Don Carson

Don Carson is one of my favourite artist and a major inspiration to my work. Carson studied Illustration at The Academy of the Art University of San Francisco in California. Coming to the end of his time at University he realised that he didn’t like creating finished works of art but instead the ideas behind them. After six years he finally managed to get a formal interview with Disney and was offered a job as a show designer. The show design and concept artists are the people responsible for the initial ideas behind an attraction. Carson worked as a full time imagineer form 1989-1995 and now works as a freelance artist for Disney. He was the show designer for Splash Mountain in Walt Disney World and Toontown at Disneyland California and during his time as an imagineer produced over 700 concept drawings and paintings. He says that one of the best parts of working for WDI was that ‘they bend over backwards to make the final product as close to your design as possible'. 

Carson has not only worked in theme park design but also concepting for other projects, character design, virtual worlds, stage/set design etc, working in a variety of industries with the skillset he has developed. I admire Don Carson because when he realised he didn’t want to do what he had trained for instead of carrying on doing something he didn’t enjoy he adapted his skillset and started working towards what he wanted to do. Over the years he has worked in different areas depending on what was available and what he enjoyed, and because of his persistence eventually he managed to land his dream job and many other jobs since. I find the way he works inspirational, especially his sketchbook designs, and his blog and website contain handy insights into the areas he has worked in that have helped me a lot in my recent projects and upcoming ride design work. You can visit his website at http://www.doncarsoncreative.com and blog at http://themedenvironments.blogspot.co.uk. I hope you enjoy his work as much as I have and if your interested make sure you check out his tutorials and talks as they can provide some great tips.