Olivia Hamza is a Concept Artist at Panache Digital Games, a studio which was set up by co-founders, Patrice Désilets and Jean-François Boivin, who both worked together on Assassin’s Creed.
What does a Concept Artist do?
Olivia is responsible for conceiving designs that make the studio’s games appealing, innovative and functional. She enjoys having an entire team of extremely talented people to exhange with, and help push her designs.
Athough landing her first gig was a big challenge, she recommended that students keep at it, and have faith in their skill-set. Olivia believes that she aquired her current role by having a unique take on common game tropes, and if she could go back in time to when she was starting out she would say: “Stop freaking out, it’s just like any other job!”
As well as working as an artist on the third person open world survival game, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, Olivia has also worked for Legend 3D,VR,VFX - who's clients inlcude Marvel Studios - on Thor: Ragnarok and Disney’s A Wrinkle In Time.
How can you land a Concept Artist role at a big studio?
Olivia said make sure you do tonnes of side projects that you are passioante about, as that’s where you develop all the skills that are most useful at work.
She has a number of examples of her projects on her ArtStation, and Instagram, which clearly demonstrate where she is experimenting with new concepts and ideas.
It doesn’t matter if your work is rough around the edges, it can be useful to show studios how you think and the creative process you go through. Who knows some of your sketches might end up landing you a job!
Note: SAE Industry Insight is an interview feature where we talk to people working within the creative industries about their roles and how they got there, with the intention of providing SAE students with career advice. The people we interview are not necessarily affiliated with SAE in any way.
For the full article follow this link:
https://www.sae.edu/gbr/sae-industry-insight-concept-artist-panache-digital-games-olivia-hamza