Heart-to-Heart with Brendan Smith - Graphic Designer/Artist

Please note: all art within this post copyrighted ©Brendan Smith

Last year, The Magic Book Corner set of on a hunt for artists willing to have their art showcased in our Art Gallery and Brendan Smith was one of the first artists we have met. 

Designer and graphic artist, Brendan has an experience of over 18 years and works with clients on projects of all sizes and price ranges. He does book covers as well as illustrations and his art is awesome! 

Of course, I asked him for a Heart-to-Heart and was really happy when he agreed. 

Here is our conversation: 

TMB – Hi Brendan. Thank you for taking the time for this post. I truly appreciate it. To begin, could you please tell our Magic Book Corner readers a little bit about yourself? 

As Dicken's David Copperfield says, "I was born. I grew up." 

But, I believe my formative years best paint a picture of who I am. From a young age, I was always the creative type whom was far better with creating images than his literary skills. I would spend hours filling up notebook after notebook with drawings and doodles. I took many of my cues from the comic books of the time. It was only later, while in high school, that I first had the opportunity to use Photohop 1.0. This being the 90's, the only version available on a Apple computer. Mind you that prior to that, my only other experience I was using copy of Harvard Graphics for an old 8088 PC. After K-12, I attended a local community college, where I enrolled in their Fine and Applied Arts program. After several years my mentor in art and blacksmithing, advised me that unless I wanted to go forward toward a PhD and hope to get a teaching position, it would be best to seek another field. It was not due to my lack of talent but this man who had his PhD was working 2 jobs. So I went off to a University and studied Computer Science, specific to information technology. After University, I worked in the field for a few years. I watched the tech bubble burst and realized that I need to always keep my job prospects available. 

In 2004, a job prospect landed me in the position at a newspaper managing bother their digital media and network administration. It also brought me back to the use of digital software for the creation of media. During that time, I also was given a raise in order to help sort out issues with their production dept. And unlike most managers, I got in their with the other workers and created advertisements, layouts and basic pagination. After all, you can't be a leader unless you understand what those below you have to deal with. And it is never a bad thing to get into the trenches. That was where I received my Adobe Certification. After this, I took a position with a much larger news paper (3rd largest in TN) and did exceptionally well. But all good things must come to an end. With the competition of digital media, sales had dropped and I returned to my original career. Art had become a hobby of mine. But during this time, I learned to diversify my abilities to include videography, 3D rendering and even musical composition. 

Around that time, I realized that people were willing to pay me for my work. I could either paint it in a traditional manner, go fully digital or mix the 2 media. Several years later, I am here. And while this is not my full time means of employment, it is certainly one which offers the greatest satisfaction. Knowing that I can converse with the author and create exactly what they conceived in their mind is a wonderful feeling. While many sell their work in bulk, I prefer individual work that will offer an insight into the story an author has to tell. Every picture tells a story. How an author conveys that story is important to the initial viewer. It often sways a potential customer who may be on the fence about purchasing the author's book. 

MBC – Could you tell us a little bit about your creative process? 

Ok. Understand that most of the creation process is usually just the back and forth chatter I have with my clients. I employ several processes to create any one particular work. The image shown below was created using a free stock background and a reference model that I later painted over using my Wacom tablet. I chose the color theme because the story is about a young woman, in a post apocalyptic world, escaping a cult. She is experiencing the wide open spaces and the escape from repression for the first time. 

Or another example: 

This is a current work that is not yet published. The client wanted this particular title to look like a the Lucas Film Logo. But as this is a cover that requires the action to be that of a spaceship, I decided to use Lightwave and then Maya to create the model. I later employed photoshop to offer up the proper treatment.

At this moment, I am creating him a trailer for this, which includes animation that specifically fits the work in both the CG and VFX. Those files that show the video work in progress can be found here on vimeo. https://vimeo.com/user84164975

On a more personal note, I have found out something about myself recently. We all have our highs and lows. When I am on that down swing, I create some of my best work. I was on the low arch of such a swing (I am not manic depressive). I started to think about all of the real troubles in the world and created this to remind people that there is no glory in war. It only leaves behind widows, orphans and bodies.

MBC – What genre do you prefer working for? Fantasy, Romance, SF? 

I prefer science fiction to fantasy, but the market is primarily fantasy. But here are a few premade covers that relate to the science fiction field. 

In addition, I find that the more simple, is often better. This is a premade cover for a drama/mystery.

MBC - Where can authors and art lovers contact you for commissions? 

At this moment, as my website is down for the rebuild, so they can reach me through 

my facebook art page: https://www.facebook.com/brendansmithart/ 

my instagram account: @BrendanSmithArt

or through my account with Reedsy.com. It is a service based out of the UK and designed to bring creative types together for sales and mutual benefit. 

https://reedsy.com/brendan-smith 

You can also find Brendan Smith on Vimeo 

https://vimeo.com/user84164975?fbclid=IwAR1_ek0BKIieAk-SGwMWQSr4hUjjaqwiSWKAvFcwrY5Dbth4NLGOVQSXUEs 

Or check out my YouTube channel Brendan Smith https://www.youtube.com/user/brendankevinsmith/?fbclid=IwAR3Vyy3k7sem3rDgLbMBsk8NvYfnkVFFtkrwAhj3ILJ2RW3ilONL9vus_K4 

Brendan has also worked on a few charity programs in the past, one of which I simply need to mention. 

It was done for a boy named Jack from the UK. He had Cerebral Palsy and wanted to see Disneyworld. A fundraiser was run for the child and part of this was to create a board game with a Jack and the Beanstalk theme. Brendan created it for him. 

This is pen, ink and acrylic on matte board as the background for this board game. 

If you are in need of a great book cover, don’t hesitate to contact him. He replies very fast and is one of the friendliest and easiest to work people I have ever encountered. The Magic Book Corner highly recommends his work.

For more art by Brendan Smith please visit our Art Gallery for his already published book covers and see below a few more of his available works.