Schedule

Thoughts and rambling ruminations about concept design and how to do noble battle against the beasts that lurk in the shadows of unconscious habits, breeding cliches.

Come and listen in to these amazing artists as they draw together on Magma Studio and chat about art!

To watch the drawing jams, please click into the LBX Live section and then click into the “Live Drawing Jam”

Come and listen in to these amazing artists as they draw together on Magma Studio and chat about art!

To watch the drawing jams, please click into the LBX Live section and then click into the “Live Drawing Jam”

Come and listen in to these amazing artists as they draw together on Magma Studio and chat about art!

To watch the drawing jams, please click into the LBX Live section and then click into the “Live Drawing Jam”

Lightbox joins DJ Welch on his channel Animators vs Games as he talks with mega-talented artists Brian Matyas, Armand Baltazar and Karla Ortiz. They tell stories of the entertainment industry, how they met/worked together, and how to stay healthy working over the years, while mitigating injuries. Also, they goof a lot.

Come and listen in to these amazing artists as they draw together on Magma Studio and chat about art!

To watch the drawing jams, please click into the LBX Live section and then click into the “Live Drawing Jam”

Com draw silly, ugly, simple little things to beat perfectionism, anxiety, creative block – on MAGMA Studio.
Join me in rediscovering the joy of drawing with freedom and playfulness after almost quitting art.

Ever wonder, “Why don’t I EVER get a response to my emails?” Or… “Why does every recruiter give me portfolio advice that COMPLETELY CONTRADICTS what the last recruiter said??” Ariel Goldberg was both a struggling artist and a working artist before becoming a recruiter. This presentation offers you his well-rounded perspective and a METHOD you can apply to getting work in Animation and Games.

This will be a big picture presentation about how to build characters and worlds for Picture Books using Visual Development. We will go from the manuscript breakdown to the final illustration, with stops in character design, environment design, color design, and more. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A.

I will draw, sketch and explain what’s good for CG production.

Let’s talk about Environment Design, some of the tips and tricks on how I approach them, as well as common mistakes and how to solve them!

Passcode: ALOHALBX20211234

Come and listen in to these amazing artists as they draw together on Magma Studio and chat about art!

To watch the drawing jams, please click into the LBX Live section and then click into the “Live Drawing Jam”

A casual conversation about the benefits of growing on social media for any artists out there. Whether if it’s for professional or personal reasons, there are many ways social media can help an artist grow a business or seek their authentic voice. This conversation will be open to Q+A at the end on Instagram Live.

Join Charlotte Belland as she hosts wolf ambassadors from Ironwood Wolves for an interactive sketch session. On-line guests can join via IG Live and Central Ohio guests can join in-person (limited reservations). Enjoy the playful personalities of ambassador wolves as you fill your sketchbook with wolf drawings.

In this demo I’ll show you how to take a b/w drawing to color using gradient maps in Photoshop

In this one hour drawing session we will be drawing the whole time as we dive into finding character and shape inspiration through a variety of objects that I will be providing. This is a great way to loosen up and truly tap into your creativity. I will open up the session at the end for Q&A.

While negotiation might seem like a difficult, or even foreign topic in the world of illustration, as a freelancer it’s a skill that is important to learn! In this lecture, professional illustrator Anoosha Syed will be sharing negotiation tips so you will have the confidence and knowledge to be able to fight for fairer fees and contracts.

Digital Artist, Jason Chan, will be painting live and talking with the audience, sharing tips, stories, and answering questions. This will be an informal stream for hanging out, doing art, and chatting.

Join four freelance artists as they talk about managing a successful art career from home: How to get started, present yourself online, manage the day-to-day, take care of your mental and physical health, and much more!
@djamilaknopf, @amaretta_, @ysvyri, @luisapreissler

Watch as artist & animation legend Aaron Blaise, (The Lion King, Mulan, Aladdin) demos his approach to digital painting in Photoshop. He will be focusing on how to get believable light & shadows and more. He will also be answering your questions.

See how fantasy illustrator and sketch artist Karl Kopinski approaches character design using traditional materials (pen, pencil, paper). Submit questions for Karl during the demo – https://proko.com/lbx-karlkopinski

I will design a character in clay and bring it to CG. A quick view of my process.

Ask Andrea your questions here: Slido

Join illustrator and painter Bernard Lee as he shares his perspective and straightforward approach to painting a tactile portrait in Photoshop. This 60-90 minute demo will be great for traditional artists looking to bridge the gap to digital or even vice versa!

I will paint an environment in Procreate and make it into a small movie-scene in Lumafusion. I will put in a already animated character, but the rest we do on the fly.
A small taste of things I am doing in my NEW Schoolism course!!!

Hi, Everyone! I’m going to show you, humbly, how I create some of my art by creating a new illustration live just for the occasion !

It’s gonna be a good opportunity to talk about the process, illustration, the animation industry, etc… Hope to see you there!

Character Design-A-Thon 2 is the much anticipated sequel to last year’s first ever Character-Design-A-Thon: an all-day, live character design stream hosted by Nicholas Kole (Spyro, Crash Bandicoot 4), with guest artists Claire Hummel, James Castillo, and more! We’ll walk through our processes from idea to finished art, and chat casually about the industry, while answering questions from the chat.

So many times when we see a photo we want to paint, we are bombarded with all the small nuances that make up picture. How do we push past the complexity to truly see the simple cogs that make up the image, and translate that into our own painting? In this demo, I will be showing how I interpret a photo from the inside out to be able to quickly create a readable engaging image in no time.

Grab your iPad/gouache/pencil/whatever medium you want and paint a landscape with me! We will be doing a quick block-in to practice our simplification, design, and color knowledge! I hope you enjoy it 🙂

Creating a cartoon style illustration from the very rough sketch to the final color.

Passcode: lightbox

I will be going through my process of how I come up with character designs that I have used in my 10+ years working in Marvel Studios. Please join me as I will go through the how to create iconic characters and what I go through to think of designs that has worked in the various movies, shows, and attractions in my years working in the entertainment industry. It should be fun!

My own journey from law school to working in the entertainment industry and ultimately opening my own studio. I want to share the things I’ve learned and where I failed, and I hope my experiences can help other upcoming and professional artists.

I’ve been working in animation for just over 11 years and a few things stick out to me for artists who want to break in. Most struggle with even getting started on a portfolio! What are directors looking for? How can my portfolio stand out from the rest? Follow me as I walk you through what I would put into my portfolio!

Come watch me render one of my original characters! See my workflow and how I approach painting a furry and cuddly character.

Gurney demonstrates how to paint a realistic street scene using a gradient wash created with a brayer.

During this start-to-finish live patina demo, we’ll cover the basics of the bronze casting process. Colin will transform a Grand Tusker Warthog and Mink Talisman Skulls plus a “Handling” from raw to finished bronze. He’ll show how all those cool colors are created using heat and chemicals. Transitions in color, layering and creating various patterns will be demonstrated.

Careers are rarely a straight path–this is an in-depth discussion on my personal experience with taking big leaps, rolling with the punches, and embracing the journey.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT WILL BE ON ZOOM AND MAY HAVE LIMITED CAPACITY
Passcode: 069514

Andy Cung will share his experience of bridging the gap from storyboarding to screenwriting and how they both have worked together to reinforce and re-inform one another.

During this year’s Lightbox Artist Alley you can choose to come and chill out with me, Calista, a working video game concept artist! We’ll be streaming on Saturday the 11th of September and the following Sunday. Sit back, grab a cup of coffee, for we will be discussing on Saturday techniques, practices, and things learned along the way. On Sunday, however, it will be a unique topic of discussion; “Style Identity Crisis”. Have you been there? Can’t wait to meet you all!

Part II of our process designing a character intended for animation! This character will be used in the pilot for the Stormfellers animated series- we’ll continue our talk on understanding the needs of the design, and translating a 2D design into a 3D rig!

A casual stream for hour or so of sketching and hanging out on Twitch with concept artist Dawn Carlos. Break out your sketchbooks or just join in for some casual conversation and drawing!

On Saturday afternoon I will be answering questions from live audience as well as chatting about my recent projects, learning new skills and finding your own voice in art.

I’ll be focusing on working on one character design illustration so come hangout, chill, and draw with me.

Join Iris Compiet (Faeries of the Faultlines) as she creates a brand new faery using watercolor!

On this stream I’m going to show my drawing process and share some useful tips & tricks of rendering.

Want to learn how to improve your paintings? Let’s dive into others’ work and learn how we can from each other’s mistakes.

Zbrush character demo.

Tom and Tony Bancroft bring a LIVE edition of The Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast with special guest – Chris Sanders!

Join in with the BBros as they chat with Sanders about working together at Disney on films like Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Mulan and Lilo and Stitch. As well as his Dreamworks films, How to Train Your Dragon, The Croods and many more. Be a part of the fun as the podcast unfolds with you in the audience! Audience Q&A too! This will be live-streamed at Pencilish Studios YouTube page. Be waiting on the page right at 1pm PST!

Amanda (Din) is going to be painting one of Gus’ drawings live, and encourages anyone to join in!
A file with some finished lines will be available for download, and we’ll be talking about process, bringing life to drawings through colors and rendering techniques.

A panel of top sculptors from the fields of dimensional Concept Art, Fantasy and Imaginative Realism chat on a number of topics including the good, the bad and the ugly in sculpting materials and concept and creature development.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT WILL BE ON ZOOM AND MAY HAVE LIMITED CAPACITY
Passcode: 064797

Eclipse Project – Chronicles from Collapsing Universe personal project that each of us should roll in free time to not related only to clients but to ourselves. Next steps review and some short demo.

I love the atmosphere at conventions and being able to walk up to an artist, say hello and build a relationship. Over the next 3 days, I’ll be doing a very interactive live stream while completing a project from start to finish. I want viewers to come up with ideas that influence the project. Come say hello while you wait for another panel, stick around and contribute ideas to the project, ask questions, or just hang out and lurk! More info here: https://michaelrelth.squarespace.com/stream-brief

Join recruiters from some of the top studios for gaming, features, television and stop motion animation as they share best practices, helpful tips and walk you through how to navigate your job search from prep through follow up.

Moderator: Camille Eden VP, Animation Recruitment – Nickelodeon Animation Studio & Talent Development Chair, WIA

Anna Kvorning, Head of Staffing – LAIKA

Doeri Welch, Senior Manager People Acquisition, Creative at Madison Square Garden Entertainment Company – MSG Sphere

Matt Roberts, Senior Artistic Recruiter – Walt Disney Animation Studios

Melanie Young, Manager, Recruitment – Nickelodeon Animation Studio

Charlie Wen, founder & former Head of Marvel Studios Visual Development department and creator of God of War’s Kratos, discusses getting into the industry, leading across multiple mediums, overcoming the hurdle of heading & building the core design of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and through it all, continuing the passion.

You can also check out Charlie on his Discord here

Come and listen in to these amazing artists as they draw together on Magma Studio and chat about art!

To watch the drawing jams, please click into the LBX Live section and then click into the “Live Drawing Jam”

The pathways to becoming a director in animation have evolved as the desire for authentic storytelling and diverse ideas is opening the door to historically underrepresented creatives. Join a producer, film exec, and manager as they discuss this new paradigm, how you might prosper in it, and the inaugural CAPE Animation Directors Accelerator! Followed by a Q&A.
Presented by BRIC Foundation & CAPE.

Join TB Choi for a small workshop on character design.

Last year’s event was such a hit we decided to do it again! We’ll be talking animation industry stuff, sharing personal stories from our experiences working at various studios and productions, and taking Q’s from the audience – All while eating spicy buddaecchigae. It’ll be casual, fun and who knows?… Maybe some surprise guests will make an appearance!

PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT WILL BE ON ZOOM AND MAY HAVE LIMITED CAPACITY
Passcode: 811080

Come bring your drinks and chat together as Grace will attempt to do a live demo and answer your questions about attending school and classes. Then how she entered into the industry and learned to adapt and goof around.
We’ll talk about your curiosities of work environments, learning to how one can adapt, and the general strive to keep up with building mental health in demanding environments.

Passcode: LBX21

A short presentation regarding basic lighting concepts and how these concepts relate to process and style.

From comic books and graphic novels to cartoons in newspapers and magazines, these top comic illustrators know a thing or two about creating illustrations in a variety of formats. Today, they’re coming together to talk about their design choices, art styles, and the creative freedom they have working as comic artists.

Award-winning Caricature artist Manny Avetisyan takes you through process he uses to create his highly-exaggerated caricatures of people – a skill that’s great for any artist to acquire, but especially useful for character designers. The 2-hour presentation will be done live via zoom.

Access Passcode: %1f*L=zf

Artist J. Scott Campbell gives you his own personal take on the age old discussion of “discovering your own personal art style!” A creator with nearly 3 decades in the business, Campbell has had great success in the fields of comic books, creator owned properties, statue design and much more and has had a great deal of experience in the areas of marketing and branding his own unique signature style.

Armand will demonstrate his environment design process starting with the use of Oculus VR using Adobe Medium App, then set dressing/rendering using Unreal Engine, then final paint over in Photoshop.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT WILL BE ON ZOOM AND MAY HAVE LIMITED CAPACITY
Passcode: serrano

A comprehensive guide to working in children’s book illustration, covering topics from basic terminology to how find an agent, how to approach publishers, common portfolio mistakes & more. I will also relate my particular journey into kidlit & how it has overlapped with my career in animation. Live painting demo plus Q&A session if time permits!

Marvel Studios’ Director of Visual Development Andy Park LIVE discussion about helping to design Wanda Maximoff through the years to her emergence as the Scarlet Witch in the hit Disney+ show WandaVision! Special appearances by Visual Development team members Jackson Sze, Anthony Francisco, Jana Schirmer and Phil Saunders! Since this will be LIVE questions will be welcomed. Join us for the fun!

Whether you’re creating an illustrated novel or a graphic novel, writing and illustrating your own story is an epic undertaking! Join artist-authors Armand Baltazar, Iain McCaig, Victoria Ying, Greg Manchess, and Betsy Peterschmidt for a conversation moderated by Mia Araujo about the next step in bringing your own story to life.

Fine artist, teacher, and founder of the Watts Atelier, Jeff Watts, will go live and continue working on a long graphite figure drawing and talk about graphite figure rendering techniques. If there’s time for questions Jeff will be taking them from the Proko community – https://proko.com/lbx-jeffwatts

Donna Lee is an LA based story artist who has worked at Disney Animation, Netflix, DreamWorks and more. In this panel, Donna will be sharing how she got into industry and her insight of what it’s like to be a story artist in feature animation. Topics such as how to build engaging story portfolios, what to expect in a job, and how to hone your voice will be included.

Join me for a casual stream and ask me anything while I work on a promotional illustration for my webcomic, Ash in the Wind!

How to unleash your creativity and be more playful in your creations and life.
In this talk, we’re gonna go through what the Inner Child represents, how it manifests when wounded, how it manifests when healthy, and how we can begin to heal the inner child to improve creativity and playfulness as artists.

Come and listen in to these amazing artists as they draw together on Magma Studio and chat about art!

To watch the drawing jams, please click into the LBX Live section and then click into the “Live Drawing Jam”

Our topic will be about success and the wrong generalizations on what makes someone “successful” in their field. We want to be able to give an honest, and encouraging approach to artists who struggle with comparing yourself to others, how to still have fun in an algorithm-based art platforms, and not losing your sense of fun while tackling difficult assignments. etc. Success can be different!

A casual hangout with animator / illustrator Danni Fisher-Shin (@dannifs) as she walks through the process of creating one of her illustrations, from concept through finished piece. This will be a pre-edited process video with a thorough workflow breakdown and Q&A throughout. Draw along if you like, ask questions, and just chat as if we’re all hanging out IRL at the expo!

A relaxing live stream on ipad doing a study in my garden

Join Character Designer and Story Artist Prem Sai GS (Netflix, DreamWorks, Warner Bros. etc) as he explores the cognitive challenges we face in bringing life and originality into our art and how to overcome them and work towards developing our own unique styles. Prem is currently a Story Artist at Netflix Animation.

The Pooles have been on juries for numerous art contests including Spectrum, IBA and the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize. In this chat, we’ll give you a behind the scenes look at different ways contests work, share some thoughts about presenting your entries in the best possible light, provide perspective on results and look at the benefits of entering. Applies to all mediums.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT WILL BE ON ZOOM AND MAY HAVE LIMITED CAPACITY
Passcode: 577378

Great design work relies on the power of theme, and all artists use it whether they realize it or not. This presentation will help you understand the visual language of theme and how to leverage theme to improve your character designs and other concept design work. Sam will show how to detect the themes locked inside successful designs, and show different ways to express thematic ideas.

Aki has worked for Dreamworks, Netflix, Supercell Games, GUND, SpinMaster Inc. , and more !

This will be a discussion about Character Design for Animation, Games and Toys, and how to adapt to any industry.

Aki will also be talking about marketing/ branding/ merchandising Original IP and creating her own company and toy/merchandise line.

Come join liliuhms and talk shop! Let’s spend the day drawing, chatting, and answering any questions you may have! We might design a product from start to finish, or maybe we’ll do some drawing requests! Either way, it’ll be fun!

For this panel I’ll be sharing how I generate ideas for characters based on prompts, scripts or experiences from life, and then how I use shape language to convey those ideas to an audience. These concepts can apply to a broad range of styles and rendering techniques.

Peter Han is a concept Designer and Teacher and Superani artist based in California. Take this opportunity to experience his artistry in teaching the fundamentals of art. And his creative process behind the best-selling education book “Dynamic Bible.” He will be doing a live demonstration and Q&A through the comment thread in the stream.

A demo showcasing the design and thought process of modern versions of mythical creatures.

Join Painted in Color podcast co-hosts Lauren, Mia, Eric, and Esther and special guests Edge and Chrystin Garland, as we discuss how to balance making art for a living with making art that you love. We will be drawing together on a Magma Studio board onscreen during this discussion!

Continuing from the previous day, diving into the creative process for exploring and drawing new things!

How do some of the best storyboard artists get their story ideas onto paper? Every frame counts in this multi-artist storyboard drawing session with story artists Michael Daley (The Incredibles 2, The Peanuts Movie, Cars 3), Kris Pearn (The Willoughbys), Michelle Lam (Pebbles), John Hoffman, and Seo Kim! Watch as they work together to create storyboards in this fun collaboration! Featuring MagmaStudio.io

Passcode: 509023

In this demonstration, I will show you how I create abstract portraits in a free, relaxing, and playful way using coloring pencils.
Join me and make your own abstract portrait, then post it and tag me (@daniellepioliart) so I can see it 🙂

A pitch of Bill Presing’s new comic book Lucky Boy followed by a presentation detailing Bill’s creative process that brought the book from idea to final product.

Karla will demonstrate how she makes an emotive portrait utilizing cinematic lighting, background, and additional elements to render a final portrait. After her 2-hour demo she’ll take questions from the audience. Questions will be taken from https://proko.com/lbx-karlaortiz

Vallejo will walk participants through the process used to create the artwork for his various picture books. Ideation, research and photo reference, sketching, studies, and the finish will be explored. As with all of his lectures, parallels will be drawn to illustrators of the past and present. Finally, advice will be given on developing an appropriate working process for your own projects!

Dong Ho Kim, an artist based in Seoul Korea, and part of the Superani Team.
Dong Ho Kim will share his creative thinking process, share his methods and techniques with a traditional medium.
He will showcase his latest published Plein air book during the presentation.
The entire presentation will be translated into English and we will take Q&A through the comment thread in the youtube stream.

I have worked in the animation industry as an animator and a story artist, but I always invest in my own projects whenever I have the time. The journey has not been easy, but after years of maintaining a schedule and workflow, I’d love to share some thoughts and advice based on my own experiences. I will also be covering about ways to make it a career.

Hello, I’m Daisy, a freelance illustrator based in Seattle. I haven’t followed a traditional path (a.k.a. art school) to becoming a professional artist. Instead I’ve grown through self-directed online tutorials and classes from amazing artists. Grab your tea, coffee or favorite drink and join me while we relax, chat and create characters based on your suggestions! You can find more information at https://ladychamomile.ink/lbx2021

Jae Kwang Park, an artist based in Seoul Korea, and part of the Superani Team.
Jae Kwang Park will share his creative process for the comic book art using various pens and markers.
He will showcase the original artwork for published comics.
The entire presentation will be translated into English and we will take Q&A through the comment thread in the youtube stream.

Join Claire Hummel (Half-Life: Alyx, Westworld VR) as she revisits her historical princesses series ten years later, thanks to the inexorable march of time. Just a laid back stream redrawing some of the original entries in the series, sketching up some new ones, and a lot of discussion about designing and researching historical fashion.

Come drop in and chat with Allen and Vicki as Allen does some live drawing over on Instagram at @I_JustDraw. We will be talking about art and techniques, projects and life as an artist. We have been offline a lot this year and cannot wait to jump back in with everyone.

What a week! Let’s unwind with a beverage and some creature doodles! I’ll be raising money for a charity organization.

Come and listen in to these amazing artists as they draw together on Magma Studio and chat about art!

To watch the drawing jams, please click into the LBX Live section and then click into the “Live Drawing Jam”

Samantha Brown, Senior Recruiter, and Daujenae Harps, Senior Recruiter give insightful information into the world of Marvel Studios’ Animation recruiting.

Nicolas Nemiri, an artist based in Beijing, China, and part of the Superani Team.
Nicolas is currently working as a visual development artist for film and has published various children’s books.
He will share his creative thinking process, share his methods and techniques.
We will take Q&A through the comment thread in the youtube stream.

Anthony will go through a few designs he had done for the MCU and then open up the floor to portfolio review, Q&A, and paint-overs.
Go to his gumroad and sign up and you will be emailed instructions on how to send one image for him to paint-over. Critiques will be 5-8 minutes for each person.

Greg Baldwin will be livestreaming his process and techniques for designing stylized characters. Each night will focus on different examples of designing characters, such as peculiar creatures, overzealous robots or even brooding demons. Rough sketches will be available for each stream for free to download on Gumroad for those who feel like drawing along.

Come and listen in to these amazing artists as they draw together on Magma Studio and chat about art!

To watch the drawing jams, please click into the LBX Live section and then click into the “Live Drawing Jam”

John will share his process toward drawing and designing