In this episode of 8111, we talk with John Bell, a New Jersey native who developed a passion for drawing and cars in his youth. To earn money as a kid, he and his brother sold his car drawings at dragster races. This passion led John to the Art Center's Transportation Design program. After graduating, he joined GM's Advanced Concept Studio in Detroit.
John's career expanded further when he moved to California to work as a conceptual artist at Atari Games. By the late 1980s, he began a twenty-year intermittent tenure at Industrial Light & Magic, where he collaborated on films like "Star Trek IV," "Innerspace," and "Back to the Future II & III," earning an Academy Award nomination and a BAFTA. In 1991, he became the Art Director for "Jurassic Park."
Post-Jurassic Park, John explored new avenues at Nike as a Senior Designer, diversifying into footwear, clothing, graphics, and branding. He later returned to Northern California to create concept art for films such as "Men in Black," "Mission Impossible," and "A.I. Artificial Intelligence." His work extended into production design for Dreamworks’ "ANTZ."
John then ventured into video game design at Electronic Arts, contributing to titles like "Freekstyle" and "Dead Space," and freelanced on animated films including "Cars" and "The Penguins of Madagascar."
He later returned to ILM, working on Oscar-winning films "Rango", "Pirates IV" and "The Revenant." John has also collaborated with multiple clients including Nike, BMW, and Samsung. His broad portfolio spans film, gaming, automotive design, product design and advertising, showcasing his remarkable artistic talent. John is awesome and it was a real pleasure catching up with him and hearing his inspiring story.
https://www.johnbell.studio/
