A concept artist is a mind reader of sorts. They need to decide what a story should look like and translate that from script to film. Fabian Lacey has made a successful career out of it, lending his talents to films like The Black Panther, The Mandalorian, Furious 7, The Fate of the Furious and many more.
Fabian actually started in the Art Center College of Design studying Automotive design. Interestingly, most concept artists for films come from the automotive design industry because of the attention to detail and talent that is needed. It is one of the most challenging design courses of study. Fabian was discovered while in school and recruited to work with George Lucas himself.
This was just the start of his career, and over the next decade he would work as an Art Director for several well-known films with an impressive portfolio.
CONCEPT ART AND WEB3 GAMING
More recently, Fabian has started working in Web3 gaming development. The transition was seamless. The project he was recruited to work on needed a concept artist to take an idea and make it visual. He spent the last year creating concepts for worlds, characters, environments, and of course, vehicles. While details on the project have yet to be released, Fabian is pretty excited for the world to see what he’s been working on. Fabian said the Triple A team he is with is known to deliver.
Bringing art conceptualization to gaming is what Fabian hopes to continue to focus on. In the past he had worked on games for tech demos. He enjoyed figuring out what the worlds should look like and creating showcases for them.
AI: ARTIST FRIEND OR FOE?
In 2021, Web3 had managed to finally give artists the recognition they deserved. Fabian said, “the best thing we can do is empower the individual to offer a direct connection to their creators and educators.” Interestingly, 2023 brought the swift rise of AI, which seems determined to take that power back. It’s another push back against the artists, especially with the popular generative art collections seen in NFTs. AI has the ability to scour the internet and create art based on the styles of any artist, without providing credit to the original creator. Fabian noted his own work could be used by AI to create new pieces, but anyone has access to do it.
Animation frames are already being farmed out to AI. What could take hours of time can now be done in minutes. The effect will be wide reaching. While there are some demands for legislation and the ability for artists to have their names removed from AI databases, nothing has or will happen without some serious intervention.
Wherever the new developments in technology take us, as long as talent like Fabian continues to migrate into Web3, the future’s looking just right. Follow Fabian on twitter to stay up to date on what he churns out next.
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