It was films like Star Wars, Alien, Blade Runner, TRON, and Back to the Future that forever changed the role of science fiction in blockbuster cinema, and now the artists who first dreamed up their groundbreaking visuals are being given the honor of a lifetime.
That's thank to The Concept Art Awards' Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award, taking place at LightBox Expo in Pasadena, CA. The Concept Art Awards honors the visionaries working behind-the-scenes, and in the earliest stages of pre-production to put pencils, paints, and pens to paper in bringing a movie's universe to life. This year, in addition to awarding student character art, student environment art, independent character art, independent environment art, and fan art, The Concept Art Awards will award five Lifetime Achievement Recipients: H.R. Giger (Alien), Ralph McQuarrie (Star Wars), Jean “Moebius” Giraud (TRON), Ron Cobb (Back to the Future) and Syd Mead (Blade Runner). Not only did these artists help to create beloved franchises and fictional worlds to the big screen, but forever changed the concept art industry in the decades to come.
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The award ceremony is only one part of LightBox Expo, a gathering of over 250 of the best artists in animation, illustration, live-action, and video games for "the ultimate celebration of art." The awards ceremony is intended as a celebration of the last year's achievements in art design across film, series, and games. This year's event will be hosted by Jonah Ray (Mystery Science Theater 3000) and call on feature presenters like Iain McCaig (Star Wars), Neville Page (Star Trek), Mingjue Helen Chen (Ralph Breaks the Internet), Bobby Chiu (Alice in Wonderland), Robh Ruppel (Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End), Dan Luvisi, and more.
The Concept Art Association was created with the mission of elevating and raising the profile of concept artists, their art and their involvement in various entertainment industries. The Concept Art Association was founded by concept artist and Head of Visual Development at Marvel Studios, Ryan Meinerding; Talent Manager Rachel Meinerding; and Producer and Co-Founder of the BRIC Foundation, Nicole Hendrix. Attendance to the Concept Art Awards show is free with a 3-Day or Saturday LightBox Expo pass and will be held in the Main Ballroom at the Pasadena Convention Center on Saturday, September 7th at 6:30PM.
As mentioned above, the more than 250 artists gathering for LightBox Expo are too numerous to list here, but include...
- Patrick O'Keefe (Art Director of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)
- Alvin Lee (Senior Artist on League of Legends)
- Kei Acedera (Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland)
- Mike Mignola (creator of Hellboy)
- Daniel Arriaga (Coco)
- Iain McCaig (Star Wars)
- Crash McCreery (Jurassic Park)
- Pernille Orum (DC Superhero Girls)
- Chris Sanders (writer/director of How to Train Your Dragon)
- Jana Schirmer (Visual Development Artist at Marvel Studios)
- Karla Ortiz (Dr. Strange)
Tickets for The Concept Art Awards and Lightbox Expo are on sale now, and information about the event along with a list of attending artists can be found at lightboxexpo.com.