board. The amount may also depend on how familiar I am with the subject at the time and how technically accurate the design must be. For instance, if I am designing a vehicle or something that requires more technical elements, I will tend to collect more reference imagery and read into how the mechanics of certain things work like landing gear or suspension as I find this can add a sense of realism to the design.
What is your creative process?
Again, this depends on what I am designing. My main go to thing to draw is environments so I’ll cover this one. Once I’ve collected whatever reference imagery I need, I start by drawing thumbnails. These are small (usually 3 x 2 inch) drawings that take around 2-3 minutes each and usually only require one marker and paper. Once I’ve produced a good amount (this depends on how I feel about the previous designs) I choose 1 and redraw it in higher detail. For this I also use traditional mediums and tend to stick with 6-7 cool grey Copic markers, a black 0.4 pilot hi-tech pen, a white out pen and white pencil. This allows me to create a rendered drawing that has accurate atmospheric perspective with greater detail in a short amount of time. One drawback of this technique is that every mark that I make is permanent meaning that mistakes cannot be erased. Whilst this can ruin a drawing, it also makes me think more about the work that I am creating and also allows me to work faster thus improving my speed overall.
Comments