Artist Group Mentor Listing —Joel Carpenter

Areas of Mentorship

Concept Art | Comics | Illustration

Hi guys! If you’re a beginner looking to develop your skills toward building your first concept art, illustration, or comics portfolio, or a more experienced artist wanting to level up, help with your portfolio, or guidance and collaboration on your personal projects, I can help you! I’ll guide you through both your artistic and professional growth.
I specialise in character design and have 20 years experience as an illustrator, concept artist, storyboard artist and art director in the animation, games, film and comics industries. I’ve mentored artists of a variety of levels through my roles as a Senior Artist/ Art Director and working with educational institutions in addition to mentoring here. I enjoy helping artists like you, strengthen your fundamentals, storytelling, design, and visual development skills. I’m also able to share software and process tips. Through a mentorship with me, we can work together together to accelerate your journey toward your art goals.

Who This Mentorship Is For

This mentorship is ideal for artists who want to:
-Break into concept art, visual development, or illustration fields
-Develop stronger composition, color, and design sense
-Improve storytelling and sequential art for comics
-Create or refine a professional portfolio
-Learn industry workflows, from thumbnails to polished pieces
-Get constructive feedback and build consistent creative habits
-Transition from Traditional artist to digital art
-Develop technical and creative software skills
You can be a student, hobbyist, or working artist — what matters most is your dedication to improvement.

Group Mentorship (2-4 students) with the advantages of lower cost and learning experience with peers (which has many learning benefits). You can join as friends or collogues or be matched up with another student.
If you’re joining with friends/ colleagues please let me know in your introduction email with the names of your group members. If joining alone, you may be added to a waiting list until another student joins the group.

I also offer 1-1 Mentorship gives you the most concentrated focus on your specific goals and rapid development your art for each session.

Topics You Can Explore

  -Visual storytelling for comics and concept art and illustration
  -Character, prop and environment design fundamentals
  -Fundamentals of colour, light, composition, perspective and anatomy
  -Sequential art structure & pacing for comics and storyboarding
  -Thumbnailing and composition strategies and mood development
  -Portfolio development and presentation
  -Freelance / client workflow & career guidance

How It Works

1. Make a Request

If joining alone, send me a brief intro (2–3 sentences, or more if you like,) a few samples of your work, and what you’d like to achieve (e.g. portfolio building, character design, storytelling, etc.). Your time zone & general availability.
For groups of friends/ colleauges, one member can provide this information for each member of the group.

2. Personalised Plan

I’ll review your goals and propose a tailored mentorship plan — including session structure, focus areas, and milestones.

3. Regular Sessions

We’ll meet online (Zoom) for structured sessions where we review your work, set weekly or monthly goals, and tackle specific challenges and discus anything you’d like to cover that session..

4. Feedback & Progress (optional extra)

Between sessions, you can send in sketches, thumbnails, or progress shots for feedback I’ll help you refine your workflow, visual storytelling, and presentation.

5. Wrap-Up & Next Steps

At the end of your mentorship phase, we’ll review your progress, discuss your portfolio, and outline clear next steps for your career or creative growth.

You can visit my website, if you’d like to see more examples of my work: 
https://joelcarpenter.carbonmade.com/
Mentorship slots are limited to ensure personalised feedback and attention.
Let’s build your visual storytelling skills and turn your ideas into impactful images.

Example links

RAID: Shadow Legends x Monster Hunter Trailer (Concept Art/ illustration)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICvAMx-u-z4
KITTIKATZ: Netflix series (Art Direction/Character design/Concept Art)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs6cvT6x2DM
ROBOZUNA: Netflix series (Art Direction/Character design/Concept Art, storyboarding)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J51-_x6QeG0

LENOVO: Lenovo Glasses T1 Advert (Concept Art/ Illustration)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECfXplvPVDs
##Logistics
-Format: Online (Zoom)
-Session Length: 1 hour
-Frequency: Weekly or biweekly, or Monthly
-Duration: 4–12 weeks or ongoing mentorship
-Feedback Between Sessions: Optio