Christian Filmmakers

David Negron Jr on Film Art

by Nathaniel Bluedorn, July 27, 2009. 4907 views

How long have you been an artist?

I have been an artist for a long time. If you want to count years, I would say about 47. That would be 18 non-professional and 29 professional. I remember drawing as a kid in grade school and then for the first time seeing that I could draw in high school.

When did start thinking of art as a career?

I really didn’t know I could make it as an artist or for that matter draw for a job. I found it hard to believe that people would pay me for something that I enjoyed doing.

When did you start doing art for film?

Well, I would say I had some help to be able to work on films. After high school I started working for my Dad as an artist’s apprentice. My dad was a professional artist and painter and at that time he was doing commercial illustration and motion picture work. I was his assistant doing research, photography, mixing colors, anything that made his workday go easier. I remember coloring some storybook looking drawing that he was doing for a film. I didn’t know what it was for exactly, but about a year latter I realized I was coloring storyboards for the film Raiders of the Lost Ark! Needless to say I was hooked on films as an artist.

Do you have any advice for young artists who would like to work in film or video?

The film industry is a very exciting place to work. With that said, it is also one of the toughest places to land a job. You see, almost everyone in film never really has a job, at least the creative positions. Creativity breeds competition. Producers will pay big buck for new and creative ideas. My best advice would be, is for the person that wants to enter film should really understand that it is important to find the right part of film making that they enjoy. There are many different types of jobs in the film business and not everyone can be the director. There are many successful film professional that will make far more money than an independent director. As an artist the jobs are fun and constantly different and challenging, that’s what keeps me going!

When you’re working on storyboards, do you work with the director in person, or do you work remotely . . . by telephone?

Most directors like their storyboard artist to be close at hand. When the director accepts the use of storyboards and see the value, he will soon learn how the work serves as problem solving tools. There are very few instances that artist work remotely, but once they gain the respect and trust a director will work with the artist by phone. I’m working on a project right now entitled YOUR HIGHNESS (Danny MCBride) the Director is David Gorden Green. David and I have had many conversation about his film and I have been sketching in LA, California and he is filming in Ireland. If the film had a bigger budget, there would be a good chance I would be there with him. Darn!

What are the different jobs in the film art department and how do they work together? (Art director, storyboard artist, concept artist, set designer, etc.)

The boss of the art department is the Production Designer. The PD is in charge of how the film looks creatively. He has many people that assist him in accomplishing his “look” of the film. An Art Director is usually in charge of the Art department and oversees the function of all who interact artistly with the film. Set designers usually draft on computers building the set plans for construction. There is a construction foreman that is in charge of his crew that will be building the sets. The Illustrator mostly works for the PD doing set sketches or painting or CG art for presentation for the director. The Storyboard artist works for the director. There are also set decorators that furnish the sets and work for the PD. All in all, the art department functions as a liquid group of very creative people that are constantly challenged by the work flow and ever-changing ideas.

Can you explain about your storyboarding workshop? (http://www.goliathpictures.com/storyboardworkshop/) What do you want to teach through this?

I decide to instruct this workshop because I saw the need to better prepare a person that wants to work in film. I’ve met with many artists that wanted to jump into the field of a storyboard artist, but they didn’t know what was to be expected of them. Most of their school was by teachers in colleges that only develop a base groundwork. The real challenge is to land a job. In the workshop we inform the artist/film-makers of what and how to go about getting a job. Most importantly, because of our experience we can tell the inside secrets that a teacher might not know. This was how I learned and this is how I would like to teach. I see the workshop as a on the job training insight.

Can you tell us about some of the movies you’ve been working on recently? (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0624500/)

I’m also working on a show entitled FIVE KILLERS (Ashton Kutcher) The film is being shot in Atlanta, GA. And Last year I worked as an Illustrator on this summers film GI JOE Rise of Cobra. GI Joe was a great film to work on, we had a fun art department and a great Production Designer that oddly enough was also a storyboard artist on Raiders of the Lost Ark with my dad!

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