By Kavishna Wijesinghe
Jeremy Love is a concept artist who has worked on massive Hollywood flicks like Mortal Kombat (2021), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), Aquaman (2018 and 2022), and Avatar 3 (2024), contributing his skills in the form of concept illustrations and design. Jeremy joined Junkyard Theory to talk about his career a few weeks back.
Entry
Jeremy started off his origin story stating that even though he was into drawing from a young age, he started concept design pretty late at a time when there were not many resources and especially where he was born, it was hard for him to get any exposure. After moving to Australia, with his hard work, he worked as a graphic designer for 10 years before he ever got into concept art.
When he moved to the UK, Jeremy worked for a production company owned by his in-laws and he came across Copenhagen 3D Festival where he met the famous concept artist Feng Zhu, who inspired him immediately. The process of transitioning from 2D art to more detailed concept art was pretty hard but with practice, he managed and from there onwards Jeremy’s journey in the film industry started.
Jeremy stated that the hierarchy of a film depends on the project diversity but typically he would get contacted by the supervising art director or a production designer first. Then the design process starts by reading the script usually but otherwise with the guide of the production designer. In some cases like Avatar they did not receive the script beforehand, and the art director was taken into a room with the script for 20 minutes or so, and later he briefed the artists about the plot points before they start working on it. “Basically, everything starts from quick, rough thumbnails or quick gestural images as it’s a race against the clock,” he said.
Jeremy also divulged that sometimes they have what’s called a lookbook put together during the early stages of the production and it is usually filled with reference images. Jeremy would eliminate the stuff that directors won’t need and then pitch the points they actually want through trial and error.
Art books
Jeremy stated most of the time with art books (a book about the making of a film published after its release), the images that they choose wouldn’t be his best choice. He confessed that he would love to show more of the drawings in-progress since the concept art used in the books are mostly the finished version. He admitted that he is a big fan of collecting art books since “You get to see the process that went into creating the finalised pieces you see on screen.”
Collaborative space
“The different departments work very closely to get the perfect output in a film always,” said Jeremy, explaining how enthusiastic he is to work like that and sometimes, the chance to work in all of the departments brings a whole mood like he did in Mortal Kombat. “It’s always about serving the director’s vision,” he added.
Jeremy revealed that concept artists not only work in the pre-production phase. They even work in the post-production phase with visual effects concept art where they do more polished work like the arms for Jax’s character in Mortal Kombat.
Sometimes, they might completely change the look that someone did with lots of hard work, but that is to meet the expectations of the directors. “But in order to do that, the preliminary work still needs to be done.”
When questioned about working with various directors and trying to bring their vision to pictorial form, Jeromy recounted working with James Wan, the director of The Conjuring, Saw, and Aquaman.
“He is full of energy; I don’t know where he gets it from. James is a very talented director, and the fact that he’s approachable throughout the process is fascinating,” Jeremy shared.
Advice for enthusiasts
Speaking about how tough it can be to get work in the industry, especially when someone is starting out, Jeremy recalled the processes he had gone through. It’s always about practicing and getting your work out there. Jeremy left with a few words of advice for young artists: “Don’t give yourself a hard time, just take it slow and stay passionate.”
The full interview with Jeremy Love is available on the Junkyard Theory YouTube channel.
Junkyard Theory is Sri Lanka’s first and only film education platform that brings on veteran filmmakers from Hollywood as guest speakers. Their webinars, hosted by Akash Sunethkumara, have been recognised on industry sites such as “No Film School”, and the team now runs film courses for upcoming filmmakers in the country.
