Art is an intrinsic need and the main purpose for many creators. Yet, the need to create is often also influenced by outside factors. Be it the economic impact on professional artists or A.I., there are many reasons to wonder about what drives us and what might keep us going for the years to come.
Join Iris Compiet, Björn Hurri and Rob Bliss alongside host Spiridon Giannakis for a panel discussion about how to keep on creating even when tackling challenging times.
Iris Compiet is a traditional artist from the Netherlands. She’s an illustrator with international clients, exhibits in galleries around the world and creator of the Faeries of the Faultlines. A book written and illustrated by her, documenting faeries. She has also worked on the illustrations for Wizards of the Coast and Harper Collins’ House of Furies, as well as illustrating an official Dark Crystal Bestiary.
Björn Hurri is an award winning concept artist and art director from Sweden now located in Riga. He has worked for all major publishers and with over 100+ titles (Horizon, Alien Isolation, God of War 4, Dishonored, League of Legends and more). His list of clients includes companies such as NCsoft, Catalyst Game Labs and SEGA. He has been teaching artists since 2008 and he also taught a highly popular character design class at CG Master Academy.
Legendary artist Rob Bliss has worked on many beloved titles such as The Harry Potter franchise, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, The Dark Knight, The Last of Us, The House of Dragon, Maleficent, Divergent, Alien: Convenant among others. Rob has been working in film and TV as a concept artist since 1998. He is currently based in the UK where he is collaborating on films for the British, European and American film industry.
The discussion is going to be moderated by longtime Playgrounds friend, creative consultant, art book designer and publisher Spiridon Giannakis. He has been working in print media since 2006. Starting in 2017 he has helped artists, like Even Mehl Amundsen, Abigail Larson, Björn Hurri, Bastien Deharme, and many more, to publish their art books managing their crowdfunding campaigns. His latest project is Convoloot, a platform entirely focused on conversations and interviews with industry professionals and community leaders.
