Hello! My name is Josh Hagen. I am a working storyboard artist / illustrator / sculptor living in the midwest – North Dakota to be exact. For as long as I can remember I’ve loved to draw, sculpt and paint. I’ve loved movies and comics and toys for as long as I can remember. All I ever wanted to do was create strange new worlds and be a part of great projects.
Growing up, I can remember drawing all the time. Sometimes at inappropriate times – like drawing on test papers in grade school when I couldn’t remember the answer…or was bored: The capital of Portugal is a werewolf. The square root of 2648 is spaceship attacking a city. And the discoverer of Pluto was a monster truck.
Throughout high school I started to become interested in comic books and wanted to try my hand at making them myself. I remember my parents getting me “How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way.” And I did my best to draw up classic characters myself.
When I wasn’t working on comic book characters, I would be working on monsters and cartoon strips. A couple of my other passions. Basically, if it wasn’t blowing up, scaring people, or making me laugh, I didn’t want anything to do with it.
After graduating from SCAD, I moved with my wife to be to Los Angeles. While I was there, I worked on many small film and television projects doing boards, illustrations and sculptures to build up my portfolio and resume. I also worked as an intern at Almost Human FX because I love monsters and horror and sci-fi. Great place to work and learn. Later on I would do some concept illustrations and sculpting there as well.
I learned a lot in my early career working on a variety of projects from short and feature films, to toy and product design, to comic books, to animation backgrounds, to sculpting fx and miniatures, and so on. Gradually, I moved on to larger projects and my name got around.
After some time, I still felt I had more to learn. So I decided to take a few classes from Jordu Schell who I believe really assisted me in taking my art to a new level. I really do suggest continuing one’s education. Whether it’s formally, or self-taught. I still watch as many art videos and read as many books and articles as I can.
After several years working in LA, my wife and I moved back up to North Dakota where I started up my own studio. And with the internet, it’s easy to work from here. I send most all of my 2D images digitally to my clients so it’s a real blessing to have a great view outside while I work with people from all over the country (and internationally!).
Josh Hagen 