We are excited to bring an interview with a great concept artist and painter of Japanese origin, Hidehisa Miyagawa to our readers. After several internships in both Japan and the U.S.A, he is currently living in Seattle and makes concept art for movies and video games. Hidehisa is a big fan of our Rebelle and belongs to a group of Rebelle’s featured artist. Continue reading to learn more about his beginnings as an artist, the biggest success, and his advice for young artists.
Hello, Hide. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Could you please introduce yourself to our audience?
Hi everyone! This is Hidehisa Miyagawa, a concept artist who is working actively in the videogame, film, and theme park industry. I worked for Disney Imagineering's “Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!” as a lead cinematic concept artist. Recently I have been working for Halo Infinite as a core concept artist at 343 Industries of Microsoft.
Those are pretty exciting jobs. When did you start painting and how did you develop your talent to a professional level?
I used to love to paint and draw since I was a little child, however, I started to be serious about painting when I was around 20 years old. I had been an art fan for a long time but I didn't know how to be a professional. So, I simply enrolled in an art college and tried to learn both technique and the way to be a professional.
Your paintings are full of fantastic environments and figures. Why did you choose concept art as your main illustration form? Or did it choose you?
Thank you so much! :)
Actually, I started to learn photo-realistic concept art first when I came to college. It is more likely a hybrid between concept art and matte painting. Through art education at art college, I started to change my style more towards traditional painterly style. (And your software Rebelle helped me a lot!)
So, I am currently working as both, an illustrator and a concept artist, it reflects my history as an artist.
We are happy to hear you enjoy working with our software. You are also Rebelle’s Featured Artist. How does Rebelle 3 contribute to your work and what do you consider to be the best feature of our software?
Not like the other digital painting tools, it is almost impossible to avoid unexpected accidents when I use Rebelle. And these accidents actually generate the beauty of traditional painterly art mood! Definitely, whenever I encounter this type of “happy accident”, Rebelle reminds me of my initial excitement when I started to learn how to paint. Rebelle is the best digital media that conveys traditional painting features.
What do you consider to be the biggest success of your career?
Hmm… this is an interesting question. I have two different answers to this.
If my art has a big exposure to a large audience and people enjoy my art, that would be a big success. But also, I would like to simply become a great painter to satisfy myself.
What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome to become the artist that you are today?
When I started to learn concept art, I always wanted to convey emotional value into my art somehow because I believe that emotional value establishes my style of art. As I am learning traditional art and I am getting in touch with fantastic digital media, including Rebelle, now I have obtained good confidence and style in my art by conveying emotional value.
What advice would you give to young artists who are in front of a decision making if this is what they should do as a full-time career?
I believe that it is a good idea, to be honest and loyal to your curiosity. That curiosity can be whatever - art tools, history, technology, novels, animes.. anything! This curiosity will become a ground of your strength as an artist in the future. Enjoy!
Thank you so much Hidehisa for making the time to do this interview and for deep and honest answers. We wish you good luck in your future, many creative days, and extraordinary digital tools to follow your dreams as an artist.
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Visit Hidehisa’s portfolio at:
escapemotions.com/featured-artists/hidehisa-miyagawa