Calum Alexander Watt
adsk.chris Thursday, November 29, 2012 at 12:33PM Calum Alexander Watt is a freelance storyboarder, concept artist and illustrator working in the entertainment industry. He has concepted for Disney, Framestore, Sega and DC Entertainment. He lives and works in the UK, somewhere near the sea.
Special thanks to Calum for providing us with this incredible spread of his artwork, YouTube videos (including an amazing tutorial at the end of this post) and for sharing one of his brush sets!
Cubes of Mars
Here's an example of my current rendered work. This is a personal piece to show off the technique. Sketchbook Pro was used for the underpainting and tattoos, Photoshop for the matte overlays, and the logo was created in Adobe Illustrator. The tattoos are, of course, a rip-off of Sailor Jerry's work (any similarities are intentional).
100% of what I create originates in SketchBook, both linework and painted work. Photoshop is used for lighting and adding effects.
Cubes of Mars - Click to see image in higher rez detail.
Imagine FX
Recent 2012 features in the popular UK magazine.
Issue #80, February 2012 - Sketchbook section
Issue #82, May 2012, Workshops - It's a walkthrough on how I did a particular image in Sketchbook Pro.
Video (below): Some more on the Imagine FX workshop, heavily edited and at ultra high speed. What it does show is how much I zoom in and out. In, and Out.
For me, zooming-out is the only way to keep a check on things, yet I need to zoom-in for the clarity. Anyway, Photoshop is mainly adjustment layers and gradients and Illustrator for all the logos.
Sample Artwork
Character designs for Disney/Blackrock's ATV game, Pure. I was lead character artist on the title, in control of concept and in-game work. These were my first renders created in Sketchbook Pro. Click to view a higher rez sample.
A personal piece - This guy's had a bad day! Click to view a higher rez sample.
This is part of a broad personal project tentatively title Africa Mecha.
Africa Mecha - I love the idea of a mech so big it towers above the town.
Black Hole Sun, How the West was weird - I love westerns, but I wanted to explore the idea of pushing the genre into sci-fi and fantasy.
Storyboards for a game pitch - It was great to play around with the style here, bringing in the graphical elements and using dynamic camera angles.
A little USB charged 'bot.
Quick sketch - An idea I had to get down.
Sketch page - I create these as an escape from client work or maybe to explore and idea. Mostly they are study pieces. It's all about practice!
Calum shares some of his tips & tricks through several different examples of his work, including the Cubes of Mars as seen above.
Total Run-time: 38m12s
- 00m36s: Brushes & tips
- 08m14s: Inking & Linework
- 15m26s: Mirror Symmetry
- 20m36s: Cubes of Mars painting
- 28m49s: Photoshop effects & lighting
- 30m20s: Creating tattoo graphics
- 32m10s: Applying tattos in Photoshop
- 33m30s: Building character, the personality
- 35m50s: Alien blade
Download a sample set of Calum's brushes, click Here. Directly import this brush set in the Brush Library. You do not need to unzip the file before importing, so depending on your browser, you may need to right-click to 'download or save-as linked file'.
Sample images demonstrating the results from a few of the brush settings.
For more about Calum: www.calumalexanderwatt.com
Reader Comments (10)
Thanks so much for this! You're the reason I bought SB Pro, and I've been hoping for something like this from you for a while.
Just want to say how incredible your work is, Calum. I was impressed with all your artwork and the first Imagine FX video, but my socks were knocked off with that tutorial video. And thanks to the sketchbook team for posting such awesome stories.
Holy cats you are amazing. Thank You for sharing your skill and your brushes.
hey i have a mac and I'm having trouble downloading the brush set, maybe you can help me out.. thank you.
@Julian.. drop me an email at sketchbook(at)autodesk.com and will sort it out.
I had to come back and thank you for the movie. I learned so much and your brushes are amazing I am experimenting with whole new style. Thank You
I read this post last week, but didn't have a chance to watch the videos until today. Fantastic job, Calum! I'm jazzed now and can't wait to try out some of your tricks. I loved the flood fill transparency trick. I didn't know you could do that. Thanks
Been a fan of Calum's work for a long time now and it was great hearing and seeing his process, great post on a great artist.
Thanks for the terrific tutorial but I would prefer learning with subjects other than we'll-armed super heroes. Please consider other subjects like nature, sports and scenes found in every day life. Thanks for your consideration.
Really great tutorial - thank you. Your work is brilliant.