Announcing the Winners of the Third Annual Concept Art Awards, Presented by LightBox Expo Online
The Only Award Show To Shine a Spotlight on the Role of Concept Artists in the Entertainment Industry
On September 11th the 2021 Concept Art Awards Presented by LightBox Expo online was streamed live to an audience of over 6k viewers worldwide, across Twitch, YouTube and Discord.
“This award means a lot to me because it comes from my peers, people who actually respect and understand what concept art really is”, said Jerad Marantz, the Live-Action Feature Character Winner for his work on Batman’s Tactical Suit for Zack Syder’s Justice League. The Concept Art Awards is put on by the Concept Art Association, and the Co-Founders, Nicole Hendrix and Rachel Meinerding. “We are honored to be able to provide a platform for concept artists around the world to be showcased and celebrated”, said Co-Founder, Nicole Hendrix.
Jerad Marantz, Live Action Feature Character Winner
Big winners of the night were Marvel Studios. Visual Development Supervisor and Senior Illustrator Jackson Sze was awarded Excellence in Live-Action Series Environment for his work on WandaVision and Director of Visual Development at Marvel Studios, Andy Park won for Live-Action Series Character also for his Scarlet Witch design on WandaVision. Andy also was this year’s recipient of the LBX Concept Art Luminary Award, an award that shines the spotlight on a person from the concept art community who has made an indelible impact with their artwork in the past year.
Jackson Sze – Winner Live Action Series Environment
Andy Park – Winner Live Action Series Character
Ghost of Tsushima was the big Video Game winner of the night taking both Excellence in Character (Naomi Baker) and Environment (Romain Jouandeau).
Naomi Baker, Video Game Character Winner
Romain Jouandeau, Video Game Environment Winner
New awards for this year, Adobe’s Community Impact was given to and ArtStation’s Rising Star were given to Abelle Hayford (creator of the hashtag #drawingwhileblack) and Airi Pan (Senior Illustrator at Blizzard Games) respectively.
Abelle Hayford, Adobe Community Impact Award Recipient
Airi Pan, ArtStation Rising Star Recipient
“I want to say a huge thank you for choosing me to be the recipient of this award. I remember only last year I was still an intern trying to make it into the concept art industry. So I can’t think of an award more encouraging than something like this”
– Airi Pan
The 2021 Lifetime Achievement Recipients were awarded to pioneer and “the father of digital art” Craig Mullins (Armageddon, Halo 2) and Iain McCaig (Star Wars 1-3, Marvel’s Avengers), one of the most beloved and prolific concept designers working today in the industry and mentor to all.
Craig Mullins, Lifetime Achievement Recipient
Iain McCaig, Lifetime Achievement Recipient
The Concept Art Association exclusively announced during the show that The Art of Ron Cobb book, coming Summer 2022, a partnership between themselves, the Estate of Ron Cobb and Titan Books. You can preorder the book here.
The winners of this year’s show will receive an Official Concept Art Awards Trophy provided by Legacy Effects, a one year subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud, a One-Year ArtStation Pro upgrade, Lifetime Concept Art Association membership, and their artwork featured in ImagineFX Magazine. Students will also receive a $100 ArtStation gift card.
Since year one of Concept Art Awards, the Association has been working with Anne Coco, Head of Graphic Arts at The Margaret Herrick Library on helping secure more concept artists’ names into the filmmaking history books. Anne says “We are so grateful for your alliance. Last year, thanks in part to the efforts of members of your Concept Art Association, we added incoming collections that document the careers of costume designers Ha Nguyen and Sanya Hays. In addition to these wholly new collections, your own Concept Art Association Collection, added more contemporary works created by you guys working today.”
The Margaret Herrick Library is a world-renowned, non-circulating reference and research collection devoted to the history and development of the motion picture as an art form and an industry. Established in 1928 and now located in Beverly Hills, the library is open to the public and used year-round by students, scholars, historians and industry professionals.
For a full list of last night’s winners and to learn more about the Concept Art Awards click here.
Sponsors for the show included LightBox Expo, Artstation, Adobe, Wacom, Legacy Effects, The Art Director’s Guild, The Costume Designer’s Guild, The Animation Guild, Gnomon School of Visual Effects, ArtCenter College of Design, Schoolism, College for Creative Studies, Western Costume, SGX Print, and The Writing Room.
