Kurt van der Basch, 1975, a Prague-based storyboard artist and illustrator, grew up in Canada’s East coast maritime region, where he studied classical piano. In 1999, he entered the film and television industry as an office assistant but was soon designing and illustrating props, working as a scenic painter and later conceptualizing and illustrating props and sets on “Alien vs Predator” and Terry Gilliam’s biographical fantasy film “The Brother’s Grimm”. With a knack for quick drawing, Kurt turned to storyboarding in 2003. He has since applied his drawing skills to a wide range of media in Europe and the United States, from production illustrations on music videos for Janet Jackson, Kanye West, and Madonna’s 2009 “Sticky and Sweet” tour, to drawing storyboards for J.J. Abrahms’ monumental 2015 reboot “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. Kurt’s most recent projects include the hugely anticipated fantasy series “The Lord of the Rings”.