Art direction

Marek Okon

A little history about him is:

•       Grew up in Poland, studied in Canada.

•       Over ten years of experience.

•       Worked as an illustrator, Designer and art director.

•       And recently he has joined JKD Collective as a Visuals artist.

•       Most famous for last of us and crisis 2.

ART DIRECTION

Looking at the art direction that Marek Oken has used in the past.

Studying of Marek goes about his art direction, first he starts getting the shape and silhouette correct so that you are able to see what the object is then he will go about deciding where he wants the light source to come from and how strong. He does this by adding hard and soft tones into the shape to make it stand out. He then goes about softening the skin to blend it in for and adding small details so you can see the definition. Then lastly he starts to add the negative lights and to add mood to the image.

By looking at these images Marek posted to show his processes on art direction you can learn quite a bit.

Ive picked this image to study its colour, lighting and mood.

Colour- this image has a wide range of colours, He has tried to focus all the dark colours in the fore ground so that the viewer in drawn the carcus that the camera would be in, this creates a strong mood in the image.

Lighting- Lighting in this image isn’t very dynamic but still powerful. The lighting all around is quite neutral all around the image and it’s not like one image where the lighting forces the viewer to look at one area.

Mood- The mood is really powerful in this image as it shows war and death, it also makes you want to know more and makes you want to know what’s happening in this image. I makes me want to know what is that human like figure standing there and is the camera in a human’s carcus or an aliens? This images really makes me want to know more about this game.

I’m going to pick another image to show you and I am going to tell you why it’s so awesome!

Why is this awesome?

Well, look at it! It looks like a photo!

Anyone who can paint to make something look like a photo is Awesome! This isn't one of my favourite images but it’s just so god damn good! It’s awesome because that guy looks awesome! It’s awesome because of cannons! Ships! And War! He has captured this sea fight nicely with lighting, composition and mood! I just can’t get my head around how real this image is not just the two men but the boats and the water looks great! These are the kind of images that make me want to do better and strive for better results.

It makes me want to see more!