aRTIST q&a - Megan owenson
Who are you and what do you do?
Hi i’m Megan and I am both an Oil painter and professional Concept artist / Art Director. I also own my own Games studio ‘Lost Attic Games.’
What mediums do you work in?
I work in oils, pen and ink and digitally.
What’s your background?
I’m from the seaside town of Scarborough in North Yorkshire United Kingdom, I’ve lived in several other cities up and down the UK, moving , depending on the project or studio I was working at.
Did you train as an Artist?
I have a Ba(hons) in Fine art from Leeds school of art. But I consider myself a self taught concept artist and painter; as my Degree never touched on traditional art and was instead centered on modern installation art.
Below is an image of 21 year old me at my end of year exhibition.
Where do you find inspiration?
I find Inspiration everywhere! A lot comes from archaeology, science and the natural world. I always think its a richer source of inspiration than just looking at other peoples artwork.
What art do you most identify with?
Any artwork that captures movement, texture, emotion and authenticity, I particularly love Alla prima painting as it has to capture the image in a fleeting period of time.
What themes do you pursue?
I tend to focus on narrative, emotion and our place within nature. I love to try and tell a story with the least amount of brush strokes and explore the perceived separation between humans and the world we live in.
What’s your favourite art work or Artists?
I love the artists: Christian Hook, Alex Kanevski, Tibor Nagy, Sargent, Conor Harington, Richard Schmid to name a few.
What jobs have you done other than being an artist?
After I finished university I worked for the Museums Trust, working as an event organiser for the Dinosaur Coast. I ran fossil hunts and childrens Dinosaur events at different castles and beaches in the North of England. Once that ended I went on to work at Specsavers, all the while trying to learn concept art and recovering from a Brain Tumour.
What do you dislike about your work?
The answer to this tends to depend on how long it is since I finished the painting in question. I think a lot of artists will agree that dislike and like of your own artwork comes in waves. For the first 5 mins after finishing a piece I will like it. Then the self doubt ramps up and I start to want to hide the artwork in the back of a closet.
What superpower would you have and why?
To live forever, in good health. I find the world way too interesting for just one lifetime. Im fascinated by too many aspects. There are so many professions I wish I had time to learn and a million places I want to visit.
How do you develop your art skills?
I would recommend starting on Youtube. This platform gives you access to sooo many free tutorials. Even if you never looked at anything else this would give you more than enough knowledge to become an accomplished artist if you combined it with practice. Next, many artists have made tutorials which you can buy directly from their websites or on gumroad, so look at some of your favourite artists and see if they offer anything in the way of lessons and video learning. This will also help support them in their art practice.
There really is’’t a whole lot of reason to attend University. I would caution anyone thinking about heading to university to study a creative subject to think long and hard about whether the cost is worth the benefits. If you do still want to go to University I would recommend going to an Atelier like the Florence school of art where you will get a traditional art education. (I always wish I had studied there)
In a year where A.I has started to take artists jobs do you worry and is there a future for artists.
I must admit, some of the reason for me moving back into oil painting is due to A.I starting to take hold of the digital art world. I’m not worried though. A lot of artists are angry and scared, but I dont think human art is going anywhere. We might need to rethink our methods and focus, but that’s the same with any new advancement. We just need to adapt. I think however that newcomers into digital art who at one time would start climbing the commercial ladder via low paid illustration jobs are going to find it quite difficult. A lot of generic simple illustration work is now being done by AI rather than young artists. Id say its an even better excuse to practice your traditional art skills. As for traditional painting; I think that this will benefit us, Any art made by human hands surely will become more of a luxury?
How do you navigate the professional art industry?
Stay kind and humble. It’s a tough industry, especially the higher you climb as a professional Fine artist or commercial artist. I try to make sure im easy to work with, leave ego at home and do the best work I can.
Professionally, what’s your goal?
At the moment my ‘Goal’ is to grow my Fine art Career to the same stage I feel I have reached with my Concept art career and to have my first Solo show.
What is your favourite Dinosaur?
The scottish Plesiosaur ‘ Nessie’
When was the moment you knew you were an artist or a career highlight so far?
Everyone is born an artist, I just carried it on into adulthood. There’s been a lot of career highlights, from working on a Blue Peter project, Art directing for Aardman animation to concepting the latest Little Big Planet game.
How do you structure your week?
I now work freelance, so I split my week. Half the week I spend concepting for game and film studios and the rest of the week you will find me oil painting.
How do you define success as an artist?
This used to be a question I would answer with the name of a project or studio I wanted to work for. But as i’m getting older and have achieved a lot of the goals I thought were the pinnacle of success, the answer has changed. I think being able to make a comfortable living from creating art that you make for yourself rather than a someone else is success.
How can people find more about you?
