Olivia Gregory is a 2D Concept Artist and WSA Alumni who has won an IG (Into Games) 40 award in 2024 for her work. Her speciality is in environmental art and props, as well as disability representation in games and normalising disability as a part of the world and not something to be “fixed”. Here is some of her work; the first picture is from “Monkey Munch”, inspired by Moroccan architecture, bizarre trinkets and sweets, the second picture is personal work:
Olivia’s Talk Notes (Written & Scanned)
My Question
“You said your art got better after Uni, how do you deal with feeling stagnated (in your art) sometimes?”
Olivia’s answer:
- Try something new, experiment.
- Be open minded and curious.
- Go to other mediums / classes like life drawing, exercise, etc.
- Kids colouring books are good for art block too, invest in things that are easy to do.
Artbooks + Inspiration
After the talk, we were able to have a look at Olivia’s art books she brought in from her own personal collection. There were so many beautiful art and concept sketches included, such as the standards: Pixar, Disney and Sony. There was also the Arcane Artbook, which featured stunning art of the characters and environments, which made me even more excited to learn how to do this type of concept art as I get more experienced. My favourite of the art books was one of a Disney film I had never heard of before – Vivo. There were sprawling landscapes as well as real-life references to Cuba and the Cuban people and culture that just made me want to keep turning the pages. I think it’s essential for a character designer and 2D concept artist in general to be familiar with industry practices and the way professionals draft up characters, objects and environments, so this was a fascinating and useful insight. I do plan to invest in some art books of games and other media I like as inspiration for my portfolio, so this reinforced that even more!!
