THE ART OF AMIR ZAND
Having created art for a large range of mediums, from book publications to AAA video games, Amir Zand is a highly experienced illustrator/concept artist with heaps of knowledge to share. Here he answers our questions.
Tell us a little about your background as an artist. How did you get started and what has your career been like so far?
It’s a classic story: for as long as I can remember I have been either drawing or playing video games. Eventually I got introduced to the digital medium when I was 16 years old, and by 17 I took a deeper dive into it. I was always passionate and inspired to draw so was always at the computer, creating stuff.
For me, art is not just a career to pursue, it’s a way of living and a way to move forward with my life. At some point it also became a profession on the side, although I always thought how cool it would be to create for video games since I was an avid gamer myself. Things progressed step by step over the years, and my professional journey started when I was 18, when I started to work in a small local animation studio. Then I became a freelance illustrator, creating book covers and illustrations plus some graphic design side jobs. After years I transitioned to a concept artist/designer. I still find time to create my personal work from day to day – it’s just something that’s never paused even with my heavy workload.
Where do you draw your inspirations from?
Inspiration for me can
