Nick Pugh Email & Phone Number

Greater Los Angeles Area

Nick Pugh Studio specializes in innovative project development and conceptual design for the entertainment industry. Nick specializes in vehicle design and works to do the best work for all clients. Collaborating with some of the most talented leaders in the entertainment industry he strives to bring great ideas and stories to life with beautiful illustrations, 3D models and visualizations.

Designed vehicles for the upcoming Hulu series The First. In production due out end of 2018.

Designed futuristic vehicles for the upcoming film Ad Astra. The project is in production so I can't give more details at this point.

I helped the creative team at Scholastic visualize the Magic School Bus from the children's books as a 3D design for a live action film. The work included the bus a realistic vehicle and versions of it in its transformed magical states. I am a huge fan of this property and my 2 girls loved reading the books when they were little so this was a fun project for sure!

I worked with Production Designer Francois Audouy and Director James Mangold to visualize the near term future vehicles in the film Logan. This was a dream project for me because it applied my car design experience with a great story set in 2029, just far enough in the future to show some neat ideas but close enough that we could present some concrete ideas that had real world application. The film turned out great and was well reviewed and financially successful. Here is a link to a nice article written about the vehicle designs from Logan: http://jalopnik.com/how-the-cars-of-logan-grappled-with-the-very-real-futur-1793099275

Pasadena, Ca

I have had the pleasure of teaching some of the most talented students in the world at Art Center over my 11 years of teaching. My classes were; Originality In Design, Digital Landscape Painting and Idea To Pitch. The following describes each one:Originality In Design: The objective of this class is to empower the students with the tools and techniques needed to come up with original new artistic style and design solutions. Finding truly novel forms is very difficult and the curriculum focuses on avoiding cliche through research, drawing, sculpting and critique. The end goal of the class is to have students leave with an enlightened view of how to find originality in their work and to be empowered with the confidence to pursue it.Digital Landscape Painting: In this class students paint from life using digital tools. It combines the traditional practice of plein air painting with the use of modern tools to give the students an understanding of color, composition and light that they can then apply to their digital concept art. The class takes field trips every other week and the final is an application of what they learn to hi resolution environment concept paintings.Idea To Pitch: In this class the students create a new entertainment property (film, video game, TV show), develop a story and concept art package and pitch it to potential buyers at the end of the term. The projects are original properties and the pitch packages consist of a story outline, one-sheet poster and 3-5 pieces of art. Go to ideaproductions.net for more info.

At Rhythm&Hues I have had the great pleasure of working with so many talented directors, designers, programmers, designers, supervisors, artists and producers over the past 16 years. My roles have been diverse as the company allowed me to explore different facets of my creativity fully without restrictions. They include:DesignerArt DirectorTalent RecruiterSculpterArtistTexture PainterMatte PainterInnovatorI have worked on many projects from the earliest pitch phase where the art is used to get the project off the ground to full on post-production where the film is about to be released. My favorite role is Senior Concept Artist where I get to paint and draw most of the time and help mentor new designers, many of whom are former students. It is my greatest pleasure to see a thriving art department and know that my contributions are instrumental in helping bring out the creative potential of everyone involved.There are too many people at R&H who I have loved working with to name but here are a few who stand out: Stacy Burstin, Chris Consani, Mike Meaker, Sei Nakashima, Eileen Jensen, Lee Berger, Richard Hollander, John Hughes, Pauline Tso, Richard Taylor, Bill Kroyer, Steve Grant, Todd Shifflett, Bill Westinhoffer, and Ray Chen.

Xeno Automotive was a specialty car company that I Co-founded in the early 1990's. With youthful bravado I turned down numerous offers to work for established car companies upon my graduation from Art Center and chose to form my own. The idea of Xeno Automotive was to build custom designed futuristic vehicles for individual customers. I coined the term 'Personal Concept Car' and trademarked 'Carchitect' to promote this service. A series of designs were created that culminated in the Xeno III concept vehicle, a 500 Hp natural gas supercar that was completed in January 2002. Due to my designs being too far out, market conditions, customer hesitation at the expense and risk of production etc the business is no longer operating.The process of creating the Xeno III is the subject of the book 'Build The Perfect Beast' and the vehicle itself was featured in numerous media including Wired, Fox News, Vogue, CBS News, LA Times and Intersection.

NGV-USA was a natural gas vehicle and technology company that I co-founded in the mid 1990's. I patented a new chassis design that increased the range of a natural gas vehicles by integrating the fuel cylinders into the structural design of the vehicle frame. The prototype 'Longranger' van held the range world record for light duty vehicles driving without support across the US with an average of 350 miles between stops. It was featured on numerous media including CNN, ABC news and many local TV stations along the route. The technology was supported by DARPA and other industry sponsors.

To start out my career I worked for a variety of companies in the entertainment and design world. They ranged from Universal Pictures, General Motors, Mitsubishi, Warner Brothers, Mednick Group, TBWA Chiat Day, Hearst Entertainment, Activision and many others.

Education record

Foundation, Art, Design

High School