Interview with Sylvain Tohad Sarrailh, game and movie industry concept artist
As a professional concept artist for the video game and movie industry for the past 10 years, Sylvain “Tohad” Sarrailh has worked on projects for Ubisoft, Rocksteady, Amplitude, Psyop, Oculus, Insomniac Games, Sony Pictures, and DreamWorks to name a few. As a speaker at the Master Classes 2018, he will present, Forest of Liars, a game creation of Umeshu Lovers Studio, located in Toulouse, France. Here he talks with Isis Sousa, about his education, work, his upcoming game and more!
Love Sylvain’s Art? Join us in Pris for IAMAG Master Classes and learn with Sylvain and Artists from all over the world!
1. You are both an art director and freelance concept artist. You have worked for many brands, including Sony and Ubisoft. Tell us about the beginning: how did you start your digital artist career? How old were you when you took your first jobs and what kind of jobs did you do?
I did 3D animation studies after High school. At the end of my studies, I worked two years in an architecture studio to make films and 3D images of different buildings projects. I then started freelancing to work on my comic book projects and on various orders related to illustration. Probably sensitized during my stay in architecture, I discovered a particular interest for the light, the staging and the ambiances, which is probably shown in my portfolio and which allowed me to have more and more proposals related to the artistic research of environments. I’m professional for about 10 years, but I’m specialized as concept artist and art direction for about 5 years.
2. What was the moment in which your work became more recognized and what do you think helped you to have that momentum?
My comic book was an important point in my career. Working on it I realized that I loved working on backgrounds and environments. I started sharing artworks and backgrounds from my webcomic, it was like concept art of my own project. I then received more and more project proposals from different studios.
Many people know me on the internet with my Badass Fanart illustrations, but it never brought me any customers