Michiel van den Heuvel
Michiel van den Heuvel
Environment concept artist & illustrator
Eindhoven, Netherlands

Summary

Hi! I'm Michiel, a freelance artist based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. My passion lies in painting backgrounds and designing environments for games, animation projects, and visual novels. I believe that the right environment can set the tone for an entire project and transport the audience to another world.

As a concept artist and illustrator, I use a combination of traditional software like Photoshop and Blender, as well as VR sculpting tools to create stunning visuals for games, animation projects, and visual novels. My goal is to always stay ahead of the curve and use whatever tool is most effective to achieve the best possible results for each project.

Becoming a full-time freelance artist has been a dream come true for me, and I'm proud to have worked on exciting projects such as Candy Valley Network's 'Wild Life', an open-world RPG built in Unreal Engine 5. Working on this project has honed my skills as a concept artist and given me a taste of what it takes to create immersive game worlds.

My primary interest is in working on large-scale game and animation projects, with a keen eye towards exploring opportunities in film. I'm constantly on the lookout for new and exciting challenges to expand my creative boundaries. Additionally, I dedicate time to personal projects to refine my skills and explore my creative vision. One of my most thrilling personal projects is an ongoing Lord of the Rings series pitch. If you're interested in discussing potential collaborations or have any questions, please feel free to get in touch!

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Skills

Concept ArtConcept DesignEnvironment ModelingPhoto-manipulationPhotoshopSketchingKitbashing

Software proficiency

Photoshop
Photoshop
Blender
Blender
Keyshot
Keyshot
Quixel Mixer
Quixel Mixer
Gravity Sketch
Gravity Sketch
Gaea
Gaea
3DCoat
3DCoat
Quixel Suite
Quixel Suite
Medium by Adobe
Medium by Adobe
Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine

Experience

  • 2D/3D artist at Self employed
    January 2014 - Present

    Visual novels, mobile- & pc games, animation projects, marketing artwork and more.

  • Marketing Artist at Divine Madnes
    October 2023 - November 2023

    Created the cover art for a new TTRPG artbook

  • Background artist at Cheese Broccoli Studios
    Arcadia
    January 2018 - Present

    Designing and painting cartoony backgrounds for a educational dungeon-crawler mobile game 'Drugs & Diseases' https://www.cheesebroccolistudio.com/

  • Environment Concept artist at Candy Valley Network
    Berlin, Germany
    December 2021 - May 2023

    I was responsible for re-designing the open world MMO 'Wild Life'. My main responsibility involved creating 3D blockout models, overpainting for layouts, designing assets, and proposing narrative- & gameplay driven concepts

  • Concept artist & background painter at Douwe Works
    Amsterdam, Netherlands
    November 2021 - February 2022

    Designing concepts for sets and backgrounds, as well producing background paintings

  • Concept artist at Star Ark Ltd
    United States of America
    December 2020 - June 2021

    Concept art and background images for a scifi-based game project

  • Background artist at Smiling Meerkat Studio
    Australia
    October 2020 - April 2021

    Card art designs for a unannounced board game in development

  • Concept artist at Reddlock Studios
    Netherlands
    April 2020 - July 2020

    Concept art for an upcoming educational science-related game about classical physics and quantum physics. 'Science Tales' developed by Reddlock Studio

    https://sciencetales.io/

  • Marketing artist at Legends of Sora
    July 2018 - February 2019

    Designing and illustrating concept art, as well as marketing images for the online novel 'Legends of Sora' as written by Broc Sewell https://legendsofsora.com/

  • Concept artist at Studio Blonk
    Apeldoorn, Netherlands
    November 2016 - January 2016

    Visual Development for the Entertainment industry. Most recent project : Theme park ride- concept art

    http://www.studioblonk.nl/

  • Pocket Quest at Art King Studio
    January 2013 - July 2013

    Concept art, Background paintings, U.I and character design for PocketQuest, a mobile RPG.

    http://www.artkingstudio.com/pocket-quest

  • Race Day Challenge at ArtKing Studio
    January 2013 - July 2013

    Vehicle, prop en U.I design for RaceDayChallenge, a mobile racing tycoon game.

    http://www.artkingstudio.com/race-day-challenge

  • World of Difference at Monkey Bizniz
    Utrecht, Netherlands
    January 2012 - July 2012

    Concept art and background design for 'Wereld van Verschil' a Therapeutic PC game developed for young people dealing with ( imminent ) grief. A virtual world was designed to help them deal with their grief, fear and other worries, but also to encourage them to remember and rejoice. In addition, it is a platform to keep and share memories with other young people reminding them that they are not alone.

    http://dewereldvanverschil.nl/

    http://www.monkeybizniz.com/work.html