Michael Kutsche is a German Conceptual Artist who really has a flair in his field, recognized by his award winning work which truly is nothing short of an inspiration.
The main reason that I am mentioning him, besides the fact that he is an amazing artist, is that he is a 3D Artist and Illustrator specialized in character design. This is the area of the industry that I am currently most interested in… And who better to learn from than an award winning artist who has been working in the visual effects industry since 1998.
I feel what makes his pieces so impacting is the use of light, colour and especially his excellent composition, you can really feel the depth within each of his pieces. The sense of realism within his each piece continues to astound me the more I research his work.
He has and continues to work on concept art for some of my favourite films. To list a few of these – John Carter, Thor, Jungle Book and of late, the Alice in Wonderland film series.
He is a man of many talents when it comes to character design. In no way is he a one trick pony… As mentioned on ConceptArtWorld.Com, “Michael is specialized in character design for every type of project”. The way he captures the form and structure of his subject and their surroundings in such detail, whether they are organic creatures or mechanical creations, is incredible.
I am trying to apply some of the attributes that have influenced me from Michael Kutsche’s pieces into my work. I aimed to make the piece (below) have composition and depth in it, so I structured it into around 5 different planes. I liked the slightly sketchy style seen in the Thor piece above, so I tried to utilize and exaggerate it, creating a similar style within my piece. To achieve the highlight seen in most of Kutsche’s pieces, I positioned my main light source in the house, making my character backlit, therefore creating a highlight along the edge of my character.This small highlight helps to bring the character out, making it feel more lifelike and 3D.
My Tonal Piece – Shaman Venturing Outside Mushroom House
I feel my piece was reasonably successful, although I know that there are areas that could be developed further. I am happy that I tested these styles and I feel that the piece benefited from knowledge gained from researching artists work. (Other artists such as Victor Lam and Pixar’s UP influenced my design)
I intend to continue to research more about Michael Kutsche, and view more of his artwork. However, if you want to do similar, the image sources that I used are linked in the captions, or else you can follow these links below to check out more of his work…
jackjellison.wordpress.com 