Ryan Firchau

If people would like to contact you, how would you like to be contacted? (Email, Webpage)

You can contact my through my website as soon as I have completed refurbishments www.ryanfirchau.co.uk or my Email www.rfirchau@microsoft.com or www.rfirchau@rare.co.uk and if you want you can also drop me a line on my Deviant art page send me a note http://firecrow78.deviantart.com/

What type of tools or media do you use?

I used to be a pencil and paper man but nowadays I pretty much work entirely digitally, I use Photoshop CS2 and painter on the odd occasion. Having said that, I have started to keep a sketch book for the first time since I left University. I think that you can be in danger of becoming a bit lazy with all the benefits that Digital can provide so It's good to keep in tune with traditional methods and techniques plus it makes a pleasant change to draw on paper.

Where is the place you would like to work or be an Intern if you had a choice?

I love where I currently work at Rare, but I do have a burning desire to work for Stan Winston's studio and Wetta

Who do you think are the top character designers out there?

There have been so many great artists which I have been influenced by and which I admire, but I think when I look back it is mainly two which have had the biggest impact on how I produce my work and they are Albert Underzo. Underzo's illustrations for the Asterix series where one of the strongest influences for me as I was growing up. The other is Paul Bonner.

What are some of your favorite character designs which you have seen?

I recently discovered the work of Florian Satzinger, who's created some fantastic looking characters. The character work on PIXARS The Incredibles is fabulous, such stylized shapes integrated with such believable and subtle reality. I enjoyed the work of McBride on the Pirates of the Caribbean films, I especially liked Davey Jones who was designed by Mark 'Crash' McCreary another big hero of mine. And of course Animal from the Muppets, everyone loves Animal.

What is your most favorite subject to draw? And why?

Creatures are my obsession, I love monsters and ugly things that look scary, always have! I guess it must have come from watching films like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth and all those cheesy 80's horror movies. I also love dark fairy tales and gothic subject matter the brothers Grimm that kind of thing.

What inspired you to become an Artist?

It happened when I was very young, in Kindergarten, I drew a picture of a rabbit and showed it to my teacher and I guess it must have been better than average for a child of my age and I remember the positive reaction I got, it seemed to make people happy when I drew pictures, children are always so keen to please and be noticed, I guess this was a major part of what kept me going also I received a lot of encouragement from my parents and friends. I was average at all other subjects but I loved art, I have always had an over active imagination and drawing is a release for me I couldn't imagine my life without it. These days I try to learn as much as I can and I turn my hand to lots of different disciplines from sculpture to airbrushing and photography. I'm constantly pushing to improve my skills and my visual library, as a concept artist I need to have a broad wealth of knowledge of different subject matters. Research and reference is all part of the job, but I enjoy it so much that I'm always at it, not just during work hours.

What are some of your favorite website links that would be relevant to this Blog?

http://www.paulbonner.net/

http://paperwalker.blogspot.com/

http://marknewman.deviantart.com/gallery/

http://www.andyparkart.com

http://cheeks-74.deviantart.com/gallery/






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