PHIL WOHR IS A PROFESSIONAL CONCEPT ARTIST WITH OVER A DECADE OF EXPERIENCE WORKING IN THE VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY.
Website: http://artofphilwohr.blogspot.com/
Phil Whor’s current portfolio examples
In this first part of the interview, we asked Phil Whor specific questions about what it’s like to be a concept artist in the entertainment industry, dispel a few common misconceptions that aspiring artists tend to have about the field, and discuss his educational background. Here’s what he had to say:
HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU DECIDED TO COMMIT TO BEING AN ARTIST AND WHAT WERE YOUR MOTIVATIONS/ INSPIRATIONS?
I liked creating art from a very young age,but I decided to seriously pursue art as a career when I was in middle school. I had seen artwork done for platformer games and was really interested in going down that path. Later in high school someone had visited one of my art classes who was in the industry and that further motivated me to continue my efforts. A friend of mine who was also into creating art, had a Warhammer 40k tabletop book that had some pretty awesome art in it and we used to make our own card art games and stuff inspired by that book.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB? WHAT DO YOU FEEL ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES?
I really like the flexibility, the creative outlet, and working with other people to achieve an artistic vision that’s larger than what’s possible for a single person to create.
One of the biggest challenges of the job for me is being faced with those tasks that are less interesting (like making icons or website stuff etc.). I’ve learned to regard these types of tasks as the “work” part of the job, which helps me appreciate the interesting ones more.
An even more challenging part of this job, is finding the right job/employer or working environment since each company manages their artists differently. Some places can make employees feel “used” or just put you in situations where you aren’t really getting to do either the kind of work you want, or aren’t getting to collaborate in a relaxed environment.
ARE THERE ANY MISCONCEPTIONS YOU THINK STUDENTS TEND TO HAVE ABOUT CONCEPT ART AND ILLUSTRATION, THE JOB AND/ OR THE CAREER THAT YOU WISH TO SET STRAIGHT?
A lot of what you work on will be dictated to you. You still get to be creative but sometimes the things you have to concept isn’t always exciting or will generate portfolio pieces. Don’t think you are going to get in this industry and only make awesome drawings of characters all day, every day. Some people do get jobs like that, but most don’t. Studios have a really wide variety of things needing to be created, so you might get some awesome character piece one day, but then the next, you might be making tiny icon images for spells, or concepting things like crates and barrels. As long as the job has a decent balance of stuff that’s helping your career, then it’s important to keep a good attitude about it.
CAN YOU SHARE A PERSONAL STORY, ABOUT A HARD LESSON THAT YOU LEARNED, THAT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED, HAD YOU BEEN BETTER INFORMED?
I had a job where I was working on a project that was really not exciting to me, and I was still pretty new to the industry. I did some complaining about what I was working on because I thought every one else felt the same about not liking the project. Well later that week I got called into the art directors office because it turned out some people on the project really liked what we were doing a lot. I hadn’t been very sensitive to the fact that there were other people that liked the style I didn’t. I apologized and let them know I had just thought I was commiserating and didn’t realize I was upsetting some people. After that I tried much harder to keep a good attitude about things and they liked the change so it worked out.
Every one has different taste so just try to be sensitive so as not to accidentally insult someone. Always try to keep a good attitude about any work you do.
This concludes Part 1 of our interview with Phil Wohr. In Part two, we discuss with Phil his Dos and DONTs of portfolio building, how he branded and marketed himself in the beginning, and much more. All images used with permission by the artist. ©Phil Whor.
