Henry Smith

“A great character can be designed if you pay attention to the silhouette. Is it something we've seen before? I like to use geometric shapes in fun ways to see if I can get more interesting characters, and making my characters as weird as possible, while still being cute and approachable,” says the Salt Lake City artist. There’s certainly a 90s vibe in his inspiration cabinet – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Powerpuff Girls and SpongeBob SquarePants are to be found there, along with classic video games like Pokemon Blue and Super Smash Bros. Henry has a Bachelor degree in Fine Arts from the University of Utah.

Approach

Starting with a loose sketch, Henry determines the general direction and then refines it and tightens things up. After that the digital magic takes over with the main shapes drawn in Illustrator to be coloured and textured in Photoshop.

Styles

Goofy protagonists, angry villains, bizarre aliens, cheeky pets – Henry captures and exaggerates any character quality you can imagine with deft line work and vibrant colours.

Awards

2016 ADDY Awards – Gold Award 2015 Salt Lake City AIGA 100 – Award of Merit 2015 CTNX/Copic Markers Illustration Contest – Grand Prize 2013 Salt Lake City AIGA 100 – Two Awards of Merit 2013 ADDY Awards – Two Silver Awards

Client list

Henry’s clients include some of the biggest names in entertainment – Nickelodeon, Dreamworks, Cartoon Network, Warner Bros, Universal, Sony and Target.