We recently connected with Dorian Gerdji and have shared our conversation below.
Dorian, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I believe my “purpose” in life changes throughout time since everything is always moving and evolving. However, with my art I have found that it can relate to any of these changes, and that’s why I believe it’s a big part of me. When I was a kid I’d imagine entire scenes and movies when I’d play with some of my lego sets. When I played video games with my friends, I would be eager to get home and delve into the lore of the game, on some small internet forum. I believe that I’ve always been a storyteller at heart, far before I could communicate my ideas through painting. Being in tune with my inner child is something I always strive to do, and so my purpose really was with me all this time. My only hope is that in the process of making little Dorian happy, I can inspire another kid whose imagination is overflowing, and eager to show it to the world as I am.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I help imagine and design the worlds in stories that find themselves in movie theaters and in video games, and I portray all these ideas by drawing and painting them. Since movies and games are a big team effort most of the time, my drawings act as a blueprint for a director, VFX artist, or anyone tasked with bringing the idea to reality.
In the past, I’ve worked on a large spectrum of different projects, from narrative art books, movie posters, and theme parks. A narrative artbook that I fully illustrated, called “Into the Dust”, will be releasing sometime around the end of this year, so stay tuned!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The biggest skill for a concept designer, I believe, is to understand how to create an emotional impact with a viewer. Being able to consciously parse why something feels the way it does, or why something looks cool, is a skill that I think has helped move me forward. Secondly, being able to understand myself and my strengths has helped me narrow down my ambitions and guide me, since the world of art and design is so vast. Lastly, architecture is always something that has inspired me and been a large area of interest and knowledge for me, which is why my work tends to specialize in designing spaces, rather than characters or props.
My advice for younger artists is to find where their own strengths and interests are, and to dive into that. Being able to be unique is also a part of being a concept artist that I think people tend to overlook, and it’s also something I always try to get better at. It makes work inherently exciting, because it’s something people have never though of or seen before.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
In the past 12 months, I have picked up on learning how to use 3D software in creating and communicating my designs and ideas. I think this has helped me greatly because it makes it one step closer to reality- I’ve been able to 3D print these things as well, and holding your own creation in your hands feels very rewarding. The tools of the concept art trade are changing quickly, especially with the advent of AI, and so I continue to try and evolve with the times.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://doriangerdji.artstation.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theartofgerdji
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dorian-gerdji-5a9743188/
