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Nathan Fowkes is a working animation artist with screen credit on 12 feature films as well as a teacher of drawing, painting, color and design

Nathan Fowkes

  • Feature Films
    Wonder Park (Paramount Animation 2019)
    Ferdinand (Blue Sky Studios 2017)
    Legend of Tembo (Unreleased Feature, Digital Domain 2015)
    Rio 2 (Blue Sky Studios 2014)
    Disney's The Pirate Fairy (DisneyToon Studio 2014)
    The Legend of Puss in Boots (DreamWorks Animation 2011)
    Shrek Forever After (DreamWorks Animation 2010)
    How to Train Your Dragon (DreamWorks Animation 2010)
    Flushed Away (DreamWorks Animation 2006)
    Shark Tale (DreamWorks Animation 2004)
    Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas (DreamWorks Animation 2003)
    Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron (DreamWorks Animation 2002)
    The Road to El Dorado (DreamWorks Animation 2000)
    The Prince of Egypt (DreamWorks Animation 1998)

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I have chosen this artist because he works in a similar style to how I would work if I were to do concept design. He uses vibrant colour and dramatic lighting and manages to make simple brush strokes look textured and detailed. He also works on the kind films that I aspire to work on one day.

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How does he inspire me?

  • I love the style of his artwork- the colour, detail, contrast in colours, content etc...

  • He has become very successful in his time as an artist and has been employed by many big companies

  • He is doing what he loves and is able to make a living from it.

His skills:

  • ability to work for a client

  • idea generation 

  • ability to work with others 

  • Photoshop knowledge

  • adaptability and flexibility 

Fowkes relates to my subject area because he focuses on concept environmental art -something I want to learn

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ORIGINAL IMAGE

MY RESPONSE

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Digital painting-
Nathan Fowkes inspired:
greenery, plants, vibrant colours, nature, water
Reflection:
I really enjoyed doing something other than portraits and this piece really helped me understand the kind of style I am going for.
I do think that it is a little too detailed, to make it more realistic it should be slightly blurred in areas or less defined- blocked shapes. I feel with this effect, compared to the dusk version, it appears a little 2D.- lacking depth 

Overall I feel I have started to develop a new and exciting skill.

I used one of my photos from around Newcastle as reference for perspective. Also this useful for thinking of scale. I like concepts of vast places and huge buildings/nature. 

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Process:

  • I started by making a very vague silhouette of what I wanted, where and in what colour.

  • I then found some concept art brushes (finding a new artist in the process) and began to add in detail to the rocks using the burn and dodge tool on Photoshop.

  • The plants came next, I decided to make the rock into a cave. I added in the sky- deciding it would be daytime.

  • My light source would be coming from the left, so I tried to work out the highlights and shadows- I did find this challenging, and there were many do-overs.

  • Some brushes I used were just block shapes, so I had to place the shape then go back over it with the right lighting.

  • I turned the bridge into a wooden bridge, held up by two tree trunks. I wanted this place to feel as natural as possible, with no obvious man made structures- unlike Newcastle which is filled with 1900's buildings and large structures etc...

  • When I finished the main part of detail, I went in and strengthened the lighting, editing the colours and contrast to achieve the most realistic look I could.

  • I also made a dusk version to push myself to understand lighting. To achieve this I edited the brightness, replaced the sky with a darker sky, lowered the light source and made it glow where the last rays o the sun would hit.

Dusk Version 

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