WORLD Building Art Lab

Develop strong visuals of a world based on the narrative concept!

Play Introduction Video

Date 28. 8. - 8. 9. 2023

Available capacity 10 participants New

Language English

Duration 10 days

Skill Level at least intermediate drawing skills

Location Litomyšl, Czech Republic

Price

1 700 EUR

per artist

Status Open call

Deadline:

JOINT THE LAB Funding for Czech Artists

Designed for producers and their creative teams to work hands-on together with industry professionals as mentors to take a story of your film or game project and create the concept art for it – design and create the style and atmosphere of the environment, design props and backgrounds, the style of render and FX of your movie or game.

You will focus on developing strong visuals based on the narrative concept you bring to the lab. Emphasis will be on how to establish world building design elements that reinforce storytelling.

On completion of the lab you will

develop 4-5 images based on the concept prompts brought to the lab
create at least one pitch-ready portfolio image
discuss how designs will affect budgets and schedules, and how your designs will be used by other departments down the line in production.
enhance your visual art skills for storytelling
enhance your team-development processes and workflow
gain valuable feedback from our board of experts and professionals through sales and distribution
get a stamp of credibility for your project in the eyes of potential co-producers

Your mentors

Jim Moore

Lab's introduction

How it works

You will take a chunk of your 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).

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. 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.)

In the first week, you will focus on designing character beat moments that also show key environments within your narrative. You will create some supplemental material that clearly shows your process and design choices. Everything from style and character design, to props, graphics, staging, composition, lighting, and color will be discussed.

The focus during the second week will be on using one of the images to create a more refined 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.

The labs include

Concept art lectures by an accomplished professional
Professional mentoring and consulting of your project – film or game
Team collaboration with the mentor
Taking both Story and Concept Art Labs as a team project would qualify to get feedback from the panel of experts (see STORY LAB DETAILS)

Lesson plan

WEEK 1

Day 1:
Introduction, approach to designing narrative. Discuss the concepts brought to class individually. Decide on key beat moments to develop.
Day 2:
- Character/costume Design lecture/demo. Research.
- Develop a character key beat moment.
Day 3: Composition. Characters in action in a set. Research. Develop an action moment.
Day 4:
- Designing and environment, Lighting and color. Research.
- Develop an environment reveal moment.
Day 5:
- Characters in an environment.
- Design characters interacting with an environment close up set.

WEEK 2

Day 1: Designing composition and layout.
Day 2: Establishing lighting. Shadow shapes and values.
Day 3: Understanding color and light sources.
Day 4: Creating graphics elements and texture.
Day 5: Final critique and refinement.

Who is it for

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.

Prerequisite

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.

Fees and funding

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.