Need Some One to Do Concept Art for Me
How to become a concept artist (and what to exercise once yous've fabricated it)
Are you sure you want to exist a concept artist? Subsequently all, concept artists don't get to draw whatever they want. They don't fifty-fifty become to depict famous characters very often – if ever. Plus, virtually of their drawings will never see the light of day.
Disappointed? Concur up, there'south more than. Concept artists don't spend all their time playing video games. They don't generally hang out on flick sets of the latest 3D movies or hang around with big-name actors. They don't live peculiarly glamorous lives. They're not really famous. They're not really rich. Concept art is repetitive, it's labour-intensive. It is hard to get good at and harder to get a chore in. In fact, you could even fence concept art isn't really art. But information technology'south also a pretty incredible job, and plenty of people want to get into information technology.
Here's more than on what yous need to know well-nigh condign a concept artist, from those who take fabricated information technology. And if you lot're already working inside the industry, and then skip to the adjacent page for some pinnacle tips for how to go an even improve concept artist.
01. Realise it'south non all fun...
"Concept art is very dissimilar from merely drawing," Feng Zhu says. He has over a decade's feel working on Transformers, Telephone call of Duty, and Star Wars. "In reality, about 90 per cent of our work is grounded and pretty dry. Even when you are on a high-profile project, the 'fun' stuff more often than not lasts nearly a month or so. The other 2 or three months are generally filled with more mundane stuff: how landing gear folds out, arranging push button layouts in a cockpit, say." Zhu reckons that merely i out every ten images makes information technology to the next circular of production.
02. Just is about solving problems
Christian Alzmann says it's not uncommon to work on a design for months, simply for it to exist cutting from the final film. Alzmann is concept design supervisor at Lucasfilm. He worked on Rogue Ane: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. His job isn't making art; it's solving bug. His dominate might say: 'I need some concepts – this afternoon – for a vehicle that flies, merely tin can't accept wings or rotors, and has to fit into the style of this motion picture sequel.' The picture Alzmann comes up with is "just the math formula we apply to show our solution to the problem."
03. Pick how you learn carefully
Art school is more expensive and less important than it's e'er been. Ben Mauro says some of today'southward best concept artists – particularly the new generation – taught themselves using free or cheap online resources. Mauro is senior concept designer at Seattle game programmer 343 Industries. His credits include Halo and Call of Duty, and he also worked on the new Metallic Gear Solid movie.
Mauro would go downwardly the cocky-taught road, were he to showtime out today. He likes tutorial sites Gumroad, Schoolism and Learn Squared, but besides recommends smaller specialists schools – like Zhu's FZD Schoolhouse of Design in Singapore, or Concept Blueprint Academy, The Workshop Academy, and Begin School in the US. The crucial thing is that y'all larn from working professionals.
04. And then notice your style
Two of the most important bones skills, Alzmann says, are perspective and directional lighting (see our guide to how to describe perspective). You should report frames from your favourite films to encounter how these things are used to tell the story. Master those and you tin move on to the exciting flake: finding your ain style.
To practice this, Mauro suggests you study widely – automotive blueprint, architecture, manner, film history, art history, biological science… In short: don't make "derivative works of other people's interpretations of these things; it's amend to go to the source material and interpret it for yourself." That being said, derivative isn't all bad. Yous demand to be comfy working in the latest design trends. Information technology'south a balancing act.
Information technology's not enough to do good piece of work. Yous also have to go your work seen. Consider scheduling time to share your art and look for work. When you're ready, Mauro says, ship your online portfolio (ArtStation is good, Squarespace if you want something more than personalised) to the company or franchise yous want to work for. It's good to have direct contact, but that might accept a chip of detective work.
Conventions are good places to see people – null incorrect with asking to email them your portfolio. Otherwise, search Facebook, LinkedIn, ArtStation. If you can't find a contact, try and piece it together by figuring out how that company formats its email addresses (Is it beginning name or last name commencement?). Ship friendly, professional emails and then one or 2 polite follow-upward messages.
06. Hone your portfolio
Your portfolio should prove you're ready to commencement immediately; that yous understand the visitor'due south style. Alternatively, you could build a portfolio that demonstrates your own, unique manner. This is a bit riskier, but your manner or speciality might offering the thing that visitor is currently missing. Mauro'due south portfolio is a mix.
Zhu says there are three main positions for concept artists. Seniors create "world-edifice images such as atomic number 82 characters and environment establishing shots" and "are rarely involved in labour intensive work." Mid-levels also blueprint characters and environments, merely they're still required to roll up their sleeves and do some labour-intensive stuff. Juniors practice all of the hard piece of work: designing variations, doing orthographics, cleaning up line drawings, and extracting line details from digital paintings that have been created by seniors or freelancers.
07. Work on your advice skills
Mauro believes that being skillful at art is only half the job. Yous need to be a neat communicator. If y'all're an off-site freelancer and then this skill is peculiarly important because it's unlikely you'll be able to speak to people face to face. Y'all need to know to give the client what they desire. You lot sometimes need to assist the client work out what they want, too.
08. Be super-adjustable
Deadlines are usually tight. Typically, you receive a brief on Mon, finish it Thursday, so meet or speak with the customer on Friday. Your concept designs must not only solve but as well preempt problems for every person on the production line. For example, can the actor collaborate with information technology? Can the cinematographer accomplish cool shots with it? Can the director create ameliorate, more compelling moments in the story with information technology?
Yous could exist designing a small prop that takes a couple of weeks, or you could exist spending 4 years designing a whole world, a whole universe. Mauro says: "I've had jobs where I was asked to do one little prop for ii weeks that ended up with me being hired to blueprint the remainder of the film for 2, 3 years later on that."
Every bit a concept artist, yous're e'er an amateur in a job where nobody always actually becomes a master. Tools, trends and workflows change quickly and often, so y'all have to keep studying. Mauro has over a decade'due south experience in the industry, but he still watches tutorials every unmarried calendar week. The matter that all elevation concept artists accept in common is "being highly adaptable and having the curiosity and enthusiasm to never stop learning."
09. Remember why you lot want the chore
And then you still desire to be a concept artist? Well, at that place are few more things you need to know. You get to be creative every solar day. You go to live in your imagination. You lot may even become paid to play the occasional video game. You might meet the odd picture star and visit the odd picture show fix. Yous get paid to describe every mean solar day.
Your ideas – landing parts or cockpit buttons, characters or creatures – will go reality. Your solution to a sure trouble will become greater than the sum of its parts, equally hundreds of people work together to put information technology upwards on the big screen, or as part of a gaming feel played by thousands. Every at present and then, you'll become the job of drawing the flashy, pretty, epic film, a concept that could be considered art in it ain its right.
"When yous're working with a absurd client on a absurd project," Feng says, "it really doesn't feel similar a job. The best projection for me was Star Wars. The team was crawly, the director was nice – the projection was a dream come true. I went to work happy all the time.
This article originally appeared in ImagineFX magazine. Subscribe here.
Next page: Practical tips for working as a concept designer
Related articles
Source: https://www.creativebloq.com/digital-art/how-become-better-concept-artist-71621082