Concept 101 2024 Recap

This year, our team embarked on an inspiring trip to London to attend the Concept 101 event, set against the creative backdrop of the iconic Leake Street Arches, renowned for its graffiti and conceptual art.

Concept 101 is a free, one-day event dedicated to the concept art world, offering a wide range of opportunities—from portfolio reviews with art directors to industry-leading artist talks and networking sessions.

Now in its third year, Concept 101 has become a must-attend event for both seasoned and aspiring professional concept artists. It’s a place where individuals passionate about concept design, visual storytelling, and digital painting can gather to learn from industry experts and share their creative processes.

We offered portfolio review sessions throughout the day with Eliott, Ellie, and Titas.

Athena Productions was proud to sponsor this year’s event, offering portfolio review sessions and a panel discussion to attendees. Our Creative Director, Ellie Cooper, participated in the ‘Hiring Yourself’ panel, which explored the transition from being a solo concept artist to running an outsourcing company in the entertainment industry.

Throughout the day, our Senior Concept Artists, Eliott Bon and Titas Zenevicius, conducted portfolio reviews that gave us a glimpse into the emerging talent in character concept art, environment concept art, vehicle/prop design, and much more.

We reviewed many impressive portfolios from both seasoned artists and students. It was exciting to see how student work is evolving, with many upcoming artists pushing the boundaries of what’s possible using both fine art and digital media.

A recurring theme that came up during the portfolio review sessions was the hesitancy of concept artists to showcase their design steps leading to the final product. It can be challenging to know whether to share your initial process, as it isn’t always polished and can seem less appealing than the final render. However, we always recommend sharing your process—from basic shapes to initial sketches, color schemes, and 3D models. This approach allows recruiters or art directors to see your design skills and understand that you grasp the iterative process of concept art.

The final design, while important, is just one part of the story. It is vital to demonstrate that you know how to navigate the entire concept art process.

As the event concluded, we saw the importance of the artist community and the role events like Concept 101 play in nurturing talent. We were delighted to discover how many artists were familiar with Athena Productions as a concept art outsourcing company, and we loved hearing about your individual journeys and answering your questions! Thank you to everyone who attended the panel, spoke to our team and booked portfolio review sessions.

We look forward to attending Concept 101 in 2025!

At Athena Productions, we’re always excited to see the incredible talent in the industry. If you’d like to submit your portfolio for consideration, please email it to us at jobs@athena-productions.com.