REGINA - Bringing fiction into reality is what got Regina illustrator Joel Hustak into art in the first place.
Hustak was inspired by games and movies while liking fantasy art and science fiction artwork. He wanted to use his imagination to draw different creatures from his mind.
The idea of Hustak becoming an illustrator for his career dawned upon him when he saw a website dedicated to artists.
"I found a website called conceptart.org. It doesn't really exist so much anymore. But in the early 2000s, it was sort of a haven for artists to find themselves, find other artists, communicate, and also learn from each other and post their work. And there was a lot of professionals on there, from like the game industry and the film industry."
He added it was "super inspiring because you could see all the people actually making a living off it, and they were so open about sharing their process. And so that kind of made it more of a viable career option just seeing what you could do with it."
Hustak decided to attend post-secondary school at Sheridan College, an institute in Oakville, Ont. Sheridan College is recognized as one of the best schools in Canada for its animation and illustration.
He described his experience in college as "really good" as Hustak saw so many artists in the school and learnt from the teachers and students.
What Hustak got out of the program was a work ethic and an understanding of the need for continuously drawing.
Many of the students pushed each other, having similar career goals. Hustak called the friendly competitions "very inspiring."
After graduating college, Hustak started working on different projects, from board games to card games and mobile games. Some of his more notable work is helping illustrate Star Wars books, designing multiple covers for Canadian band The Strumbellas and helping create the can designs of drinks from the Rebellion Brewing Company.
Hustak's work is spread out over some time, even having multiple projects at the same time. He gave insight into how long designing and colouring takes him. It "can take like a day or two just kind of brainstorming a little bit and then also trying different layouts and compositions for the design and then the colouring and the finalization of it takes about maybe two to four days on top of that but sometimes there's breaks in between some days. In between that I go and work on other projects."
Hustak admitted he can hit roadblocks in his design, so he likes to sketch to create designs and make his work unique.
He elaborated, "at the beginning [of brainstorming a design], I do thumbnail sketches, which are like just tiny sketches that are like literally the size of your thumbnail. So I'll try to like really get as much variation in those as possible. Sometimes you [an artist] get kind of caught on certain ideas and certain designs, and so it's hard to keep kind of innovating."
Hustak pointed out artists tend to think on paper, so he feels it best to draw and brainstorm through sketching. Eventually, Hustak said, "you will kind of find there's some strategies you can do. Like do one idea and then try to do the opposite, try to like kind of flip it a little bit and then keep going and keep iterating and try to think outside of the box."
While working on a piece, Hustak feels it’s important to keep on your toes and be reactive to what an artist is putting down to catch mistakes and adjust as you go.
Even on his days off, Hustak likes to illustrate to improve his own craft and "keep his hands warm" when he has an actual project to work on.
With all the work he’s done, Hustak cannot decide which piece he feels is his greatest, but he is "pretty proud" of his overall portfolio pieces.
He’s currently working on more projects with the Rebellion Brewing Company while working on his portfolio to apply to different game companies like Wizards of the Coast.
Hustak's current goal is to check off working for a few clients, including Wizards of the Coast, who make Dungenous & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. Hustak also said he liked to work with film companies and work in their design studio. One studio is the "Weta Workshop in New Zealand. They do all the creature design and special effects like they did [The] Lord of the Rings and countless other movies," said Hustak.
Hustak has worked for local filmmakers in the past, which he really enjoyed. So, getting to work for a big film and assisting with the whole production would be "super fulfilling" for him.
If Hustak could give any advice to people trying to become artists, he said to seek information online through courses or YouTube. He added, "try to meet artists in your area, and there's a lot of networking that you can do, and you can learn a lot. You never know how many great artists are around you in the community."
In his free time, Hustak hosts community drawing events where artists of all skill levels can drink and draw to socialize. Hustak also hosts portrait sessions as artists paint portraits to improve their skills.
