Polish your Fundamentals.

Illustration Fundamentals | James Starr-King

This illustration mentorship with James Starr-King is build for enhancing your fundamentals to a point where an intermediate level can be reached. Anatomy, Structure and design are the core fundamentals focused on during this illustration mentorship. James Starr-King will help establish confidence in your own abilities!
james starr king artist

James Starr-King

Freelance Artist

Illustration | Character | Concept Art | Fundamentals

Mentor 16 Executed live sessions

About

James Starr-King is a freelance illustrator, 3d character artist and concept artist who has worked for studios such as Fantasy Flight Games for various clients including Keytales, Lone Shark Games, and publishers such as Ballistic Publishing. He was featured in the famous EXPOSE 11 magazine among other professionals.

He is versatile in Zbrush and passionate about fundamentals in Illustration.

Projects & clients

keytales studio fantasy flight games lone shark games expose

Software

OVERVIEW

To maximize your progress and efficiency, this mentorship will be concentrated into two dedicated days per week, while the remaining days will be reserved for working on your individual projects.
To ensure an optimal mentorship experience, we carefully consider various factors such as the level of difficulty, mentor-to-mentee ratio, and the mentors’ schedules to determine the perfect duration.
Generally, learning together will help improve more efficiently in a mentorship. Mentees will be paired according to skill levels.
In general, the modules are based on the workflow and industry experience of the mentor. Modules are delivered organically based on your personal and project needs. All modules are fully explained below, you can access them by clicking on them.
We understand that every mentee’s needs and abilities are different, which is why the difficulty level of each mentorship can be customized based on your portfolio. However, the final decision on the difficulty level will be at the discretion of the mentor.
We offer certificates for both participation and accomplishment in this mentorship program. The accomplishment certificate will be awarded to participants whose results are evaluated as excellent by the internal internal team.

Pro

2-3 Portfolio images

2 months

$ 899/mo.

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Modules

Grouping

james starr king art fundamentals mentorship composition

Composition

To create a composition of impact foundations have to be covered and thoroughly understood.

  1. Grouping
  2. Simplification
  3. Perspective
  4. Layout

Pro + Massive

Structure

james starr king art fundamentals mentorship structure

Achieving Structure

Structural qualities can oftentimes be what holds you back from moving to the next level in art. The order of steps to achieve quality results is often misunderstood or skipped. James Starr-King will make sure you don’t skip any step of importance.

  1. Structure
  2. Correct order of steps

Pro + Massive

Ideation

james starr king art fundamentals mentorship design

Design

Design tasks are often where value gets generated for your images. The more you understand and practice design the more interesting and valuable your illustration will be to your client and your portfolio!

  1. Ideation
  2. Style exploration
  3. Shape language
  4. Quality assurance
  5. Decision making

Pro + Massive

Accuracy

james starr king art fundamentals mentorship anatomy

Anatomy

As an Illustrator, anatomy is of importance to convince your future Art director that you can achieve what you were tasked for! A portfolio that shows a great understanding of anatomy and has high precision is more likely to be of value to your future client! James Starr-King will help you simplify the process of tackling anatomy.

  1. Accuracy
  2. How to draw what you see
  3. Gesture
  4. Line of action
  5. drawing with Anatomy Landmarks

Pro + Massive

Color Theory

james starr king art fundamentals mentorship cat

Color and light

To create believable lighting in an illustration you will have to simplify and know what good lighting is made of.
Games and Movies are often using a physical-based approach and this is also what is required from you as an illustrator!

  1. Color Theory
  2. Color Values
  3. Color Saturation

Pro + Massive

Form and Structure

james starr king art fundamentals mentorship rendering

Rendering

How to render to a certain level of quality is often a lengthy task. Learn how to render with good physical accuracy and adapt to styles.

  1. Form and Structure
  2. line quality
  3. textures & materials
  4. Lighting
  5. Edge control

Pro + Massive

Polishing

james starr king art fundamentals mentorship snares cgverse

Final touches

This is usually the step where the image slowly comes together. Iterating for weeks or months on a single image pays off, especially in a portfolio. It will show your future client that you are enduring and have quality orientation.

  1. Polishing
  2. Making changes
  3. Knowing when to stop

Pro + Massive

Problem Solving

cgverse art mentorship project management

Project Management

Learn how to structure your project so that you seamlessly fit into modern art environments in larger studios. Some aspects of a professional artist are less known, such as naming conventions, color spaces, File sharing, and delivery.

James Starr-King will help you understand what it takes to deliver on time.

  1. Problem Solving
  2. Master client requirements
  3. Reference management
  4. Naming Conventions

Pro + Massive

Company Hierarchies

cgverse art mentorship dealing with clients

Dealing with Clients

How to get hired for a studio or dream project can be intimidating. There are several mindsets to adopt when approaching work as a professional artist.

*This module serves as a bonus and will be conducted by Christopher Schiefer (CEO) to improve your current work routine. This module will only be held upon your initiative response after completing all months.

  1. Company Hierarchies
  2. Email Outreach
  3. Outsourcing

only Massive

Interviews

cgverse art mentorship get articles about you

Articles & Interviews

Exposure can be beneficial to help attract clients and improve your international attention.

*This module will be conducted by the internal team based on the achieved level of polish at the end of your mentorship.

  1. Interviews
  2. Power of Editors
  3. How to get Featured

only Massive

Understanding Client Needs

cgverse art mentorship authority strategy

Authority Strategy

Learn how to structure your portfolio to maximize the impression of your efforts.
LinkedIn and a proper presentation of your personal and professional work can help stand out.

*This module will be conducted by the internal team after finishing all acquired mentorship months with James Starr-King

  1. Understanding Client Needs
  2. Naming Conventions
  3. File Delivery
  4. Structural Mindset

only Massive

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