You will take a chunk of an existing story, or maybe just one sequence, and on a smaller scale, touch upon all the same things they would do to create the design packages necessary for production: storyboards, prop designs, character/costume designs, environment designs, FX design, shot plans (if it’s for a film), and a final story-beat illustration (or two…depending on complexity and skill level of the participant). Explore digital tools to upgrade your workflows and production know-how. Brace yourself up with the top professionals entering the world of AI – what will it bring, how do top artists think about the future of digital art?

At the end of the lab, you will have several portfolio pieces showing your understanding of how to break down a portion of a film or game and design all the elements necessary to be able to move into production. You will understand what digital tools can bring to your professional career as a digital concept artist. The preference is to structure the experience as an overview, where you get to experience designing all aspects of production (props, sets, environments, characters, FX, etc.) and learn to understand that digital concept art goes beyond pen and paper. You will collaborate with colleagues from the Unreal Engine lab, representing the production artists working with concept art assignments. You will be able to attend lectures from both labs.

In the first week, you will focus on designing character beat moments showing key environments within your narrative. Demos of using digital tools and workflows will demonstrate the processes. You will create supplemental digital material that clearly shows your process and design choices and digital skills to designing art digitally. Everything from style and character design to props, graphics, staging, composition, lighting, and color will be discussed. Introducing 3D tools such as Blender for concept art has become essential for producers in digital film productions. The mentor will demonstrate such topics.

The focus during the second week will be on using one of the images to create a more refined digitally illustrated piece. At the end of the two weeks, you should have everything you need to finish an impressive pitch presentation of the project on your own.

Lesson plan

WEEK 2

The lab is aimed at both beginner and advanced visual artists – illustrators and designers. You should have drawing skills already at an intermediate level and bring their own projects to the lab to boost both their skills, workflows and their projects at the same time.

In order to be eligible for the lab, along with your registration you need to submit:

• Portfolio to demonstrate expertise and experience in the field of visual art
• Motivational letter
  Emphasis on career motivation and vision for a project

Participants bring their own materials, computers with Photoshop and projects to work on.

Fee

1 700 EUR per artist

General conditions

• Possibility to pay in instalments.
• We advise participants to apply for scholarships for participation fees and/or travel costs in their countries, as many public film funding bodies are usually supporting such training costs.
• The fee covers the fee of the course. The fee does NOT include accommodation, board and tuition during workshops and travel.
• Approximate living costs during your stay in the Czech Republic:

• • Accommodation at the venue: 25 EUR / night
  • Breakfast at the hotel – 5 EUR
  • Restaurant meal between 5 – 10 EUR
  • Grocery in general – 50 EUR per person a week

Funding for Czech employees and freelancers

Czech Labour Office (Úřad práce) offers to cover up to 85% of the course fee within the so-called POVEZ II project (Support of Vocational Training for Employees II). See the details and conditions here.

Cancellation Policy

The fee of 30% off the course price applies when canceling 45 days before the start of the course into which one gets accepted.