Feng, everytime I see a new design episode, it just inspires me to draw so much. And that's very important because I always have a lack of creativity within drawing, so it really helps me out!
I just want to say I LOVE your videos- I listen to them while I draw or work on some projects for school and when I feel uninspired, I watch them so that I can get the boost I need. I'm still a student and I'm fairly new to formally learning art in a classroom setting, but every tip that you've given has been so helpful! I especially love it when you explain how you have to kind of let your pride go and be humble enough to accept critique from professors or other artists who know more or just really want to help you. I can't tell you how many students I've seen just hurt themselves because they come into a situation thinking that they're already number one. Keep up the good work and I hope to see more from you soon!!
Another great aspect of thumbnails is that you can do them wherever you are. I always carry something to draw on whether it's a sketchbook or more recently I carry around small notecards I can fit in my sport jacket pocket and sketch out any idea I might get. It also hopes when you're stuck at some boring place your friends talked you into going. Great vid, thanks for sharing!
every episode of this makes me happy. First of all, because I love your voice, second, because I'm only 14 years old and my skills are just starting to sharpen but everything you say I can relate to take note of to work better on. I'm so glad I found this channel
thanks for the videos Feng, im a clay sculptor and i love watching your videos. they help me a lot, even with my clay work. you have given the world 75 pieces of art instruction gold
After at least five years of drawing side views and an occasional 3d view of spaceships this video has leveled my skill up to the 3d era, those basic perspective lines are the key to estimate and direct where all the lines should be. I have drawn plenty of center vanishing point cityscapes but now I’m jumping on to the next level for myself. Thanks Feng Zhu, I wonder if you ever aspire to get into fine art, because there are so many con artists with not even 1 % of your skillset. I think people would be excited to see you conquer that arena.
This video is gold! I'm so gonna start doing more thumbnail drawings! Because I seriously have a bad habit of drawing and polishing up the very first idea that pops in my head or on paper!
Fantastic video Feng, the points you make about relaxing the brain, 'playing' and (re)building morale is very relevant for me right now. My background is more as a painterly illustrator and while my college years, BA and MA university years never taught fundamentals, school did at least cover 1,2 and 3 point perspective and orthographic layouts. Nowadays, trying to produce more sophisticated design work has proved difficult so I'm having to improve my fundamentals before going forward and this can be taxing on my morale. So, my new approach is to re-study each stage and refresh and improve my fundamentals with every piece that needs to be conceptualised and taken to a finished presentation. I can afford to do this as my collaboration is (currently) unpaid and for good friends. Big thanks for these dude :)
This was absolutely fantastic. At times, it feels as though many of the tricks of the trade, if you will, of the entertainment industry are locked behind closed doors. Which is fine, Magicians don't share their tricks for a reason. However, the fact that you take the time to share the process is wonderful. Especially when the only alternative is often locked behind a pay wall, whether that be a university or tutorial site. Thanks Feng.
Would absolutely love to see soft surface thumbnails! Thank you for all the hard work you put in to making these videos for us. You truly keep me going.
this is SO helpful that I cant even put it into words, makes you really inspired to go back creating when you're just very tired of rendering and rendering and nothing looks good
Fantastic Stuff! So glad I stumbled onto this series! Awesome advice from a seasoned veteran and true Design Pro! Thanks so much... looking forward to viewing all episodes!
i am really loving these videos .. you are bringin a lot of knowledge and technique , and best of all. you remind us to draw with love for it.. like a kid.. be free. and learn from it all. i really needed to hear that.. thank you for making these vids..
Yes! please do soft surfaces I love this part of the process but we don't see it enough out there and having the Master explaining it is very interesting. Thanks for keeping this channel up!
Awesome vid Feng! I much prefer these type of design cinemas than the lets draw ones, feels like I learn more from this type of vid than the other. Thanks for keeping design cinema going! :D
Really awesome video! I'm currently starting to do concepts for a game idea of mine. I was really starting to feel tied up, and watching this video really encouraged me to take a step back and start to adjust my workflow to fit this mindset. Really inspiring, thank you, Feng!!
Im actually a digital painter and then translate them to real media, Im not a designer but I listen a lot to Feng's discipline, methodology and mentality and try to incorporate them to my own processes in order to be more ordered, efficient and creative. Thanks a lot Feng for posting these videos.
As some one in the graphic design field a lot of what you said in this video mirrors what I've seen in my experiences. A lot of people just jump on the computer with the first idea they have and it usually ends with a generic pile of poo. Thumbnails help to push ideas beyond the initial straightforward idea and into something more unique and better for the client. I think for soft surfaces legend of the dragoon would make a great game to draw inspiration from. Can't wait for the next episode!
Hey Feng ! I love your videos, lots of great tips. I noticed your lasso/Mask stage around 47:00 I have a photoshop action embeded with a shortcut: select with magic wand, and expand selection and fill with foreground color. Saves ALOT of time. Cheers
I've watched all videos and always find something new and useful in them. This video is no different, so yeah totally do that soft-surface version of thumbnails too! : )
Thank you for doing this video. I would say that this is my biggest problem, and it really feels great to have that identified and quantified, along with a resolution. I have given up on so many paintings because I get into it and realize the design is awful and then I never want to finish them. Thank you for giving me a real, and pretty obvious solution that I just couldn't see on my own!
Timing on this video was excellent for me Feng. I just got started on a new sci fi project and was starting to make some of the common errors you mentioned, slowing down with just 3 designs and putting too much time into them. Decided to pull back and do a BIG sheet. Thanks.
Hey Feng, Thank you for uploading a new episode, you ROCK. Secondly this is a really great episode and you give us TONS of inside information about pipelines. :) Really looking forward to the next one! :)
wow I really enjoyed this episode. just what I need to get me up and going like I've been seeing some of those same mistakes where as I don't take the time to thumbnail. and it is painful. I'm soo glad you talk about moral and how it's totally a thing in drawing and getting things going in general. Please keep making these videos it's definately made my night. I'll keep on drawing a way and keeping the moral up. thanks again your are an amazing instructor and I'm glad for these videos. Particular ones like this where as I can straight up listen and draw. -Layeyes
Very cool to show other sides of the/yours process. I also use thumbs on everything I do, but you use them differently, so its cool to see how you work. Thanks a lot for sharing.
This is a great video, it's great how like you said the drawings evolved. I tried what you said and took a sketch book and just start sketching away, I could see that my designs were improving with each drawing, so it really works! And yeah some creatures or character thumbnails would be great the next episode!
Hi, can you please do the continuation of this video as you said with characters, and if possible thumbnails for buildings. Thank you for all the videos and I really look forward to every new one!!
This was a very big help to me, as a student. An actual major problem I was having, frustrated when I, like others, put design in the backseat in order to push out a finished mediocre design. I am for another design cinema like this. This topic was very helpful for someone who is self teaching while using Feng's videos for teaching/inspiration.
I work in marketing and studied graphic design in college. I very much see the same sort of time crunches in concept design. I find myself designing in the program WAY too much and get myself trapped too often. Even when my boss says she wants changes I am so locked in with the original design it takes too long to shift and by that time feels pretty burnt out. I think that what you had taught in this video can be applied to even my work. Thanks for the advice.
Thanks for episode, really ineresting, and as always giving a lot tips, and motivation. Im looking forward to see next episode, with soft surface designs
Hey, it seem like forever since the last episode, I think I went through all youtube twice and filled the same amount of sketchbooks =) These vids are the best and I think the world would be better with more of em! I'm so starving for ep76 right now, hope to hear you soon =P
Thanks for uploading, been waiting a long time for a new Design cinema. I like to see the process and seeing the way you think on paper. I think it would be good if you could make more thumb nail videos but more hard surface stuff, props or items. I like to see the iterative process and rough sketches thanks.
Cheers Feng every one of your video is inspirational, looking forward to the soft body one, I dig these types of vids way more than the lets draw. How do you keep your ideas fresh after all this time? You've previously talked about reading tonnes and watching lots of documentaries to grow your visual library... do you still do this as much as when you were younger and just starting out? or do you do it more now? Also how do you balance this constant learning/idea growth with your busy schedule of work/personal-life/friends and family? Love your stuff man.
You mentioned before that one of the key fundamentals was anatomy. How does a concept artist use anatomy when they're drawing things like space ships and environments? Does it fall into play or does it just come in when you do soft surface stuff?
Great job! Every time i watch your videos i'm wondering how you flip the sketch like at 1:11? Is this a standard or custom shortcut?? It looks really useful! And if anyone here has an idea, please let me know.
Hey Feng, I have a quick question that might be difficult to answer. Ive been practicing at home, and a question that always pops into my head is: How do I keep original ideas, and fresh concepts? How do I bridge something that is easy to relate to, and alienate the idea to keep it fresh/completely original. I understand to communicate with an audience you must relate to them. (Using reference of what we see in the world, and then builidng on that to create your own material) Is it possible to break those boundaries? And if so, how would you approach it? I also understand that everything must have some function. The laws of our world must apply. What about breaking them? Something that has little to no function, things that would completely shatter our way of thinking? I guess it may be a silly question, and thats something that concept artists like yourself do. I would love for your input on a question like this. Glad to see a new video, even though it is pretty repetitive. :)
I think the thing that most artists have done is to learn about a culture or a body of work and then try to evolve it. It sounds stupid, I know, but the Chesire Cat was evolved from an ancient sculpture. So many costumes in the Star Wars trilogy are evolved from costumes of the Asian countries. Even the worlds of Isaac Asimov are modeled after the cultures of earth with a twist. And there are tons more examples that I just am not remembering at the moment. When you say you want to break those boundaries, I personally don't believe that to possible. Everything has to have a functionality. It doesn't always have to have the functionality of a swiss army knife though, but I think the most successful concept art designs, the most original, have at least two functionalities outside of being aesthetically appealing. The job of a concept artist is to create according to a world canon. This doesn't have to be the canon of earth, it just has to be a canon of some sort to create stability, even if it is stability in chaos. Sticking to a canon, or a group of laws that stay the same or has little variance and only variance in minor happenings, allows the audience to relate and that's the most important goal of the concept artist. Lastly, to keep inspired, go to the museum, don't just look at other concept artists. Look at architects, national geographic, cartoons, sculpture galleries both modern and classic and read a lot. Of course, Feng has said all this before. And I mean every word. Go back and watch all his videos and take notes. I do.
Explore your imagination, practice and develop those ideas. There's really no trick to it, be creative with your ideas, before you even pick up the pen take the time to figure out what it is you're even drawing/designing in the first place? Are they characters? If so what kind? Are they talking creatures? Goblins perhaps? If so what is it about goblins do you want to portray? Is it their mischievous demeanour, their chaotic riots? How do you intend to communicate their unruly behaviour through clothes? Do they cover themselves in the bones of their prey/victim? What do they even hunt with? How do they hunt? In packs, do they strategize? Set traps? Or do they rush and overwhelm their victims through sheer numbers surprise them in the woods? Or do they live in the open plains with the tall grass being the only form of shelter? Caves? At the side of volcanoes? Maybe these goblins have a rival clan who are bigger and stronger but slow and dim witted... And your ideas can go on and on, and before you know it your goblins will seem real, imaginative, filled with wonder, and not just some other different design. Develop your ideas. You'll never have the perfect original idea because there's no such thing. There's only your imagination and where you decide to explore it. You can take the most played out subject matter and liven it up with a fresh perspective. New inventions are really only created only to serve an existing need for it. Feng here explores alien ship designs, he then applies shape language of seashells. He tries big bulky ones that could be a transport ship, maybe even the mother ship. The mothership could have sets of smaller pods that it could deploy. small sleek ones that look very fast, those could be fighter ships etc. Long winded I know, hope I got my point across. Happy drawing :)
MightyMusic101 Art school. I had an art history teacher with a phd who was profound and good at hitting home with her words. She taught. I listened. Art history exists for a reason.
haha, i always get a kick out of him saying "i sped these up because you guys probably get bored". its always funny considering I'm watch the video for the hundredth time in .25 speed to understand his thinking better. :) i always come back to this one.
I was excited when I saw the title for this episode, but was sad when I didn't silhouettes. Would you consider silhouettes a step after or before "detailed" thumbnails in this style?
Sarah Foster You could also make another layer and put it on color then paint the entire thing solid black to make it greyscale. I find this more useful because you can just turn the layer on and off instead of ctrl Z
I really liked this episode! I'd like to see more about the different steps of development in a single project. More similar to the episode n.69, but maybe made in different video for following the usual workflow, starting from thumbnails (maybe already from this one) and moving through step two and three, untill the final product for the art director. QUESTION: Do you think that people who star not so young (27 - 30 years old) to work into this industry could be no more so appetibiles as a junior artist in a company? If yes, what should you suggest in alternative to them for break in it? I hope I well explained what I mean. Thank you.
I found this episode amazingly interesting to me the thumbnails and early work are more interesting to look at than the finished stuff please please do the character/creature thumbnail episode you talked about in this episode cool great episode
Question: What are your thoughts on time spent studying vs. applying those studies with your imagination? I believe in one of your earlier videos you may have mentioned something about people who have technical skill, but when you put an assignment in front of them, they get lost. Yet many people emphasize studying while they talk down on learning by working from your imagination.
This episode made me realize that I spend too much time on details and not on design... mind blown
I hope people are still watching these videos, they're GOLD!
Feng, everytime I see a new design episode, it just inspires me to draw so much. And that's very important because I always have a lack of creativity within drawing, so it really helps me out!
What I love about your videos is that you are talking about industry and explaining a lot. Great subject!
I just want to say I LOVE your videos- I listen to them while I draw or work on some projects for school and when I feel uninspired, I watch them so that I can get the boost I need. I'm still a student and I'm fairly new to formally learning art in a classroom setting, but every tip that you've given has been so helpful! I especially love it when you explain how you have to kind of let your pride go and be humble enough to accept critique from professors or other artists who know more or just really want to help you. I can't tell you how many students I've seen just hurt themselves because they come into a situation thinking that they're already number one. Keep up the good work and I hope to see more from you soon!!
Another great aspect of thumbnails is that you can do them wherever you are. I always carry something to draw on whether it's a sketchbook or more recently I carry around small notecards I can fit in my sport jacket pocket and sketch out any idea I might get. It also hopes when you're stuck at some boring place your friends talked you into going. Great vid, thanks for sharing!
every episode of this makes me happy. First of all, because I love your voice, second, because I'm only 14 years old and my skills are just starting to sharpen but everything you say I can relate to take note of to work better on. I'm so glad I found this channel
thanks for the videos Feng, im a clay sculptor and i love watching your videos. they help me a lot, even with my clay work. you have given the world 75 pieces of art instruction gold
I like the huge gaps between uploads. It makes the moment I see a vid in my sub box more exciting
After at least five years of drawing side views and an occasional 3d view of spaceships this video has leveled my skill up to the 3d era, those basic perspective lines are the key to estimate and direct where all the lines should be. I have drawn plenty of center vanishing point cityscapes but now I’m jumping on to the next level for myself. Thanks Feng Zhu, I wonder if you ever aspire to get into fine art, because there are so many con artists with not even 1 % of your skillset. I think people would be excited to see you conquer that arena.
Fantastic! Enjoyed the length and the on-the-job perspective - thanks for your time man.
always a huge boost to my motivation when I hear your words, Feng
This video is gold! I'm so gonna start doing more thumbnail drawings! Because I seriously have a bad habit of drawing and polishing up the very first idea that pops in my head or on paper!
Thanks, Feng. This is one of the most important topics around, so those soft-surface videos would be most appreciated.
Fantastic video Feng, the points you make about relaxing the brain, 'playing' and (re)building morale is very relevant for me right now. My background is more as a painterly illustrator and while my college years, BA and MA university years never taught fundamentals, school did at least cover 1,2 and 3 point perspective and orthographic layouts. Nowadays, trying to produce more sophisticated design work has proved difficult so I'm having to improve my fundamentals before going forward and this can be taxing on my morale. So, my new approach is to re-study each stage and refresh and improve my fundamentals with every piece that needs to be conceptualised and taken to a finished presentation. I can afford to do this as my collaboration is (currently) unpaid and for good friends. Big thanks for these dude :)
This was absolutely fantastic. At times, it feels as though many of the tricks of the trade, if you will, of the entertainment industry are locked behind closed doors. Which is fine, Magicians don't share their tricks for a reason. However, the fact that you take the time to share the process is wonderful. Especially when the only alternative is often locked behind a pay wall, whether that be a university or tutorial site. Thanks Feng.
Would absolutely love to see soft surface thumbnails! Thank you for all the hard work you put in to making these videos for us. You truly keep me going.
Please yes!! Other episodes like this one! The core of being a concept designer!!
this is SO helpful that I cant even put it into words, makes you really inspired to go back creating when you're just very tired of rendering and rendering and nothing looks good
thank you very much for another super lesson. Always great to get your insights. Thank you for coming back!
Fantastic Stuff! So glad I stumbled onto this series! Awesome advice from a seasoned veteran and true Design Pro! Thanks so much... looking forward to viewing all episodes!
What you said about the feeling you get drawing when you're young is so true man. Thanks for the vid, very encouraging!
i am really loving these videos .. you are bringin a lot of knowledge and technique , and best of all. you remind us to draw with love for it.. like a kid.. be free. and learn from it all. i really needed to hear that.. thank you for making these vids..
Yes! please do soft surfaces I love this part of the process but we don't see it enough out there and having the Master explaining it is very interesting. Thanks for keeping this channel up!
Awesome vid Feng! I much prefer these type of design cinemas than the lets draw ones, feels like I learn more from this type of vid than the other. Thanks for keeping design cinema going! :D
Please continue this series! Very interesting.
Awesome video Feng.Looking forward for the soft-surface design.
Your video's have helped me a lot, glad you finally uploaded a video again, this'll keep me going!
Really awesome video! I'm currently starting to do concepts for a game idea of mine. I was really starting to feel tied up, and watching this video really encouraged me to take a step back and start to adjust my workflow to fit this mindset. Really inspiring, thank you, Feng!!
This is exactly what I needed! :D I missed you Feng! Now, let me just start a video. This is so thrilling!
"Oh man, the wall is filled, now we have to put up another art wall" :DDD
Im actually a digital painter and then translate them to real media, Im not a designer but I listen a lot to Feng's discipline, methodology and mentality and try to incorporate them to my own processes in order to be more ordered, efficient and creative. Thanks a lot Feng for posting these videos.
Please do the soft surface thumbnails! I can't wait. Thank you for your amazing work!
As some one in the graphic design field a lot of what you said in this video mirrors what I've seen in my experiences. A lot of people just jump on the computer with the first idea they have and it usually ends with a generic pile of poo. Thumbnails help to push ideas beyond the initial straightforward idea and into something more unique and better for the client. I think for soft surfaces legend of the dragoon would make a great game to draw inspiration from. Can't wait for the next episode!
i could replay this forever. thank you for your wise words.
Hey Feng ! I love your videos, lots of great tips.
I noticed your lasso/Mask stage around 47:00
I have a photoshop action embeded with a shortcut:
select with magic wand, and expand selection and fill with foreground color.
Saves ALOT of time.
Cheers
Great design talk in this one. This one really helped me get into the designer's head.
I've watched all videos and always find something new and useful in them. This video is no different, so yeah totally do that soft-surface version of thumbnails too! : )
Thank you for doing this video. I would say that this is my biggest problem, and it really feels great to have that identified and quantified, along with a resolution. I have given up on so many paintings because I get into it and realize the design is awful and then I never want to finish them. Thank you for giving me a real, and pretty obvious solution that I just couldn't see on my own!
Timing on this video was excellent for me Feng. I just got started on a new sci fi project and was starting to make some of the common errors you mentioned, slowing down with just 3 designs and putting too much time into them. Decided to pull back and do a BIG sheet. Thanks.
Hey Feng,
Thank you for uploading a new episode, you ROCK. Secondly this is a really great episode and you give us TONS of inside information about pipelines. :) Really looking forward to the next one! :)
wow I really enjoyed this episode. just what I need to get me up and going like I've been seeing some of those same mistakes where as I don't take the time to thumbnail. and it is painful. I'm soo glad you talk about moral and how it's totally a thing in drawing and getting things going in general. Please keep making these videos it's definately made my night. I'll keep on drawing a way and keeping the moral up. thanks again your are an amazing instructor and I'm glad for these videos. Particular ones like this where as I can straight up listen and draw.
-Layeyes
Very cool to show other sides of the/yours process. I also use thumbs on everything I do, but you use them differently, so its cool to see how you work. Thanks a lot for sharing.
You are one of the most amazing artist I've ever seen your tips are very helpful. Thank you
This is a great video, it's great how like you said the drawings evolved. I tried what you said and took a sketch book and just start sketching away, I could see that my designs were improving with each drawing, so it really works! And yeah some creatures or character thumbnails would be great the next episode!
I screamed like a little girl when I saw this pop up.
Thanks Feng, hope its all coming together, can't wait to see what you are really up to.
This might be my favorite episode so far!
Hi, can you please do the continuation of this video as you said with characters, and if possible thumbnails for buildings. Thank you for all the videos and I really look forward to every new one!!
It would be really cool to see how you handle soft surface thumbnails, Feng. Awesome video, man!
This was a very big help to me, as a student. An actual major problem I was having, frustrated when I, like others, put design in the backseat in order to push out a finished mediocre design. I am for another design cinema like this. This topic was very helpful for someone who is self teaching while using Feng's videos for teaching/inspiration.
I work in marketing and studied graphic design in college. I very much see the same sort of time crunches in concept design. I find myself designing in the program WAY too much and get myself trapped too often. Even when my boss says she wants changes I am so locked in with the original design it takes too long to shift and by that time feels pretty burnt out. I think that what you had taught in this video can be applied to even my work. Thanks for the advice.
...very interested in seeing an episode on soft surface design thumbnails for characters - much appreciation & gratitude for these lessons, as always.
Amazing! Thank you so much, you changed the point of view, i finally have a way to put down sketches quick, thank you!
I would really like to see thumbnails of characters, great episode again!
Thanks for episode, really ineresting, and as always giving a lot tips, and motivation. Im looking forward to see next episode, with soft surface designs
ye, definitely continue this theme for the next episode... thx Feng for ur time! :)
This, to me, was actually very interesting. It gave me a couple ideas on how to speed up my own designs, and can come in handy. Thanks for sharing :)
Awesome video, really interesting to see how the industry works :D
would have loved to see how you got from where you started to that more shell ship design.
Yay!!! Thank you for the upload Feng! :)
one day I'll thank you face to face for the inspiration you gave me Feng
Yes please show the soft surface one! And dragons sound awesome.
Thanks for the new episode Feng.
This was a great episode man. Thanks for it.
And for the game, how about Rocket Knight Adventures?
would love to see character thumbnailing, especially armors designs and the thinking part for the next video! xD
Hey, it seem like forever since the last episode, I think I went through all youtube twice and filled the same amount of sketchbooks =) These vids are the best and I think the world would be better with more of em! I'm so starving for ep76 right now, hope to hear you soon =P
Thanks for uploading, been waiting a long time for a new Design cinema. I like to see the process and seeing the way you think on paper. I think it would be good if you could make more thumb nail videos but more hard surface stuff, props or items. I like to see the iterative process and rough sketches thanks.
Ooo I would love a video on thumbnails for characters/the whole process of concepting characters.
This video was great btw, love it :')
Cheers Feng every one of your video is inspirational, looking forward to the soft body one, I dig these types of vids way more than the lets draw.
How do you keep your ideas fresh after all this time? You've previously talked about reading tonnes and watching lots of documentaries to grow your visual library... do you still do this as much as when you were younger and just starting out? or do you do it more now?
Also how do you balance this constant learning/idea growth with your busy schedule of work/personal-life/friends and family?
Love your stuff man.
This episode is cool, I'd like to see a soft surface version of this process!
Definitely would love to see a soft surface version of this too!
Great show, really like seeing the whole process :)
Feng, can you talk more about the 3 detail levels that you mentioned ? also can you tell us more about the page sizes you mention often.
You mentioned before that one of the key fundamentals was anatomy. How does a concept artist use anatomy when they're drawing things like space ships and environments? Does it fall into play or does it just come in when you do soft surface stuff?
Great job!
Every time i watch your videos i'm wondering how you flip the sketch like at 1:11?
Is this a standard or custom shortcut?? It looks really useful!
And if anyone here has an idea, please let me know.
a new episode! I was starting to consider pestering you the way you asked us to.
I like these types of videos more than the lets draw videos. I was wondering if there was any particulate reason you used red to sketch with?
One of your best! thank you!
Hey Feng, I have a quick question that might be difficult to answer. Ive been practicing at home, and a question that always pops into my head is: How do I keep original ideas, and fresh concepts? How do I bridge something that is easy to relate to, and alienate the idea to keep it fresh/completely original. I understand to communicate with an audience you must relate to them. (Using reference of what we see in the world, and then builidng on that to create your own material) Is it possible to break those boundaries? And if so, how would you approach it? I also understand that everything must have some function. The laws of our world must apply. What about breaking them? Something that has little to no function, things that would completely shatter our way of thinking? I guess it may be a silly question, and thats something that concept artists like yourself do. I would love for your input on a question like this. Glad to see a new video, even though it is pretty repetitive. :)
I think the thing that most artists have done is to learn about a culture or a body of work and then try to evolve it. It sounds stupid, I know, but the Chesire Cat was evolved from an ancient sculpture. So many costumes in the Star Wars trilogy are evolved from costumes of the Asian countries. Even the worlds of Isaac Asimov are modeled after the cultures of earth with a twist. And there are tons more examples that I just am not remembering at the moment. When you say you want to break those boundaries, I personally don't believe that to possible. Everything has to have a functionality. It doesn't always have to have the functionality of a swiss army knife though, but I think the most successful concept art designs, the most original, have at least two functionalities outside of being aesthetically appealing. The job of a concept artist is to create according to a world canon. This doesn't have to be the canon of earth, it just has to be a canon of some sort to create stability, even if it is stability in chaos. Sticking to a canon, or a group of laws that stay the same or has little variance and only variance in minor happenings, allows the audience to relate and that's the most important goal of the concept artist. Lastly, to keep inspired, go to the museum, don't just look at other concept artists. Look at architects, national geographic, cartoons, sculpture galleries both modern and classic and read a lot.
Of course, Feng has said all this before. And I mean every word. Go back and watch all his videos and take notes. I do.
Explore your imagination, practice and develop those ideas. There's really no trick to it, be creative with your ideas, before you even pick up the pen take the time to figure out what it is you're even drawing/designing in the first place?
Are they characters? If so what kind? Are they talking creatures? Goblins perhaps? If so what is it about goblins do you want to portray? Is it their mischievous demeanour, their chaotic riots? How do you intend to communicate their unruly behaviour through clothes? Do they cover themselves in the bones of their prey/victim? What do they even hunt with? How do they hunt? In packs, do they strategize? Set traps? Or do they rush and overwhelm their victims through sheer numbers surprise them in the woods? Or do they live in the open plains with the tall grass being the only form of shelter? Caves? At the side of volcanoes? Maybe these goblins have a rival clan who are bigger and stronger but slow and dim witted...
And your ideas can go on and on, and before you know it your goblins will seem real, imaginative, filled with wonder, and not just some other different design.
Develop your ideas. You'll never have the perfect original idea because there's no such thing. There's only your imagination and where you decide to explore it. You can take the most played out subject matter and liven it up with a fresh perspective. New inventions are really only created only to serve an existing need for it.
Feng here explores alien ship designs, he then applies shape language of seashells. He tries big bulky ones that could be a transport ship, maybe even the mother ship. The mothership could have sets of smaller pods that it could deploy. small sleek ones that look very fast, those could be fighter ships etc.
Long winded I know, hope I got my point across. Happy drawing :)
Desiree Morris That's great insight. Where did you learn all this (or continue learning more about it)? I must know :)
MightyMusic101 Art school. I had an art history teacher with a phd who was profound and good at hitting home with her words. She taught. I listened. Art history exists for a reason.
For the Q&A of the next video: After the thumbnails, how you know/find the details to fill the piece you're working on?
this episode changed so much of my mentality
haha, i always get a kick out of him saying "i sped these up because you guys probably get bored". its always funny considering I'm watch the video for the hundredth time in .25 speed to understand his thinking better. :) i always come back to this one.
definitely enjoyed this episode and would love to see some more, perhaps enviroments and characters together next time?
I was excited when I saw the title for this episode, but was sad when I didn't silhouettes. Would you consider silhouettes a step after or before "detailed" thumbnails in this style?
Great Video. Thanks for taking the time to generate these. One question, can you do this with characters next time or in the future?
Please do another one with organic stuff, this one was awesome.
Yay, new video, can't wait!
i wanna say thanks for this episode before i even start watching : )
How often do you draw with physical media?
Great video..please do the next one.
A Soft Surface version of this would be great :D
question: where did you get the textures from? the only part of the process that wasn't really shown
yes sir please do make a organic thumbnails
like humans/character clothing design,monsters design
How did he turn it grey-scale at 31:00?? Thanks guys
Ctrl+shift+U is a shortcut to remove all saturation from an image. You'd want to tweak the levels after doing that to keep it looking nice.
hey thanks a lot!
Sarah Foster Care, ctrl+shift+u does not respect saturation. Better move would be to create a black layer above everything and set it to saturation.
Miro Jomaa Good to know! Thanks for the tip. ^^
Sarah Foster You could also make another layer and put it on color then paint the entire thing solid black to make it greyscale. I find this more useful because you can just turn the layer on and off instead of ctrl Z
Thanks Feng awesome as usual!!
I really liked this episode! I'd like to see more about the different steps of development in a single project. More similar to the episode n.69, but maybe made in different video for following the usual workflow, starting from thumbnails (maybe already from this one) and moving through step two and three, untill the final product for the art director.
QUESTION: Do you think that people who star not so young (27 - 30 years old) to work into this industry could be no more so appetibiles as a junior artist in a company? If yes, what should you suggest in alternative to them for break in it?
I hope I well explained what I mean. Thank you.
lmfao nice to see you again feng XD. Been way too long my friend, excellent video buddy. looks like you didn't put down your pen yet.
I found this episode amazingly interesting to me the thumbnails and early work are more interesting to look at than the finished stuff please please do the character/creature thumbnail episode you talked about in this episode cool great episode
Question: What are your thoughts on time spent studying vs. applying those studies with your imagination? I believe in one of your earlier videos you may have mentioned something about people who have technical skill, but when you put an assignment in front of them, they get lost. Yet many people emphasize studying while they talk down on learning by working from your imagination.