Interview

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Scott Robertson is a big hitter in the design world. He knows what he wants and he gets what he wants. He has carved out a solid career for himself as a respected product designer, lecturer, author, publisher and even computer games developer and thats just for starters. This man is driven.

However, dont mistake this go-getter attitude for arrogance. The fact is youd be hard-pushed to find a more modest person. This is someone whos got where he is today because of pure passion for design something that has never wilted in his 40 years on this planet.

When I was a kid I always wanted to be a car designer, says Robertson. I loved cars and enjoyed drawing my own designs and building models. Both of which are good primer activities to becoming a car designer.

Robertsons passion for design grew and developed from childhood, nurtured by his illustrator father: I would have to say that my father, who attended Art Center College of Design in California, was my first and probably most important and influential teacher. From him I learned how to think creatively, always thinking several steps ahead of the current task. I also learned the basics of drawing in perspective. Knowing that a place like Art Center existed and that designing cars for a living was a viable career path, was a huge motivator toward my becoming a concept designer.

After high school, Robertson progressed to Oregon State University for a few years before applying to Art Center. At OSU I studied as

Driven by a passion for design from an early age, Scott Robertson talks us through his life choices and career path that led to the inspirational and successful designs that hes now producing

Scott RobeRtSon

underpaSS: The idea is that you are the camera and are flying along at the same speed as the jets and the boat, so they stay in focus while the background whizzes by

Scott Robertson

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Launch (Left): This was a really fun piece to do because it came together so easily. I love the look of late afternoon sun on rusted steel. A lot of the first sketch remains in the finished piece

many different topics as possible to see if I found anything I enjoyed more than industrial design. Meanwhile, I kept working on my portfolio for application to Art Center, with my father as the critical eye on the work I was doing.

At the age of 20, Robertson was accepted by Art Center, where he began to flourish and really get stuck into what he loved most transportation and product design.

During my last two terms I did mostly independent studies, pursuing the design of objects that rode the line between traditional transportation and product design. Bicycles and bicycle helmet design would be two of these types of products.

Robertsons time at Art Center was an era when 3D digital modelling and Photoshop were not accessible so Robertson had to face the challenge of teaching himself the programs.

InspirationTake a look at Robertsons designs, and youll see works of passion and devotion. When you look at them you cant help imagining him scribbling away as a child, creating weird and wonderful vehicles and longing for the day when they would come to life. These days, his designs often do just that evolve from screen to reality. The boyish thrill of cars, bikes and anything with wheels has never left Robertson, and this is reflected in his portfolio of work. Its hard to grow up playing with Hot Wheels and not have

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Interview

Landing: A rendering like this is really about having the patience and determination to sit for about a week at the computer and pick away at it. The most enjoyable part was the painting of each ship and the figures

when Im dead I want the woRld to be a betteR place than when I was alIve

that show up throughout your work now and again, I suppose, he says. Nevertheless, its apparent Robertson is uncomfortable being bound by style-defining terms such as masculine.

Ive never thought much about marketing a personal style, he says. Im in constant pursuit of inventing ways to create interesting forms and images. Also, I very much like to pursue new tools and techniques for the invention of these forms and images, such as the blending of digital and traditional rendering techniques. If my work has a masculine edge, I guess its due to growing up in America, with my first design and artistic interests being in the area of car design.

Like many young ambitious males, the overriding influences for Robertson as a child were classic sci-fi movies such as Star Wars and Blade Runner. Robertson says: Later, as I learned more about the artists and designers who created the content for those types of films, it became their work as presented within various art of books that I came to admire. Robertson took a particular shine to the work of Syd Mead, who published inspirational work of his visions of the future. Around the mid-Nineties Robertson whole-heartedly embraced the web, using it to see what other artists and designers were up to.

Robertson says, Now, having become one of those lucky individuals with the skills to create work like that which inspired me, Ive turned more to nature and my immediate friends as my primary sources of inspiration. When inventing a

criSS croSS (Left): After spending years designing production bikes for clients like Kestrel, it was really great to design and render bikes like these. They are similar to ones I did for the film, minority Report

new design or style I try not to look at any work done by other designers, as I dont want my own work to at all reflect that of another designer. My inspiration from my friends does not come from looking at their work, but from talking to them about various ideas on styling, technology, philosophy, art and the future.

Practise what you preachAside from his concept design work, Robertson has spent much of his career teaching at various institutes. One of his first teaching posts was in Vevey, Switzerland, which first drew him to its beauty. It was a great opportunity to get back to practising my drawing and rendering skills, and to travel to Europe, specifically Switzerland. A former Art Center teacher with whom I had stayed in contact, Imre Molnar, was working there and needed help. In addition, the industrial design work I was doing around the end of 1994 was not as artistically rewarding as I wanted it to be, and it was at this point that I fell in love with teaching, Robertson explains.

When asked how teaching stacks up against the rewards of creating his own designs, Robertson is reluctant to commit himself. Its rare that I get to create truly my own designs, unless Im doing work for one of my own books. Otherwise, all the designs and art I create are done to fulfil someone elses business interests. Thats the job can I create something for them that will be so desirable that their customer

Sr concept bike (beLow): Although Robertson is a master of concept design, he often runs many of his designs past his students to get their input and opinions before finalising the work

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Scott Robertson

will spend money on it? What the design is used for does influence my satisfaction with it. If its an object or experience that can enrich our lives and not further damage the environment, then of course I gain more satisfaction from the job.

When it comes to satisfaction through teaching, Robertson is equally enthusiastic: At its best, its like sharing a secret answer to a question that someone had been searching for, for a very long time. It makes me proud to see the variety of imaginative, original designs and images my students invent as their creativity and skills are developed throughout their time in my classes and at Art Center.

It seems Robertsons own education has had a huge bearing on how he approaches topics with his students, drawing on past lessons to push them in the right direction. The methodologies of creative thinking that I was taught, and that I now teach, can be used to solve many of the challenges life will bring you. The practised ability to change your point of view, to look at an idea or problem from another perspective, has served me well throughout my life, and I owe a debt of gratitude to those teachers who took the time and had the patience to teach me what they knew and I thank them for that.

With so much on his plate, how does Robertson keep the momentum going? My motivation is probably my imagination and the thrill of seeing my designs realised in another form instead of

remaining in two dimensions. I seem to be a bit of a big picture idea guy. I like the concept of the idea more than working out all the details.

Theres no doubt that one of his main driving forces is his students and peers: My peer group is a great sounding board for critiquing my concept art and designs. I can always find several of them doing much more inspiring art and design work than my own projects. This fuels my competitive nature and helps me rally back to push harder to improve my own skills.

In some respects, this competitive streak extends to a need to beat not only individuals but also the destructive forces threatening the

planet. This might sound a bit metaphysical, but when Im dead I want the world to be a better place than when I was alive. With the skills I have and knowing who I am, I try through teaching and publishing books to inspire others to create rather than destroy.

This environmental awareness is very obvious in much of Robertsons work, particularly his concept bikes and transportations. I dont find much professional or personal satisfaction in the creation of more products than we as a human race need, says Robertson. I think this is why Ive chosen to do more and more virtual products, ie the design of environments, characters, vehicles

Its haRd to gRow up playIng wIth hot wheels and not have that show up thRoughout youR woRk now and agaIn

Start your engineS (right): Rendering in Photoshop, I put all of the tricks I could think of into this one

ruinS (above): Whatever story the piece suggests to you, I hope you enjoy it, says Robertson

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Interview

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Interview

and props for the entertainment industry. Here I can create many, many things, and the only limitation is time and money. I can feel good about the designs not ending up in a landfill somewhere or spewing toxic waste into the air we all breathe. In designing things for these new worlds, when your customer tires of them, they can just flip a switch and theyre gone.

With so much experience under his belt, Robertson has a lot to offer the rookie designer. Hes firm in his belief that good foundation skills such as perspective drawing are essential in order to make a good designer.

After theyre armed with good foundation skills, both traditional media and digital tools, they will be in a position to draw and paint anything they can image. But to make a career through the application of these skills, they will need to work well with others and achieve stunning original visual results on call as well as on time.

The futureFor Robertson, his varied career has been moulded on firm artistic roots of which he has his father to thank. With so much accomplished, whats next for this entrepreneurial designer?

Professionally, for the next few years at least, Ill be the Chair of Entertainment Design at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. A couple of years ago I was asked by Art Center to write a new Entertainment Design curriculum that would help educate concept designers of the future. The programme has been working well as a minor for the last year and a half so much so, they wish it to be its own department.

My publishing company, Design Studio Press, will continue to publish innovative, original art and design books. I will try to do more educational DVDs with The Gnomon Workshop.

Last, Im trying to leave the summers open to create original Intellectual Properties to license for development into videogames and movies.

All the artistic visual development of these future properties will be featured in upcoming Design Studio Press books, such as our first IP, Alien Race, due out in July 2008.

Thats a busy couple of years planned ahead, and its obvious Robertson thrives on the buzz of a bustling work schedule. With so much to offer, theres no doubt Robertson will go on designing and teaching students his secrets to success well into old age. A born designer through and through his dream of being remembered for his beneficial work is certainly looking promising.

When I die I want to have the feeling that I have left all my knowledge and skill behind for others to do with as they may.

Were sure his students will take away some great lessons from such a skilled master.

To see more of Robertsons work and his companys books visit: www.drawthrough.com and www.designstudiopress.com. 5

Lift off (above): The color rendering of one of the antcraft rising through the clouds on its ascent into space. You can get a sense of scale when you see the pilots head in the cockpit

hovercraft (inSet): One of the best things about Robertsons job is being able to create the ultimate boys toys that only dreams are made of

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Scott Robertson