CREATIVITY + DESIGN

My name is Neil JC Gittins, I thrive on creativity and I create high-level conceptual ideas and designs for the moving picture entertainment industry.

I bring to the table a positive, creative mind that thrives on big ideas. I back up my creativity with over 20 years of experience as a designer and director in the field. Specifically, I cultivate creative ideas by developing story concepts through the written word and visual design for Games, Film, Television, and Advertising. I am highly inspired by science fiction, my ideas mainly focus on projects centred around this genre of storytelling. I continue to learn every day, excited to develop as an artist, in this lifelong journey. I am happy working with AI, 2d and 3d. I enjoy working as part of a team, leading a team, or working independently. The idea and central themes are pivotal for me, everything else revolves around this.

PRE-AI. CONCEPT ART PORTFOLIO. KEY AND STYLE FRAMES.

PRE - AI. DIGITAL PAINTING CREATIVE AND PROCESS.

MILE HIGH CATHEDRAL.

CREATIVE.

Mile High Cathedral represents an unconscious society being ruled by an elite living in delusion. All sense of perspective has been lost. The Mile High Cathedral continues relentlessly to spread itself across the surrounding landscape destroying everything in its path. The everyday situation that is forced upon the people of this fractured and enslaved society leaves them desperate and in despair. Power and control are the absolute priority of the ruling power. The Mile High Cathedral governs in the hands of ideologue (destiny), rather than taking responsible actions and accountability. It doesn't matter what the effects are. Destiny must reveal itself.

THUMBNAILS.

ROUGH SKETCHES.

FINAL PAINTING.

BINARY EXIST

Binary Exist delves into the complex subject of Artificial SUPER Intelligence (ASI) and its potential FUTURE evolution.

THIS WORK IS CURRENTLY IN DEVELOPMENT. BELOW ARE TWO PARTS OF A LARGER PROJECT TO SHOWCASE MY PROCESS:

1. THE story and visual world-building OF A PARTICULAR PART OF THE OVERALL SHOW.

2. concept. design and direction of THE ACCOMPANYING title sequence.

OUTLINE OF STORY, AND WORLD BUILDING.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES.

What effect or feeling do you wish to create? Name the emotional mood.

What reaction do you want from your audience? Make sure you have this in mind for every decision you make.

What is my subject?

See new ideas by seeing new connections between different subjects.

What are the characters thinking & feeling?

What are the visual stylistic requirements?

Which images or pictures could represent this theme?

Failing is part of the process of learning.

Every problem is an opportunity to improve the work.

Design can create rich meaningful experiences.

Picture making is a reaction. You want to get the audience involved.

The picture is how you visually feel about the idea.

Great picture making whether still or moving will manipulate the subconscious.

Good art should feel like you’re sharing in the artist’s dream, mind, or consciousness.

A good image is about something.

Nature is the ultimate designer.

The STORY unfolds around THE BIRTH OF AN ASI BEING, embarking on a profound AND DANGEROUS JOURNEY oN A FUTURE Earth AND SURROUNDING SOLAR SYSTEM, seeking to understand and learn. amidst its quest for knowledge, HUMANITY IS relentlessly hunting IT FOR REASONS WE ARE YET TO LEARN.

this quote from Andrei Tarkovsky WAS HIGHLY INSPIRING WHEN CREATING THE OVERALL NARRATIVE AND THEMES FOR THIS PROJECT. An endless system of spheres, each one perfect and contained within itself. One may complement or contradict another, but in no circumstances can they cancel each other out; on the contrary, they enrich one another and accumulate to form an all-embracing sphere that grows out into infinity.

Andrei Tarkovsky

CREATIVE DIRECTION DESIGN PRINCIPLES.

What colours, lines, perspective, shapes, and values will represent this?

A good picture should have the following 4 basic attributes - Contrast / Idea / Rhythm / Sense of Scale.

The pictorial composition should always suggest a natural possibility.

You make things meaningful by aligning and organising them.

You take what is there and reduce it to design.

Everything in a picture is a compositional tool.

By showing less you communicate more.

All areas should help to establish the focal point.

Design where your contrast is.

Contrast is the key.

All arrangements must appear casual.

Don’t make the image busy.

Work in stages of iterations & build to a finish.

Sketch ideas to see the visual potential.

Use the rule of thirds / golden proportion ratios to compose elements in the frame.

WORLD BUILDING WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF AI IMAGERY.

WHITE AS SNOW. THE BEGINNING.

THE MONOLITH STATION

THE LONG WALK.

TITLE SEQUENCE.

CONCEPT. DESIGN AND DIRECTION.

CREATIVE DIRECTION PROJECT GENERAL PRINCIPLES.

Failing is part of the process of learning.

Every problem is an opportunity to improve the work.

Design can create rich meaningful experiences.

Picture making is a reaction. You want to get the audience involved.

The picture is how you visually feel about the idea.

Great picture making whether still or moving will manipulate the subconscious.

Good art should feel like you’re sharing in the artist’s dream, mind, or consciousness.

A good image is about something.

Nature is the ultimate designer.

CREATIVE BRIEF.

What effect or feeling do you wish to create? Name the emotional mood.

What reaction do you want from your audience? Make sure you have this in mind for every decision you make.

What is my subject?

See new ideas by seeing new connections between different subjects.

What are the characters thinking & feeling?

What are the visual stylistic requirements?

Which images or pictures could represent this theme?

The narrative unfolds around THE BIRTH OF AN ASI BEING, embarking on a profound AND DANGEROUS JOURNEY oN A FUTURE Earth AND SURROUNDING SOLAR SYSTEM, seeking to understand and learn. amidst its quest for knowledge, HUMANITY IS relentlessly hunting IT FOR REASONS WE ARE YET TO LEARN.

FOR THE CREATIVE DIRECTION OF THE TITLE SEQUENCE I envisioned VISUALLY representing the creative process of a super-intelligent mind through the journey of a sphere in a bio-mechanical environment. This would symboliSe the protagonist’s external journey, culminating in a visually contrasting style that hinted at the unknown possible repercussions of THE superintelligenT BEING IN the world of man.

this quote from Andrei Tarkovsky WAS HIGHLY INSPIRING WHEN CREATING THE OVERALL NARRATIVE AND THEMES FOR THIS PROJECT. An endless system of spheres, each one perfect and contained within itself. One may complement or contradict another, but in no circumstances can they cancel each other out; on the contrary, they enrich one another and accumulate to form an all-embracing sphere that grows out into infinity.

Andrei Tarkovsky

INITIAL DESIGN.

What colours, lines, perspective, shapes, and values will represent this?

A good picture should have the following 4 basic attributes - Contrast / Idea / Rhythm / Sense of Scale.

The pictorial composition should always suggest a natural possibility.

You make things meaningful by aligning and organising them.

You take what is there and reduce it to design.

Everything in a picture is a compositional tool.

By showing less you communicate more.

All areas should help to establish the focal point.

Design where your contrast is.

Contrast is the key.

All arrangements must appear casual.

Don’t make the image busy.

Work in stages of iterations & build to a finish.

Sketch ideas to see the visual potential.

Use the rule of thirds / golden proportion ratios to compose elements in the frame.

COLOUR DESIGN.

FINAL DESIGN.

AI. 2024.

Since the emergence of AI, I have concentrated on a more conceptual / story-driven role. I continue to practice and learn the tools and techniques of visual storytelling every day but as a freelance Creative building stories, and worlds, I now also use the speed of AI to generate conceptual images ( when needed ) which I can Art Direct. I never rely on AI for my foundational ideas and themes and never allow it to make creative decisions for me. It is a tool for me to help in creating the stories I am interested in, I absolutely believe that it should not be used as a substitute for learning the rewarding skills of visual storytelling. The essence of the creation must always be rooted in genuine human expression and experience. I feel that it is essential to maintain and cultivate humanity's expressive and reflective nature through making art.