Join Brandon as he recreates a familiar story, The Wizard of Oz, with a nocturnal sci-fi twist! Experience the power of concept design, and watch this world come to life in several key scenes. Brandon will provide a special emphasis on color, mood, design and concept.

Brandon Gonzales has made fresh and significant contributions to the world of plein air painting and fine art. After graduating from Art Center College of Design, he has spent 10 years working as a matte painter and concept artist in the entertainment industry. His love of painting and drawing led him to obtain a Masters in Fine Art Degree in Painting from LCAD. Since his return to traditional painting, he has received various awards including the Best of Show in the LPAPA Next Generation Invitational, Master Class Winner in the Art Muse Contest and 2nd place in the CAC Small on the Wall for Fall and in the LPAPA Town & Country Competitions. Brandon also hosts an online Mentorship for both fine and digital artists with Sentient Academy.

The key to unlocking mood in a painting lies in understanding and effectively utilizing value relationships to enhance your color choices. Finding the statement of light on dark or dark on light as well as the balance between light and shadows shapes is crucial in creating a certain mood and atmosphere within a painting. By focusing on value relationships, artists can manipulate the visual impact of their work to take their paintings to the next level. 

Tiffanie Mang is a visual development artist, landscape painter, and art instructor straddling the world of animation and fine art. She currently works as Art Director for Color at Premise Entertainment and a color key artist at Titmouse. Past clients include Marvel Studios, Cartoon Saloon, and Universal Music Group. She has been featured in renowned magazines such as Plein Air Magazine, the Guide Artist Magazine and more. Since 2019 Tiffanie has mentored over 100 students from all around the world, including Europe, Asia, Australia and South America.

Join Tayler Olivas on a journey as he develops an environment from a concept to a finished product using his tried and true system. Starting with sketches and research, Tayler will showcase references, his process of elimination, and iteration with Photoshop to create variations. Then watch as he translates those into a 3D models to play with differences in lighting and angles for quick compositions. Lastly, he will show you how he finalizes those images for presentation to clients or your portfolio. Finish this session in a live Q & A with Tayler to make sure you get the answers you need to succeed.

Tayler is a concept artist working in both film and games. His past and previous clients include Insomniac Games, Riot Games, Elodie, and several other private clients.

The fact is that the more diverse you are, the more hire-able you are and for that reason it is crucial to be able to work in multiple styles. Join Kristina and dive into subjects such as style development in animation versus live action and learn why we use specific shape language or certain renderings. Give yourself an edge you never knew you needed.

Kristina Vardazaryan is an Annie Nominated Art Director, Production Designer, Visual Development Artist based in Los Angeles. She has been working for studios such as Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Reel Fx, Illumination and currently she is an Art Director on What If series at Marvel Studios. Besides designing and creating worlds for animation, she loves writing cinematic soundtracks, sketching, photography and is obsessed with watercolors.

This is everything you need to know about building a portfolio that communicates all the right things. Jonathan will discuss logistics such as how pages work, and what every page needs as well as layout, background paint, character design as well as props and special effects. Jonathan will also go over the Lance and Shotgun portfolios. 

Jonathan is a Matte Painter, Concept Artist, and Visual Development Artist who has worked for companies such as Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros, eclipse, and Walt Disney Imagineering. He has previously taught at Art Center College of Design.