4 Ways to Improve your Concept Art Design Skills

Summary

In this video, Tim McBurney, a professional artist with over 20 years of experience, discusses the key aspects of improving design skills, particularly for concept artists in the video game and film industries. He outlines four main areas of focus: understanding design ethos, developing a research methodology, mastering the design process, and working professionally within the industry. McBurney emphasizes the importance of tailoring one's design process to their unique strengths and the value of learning from various disciplines to create more compelling and functional designs.

Takeaways

• 🎨 **Understanding Design Ethos**: Reading books and immersing oneself in the theory of design across various industries can enrich one's design process and provide a broader perspective.
• 🔍 **Research Methodology**: Developing a personal research process tailored to one's thinking style is crucial for gathering detailed information and references that can enhance design uniqueness.
• 🤖 **Design Process**: Concept art tutorials often focus on process, but it's the thought process behind design that's most important. Finding a personal design process can lead to more effective and enjoyable work.
• 🏗 **Silhouette Focus**: In certain projects, particularly in games with limited visual detail or fast-paced action, focusing on silhouettes and big shapes is essential for clear communication of design.
• 👥 **Working Professionally**: Understanding the specific needs and constraints of the industry, such as the cost of rigging in video games, can make a designer more employable by aligning their work with production realities.
• 🧩 **Variation Skill**: The ability to create interesting variations within the constraints of a production environment, like using the same animation rig for different characters, is a valuable skill in the gaming industry.
• 📚 **Continuous Learning**: Continuously improving one's understanding of design ethos, refining the research process, and learning industry-specific skills are vital for staying employable and relevant.
• 🛠 **Tool Use**: Utilizing tools like thumbnail sketches effectively can help in ideating and focusing on primary forms, but it's not always the starting point for every design.
• 🌐 **Industry Specificity**: Being industry-specific in one's design approach and understanding the technical limitations and common practices can significantly improve the applicability of one's work.
• 🎭 **Iconography vs. Functionality**: Depending on the project, the focus may shift between iconography, which is important for creating recognizable symbols, and functionality, which is crucial for designs that need to serve a purpose.
• 📈 **Personal Growth**: Personal development in areas such as working within a team and understanding production environments is as important as improving artistic and design skills.

Q & A

What is the main focus of Tim McBurney's discussion in the video?

The main focus of Tim McBurney's discussion is on how to improve the design aspect of one's craft, particularly for artists working in the video game and film industries.

How many key areas does Tim McBurney identify for improving design skills?

Tim McBurney identifies four key areas for improving design skills: understanding design ethos, research methodology, the design process itself, and working professionally in the industry.

Why is understanding a design ethos important for a concept artist?

Understanding a design ethos is important because it lays a foundational understanding of the theory of design, allowing artists to bring diverse elements into their work, resulting in more unique and interesting designs.

What does Tim McBurney suggest as a way to immerse oneself in the design ethos?

Tim McBurney suggests reading books from various industries, such as advertising with 'Ogilvy on Advertising', to understand the theory and ethos of design and how it applies across different fields.

How does Tim McBurney define the research process for concept artists?

The research process for concept artists involves developing a methodology to understand both the functionality of the subject being designed and the iconography or expectations of the audience.

What is the significance of a tailored research process for an artist?

A tailored research process is significant because it allows the artist to understand the subject matter in detail, enabling them to extract unique ideas and nuances that others might miss.

What does Tim McBurney suggest as a method to avoid getting too focused on video game-specific concept art?

Tim McBurney suggests looking at architecture, industrial design, and understanding the design process in different industries to bring in fresh perspectives and avoid getting stuck in the weeds of video game-specific concept art.

Why is the design process important for concept artists?

The design process is important because it's how artists take ideas from their heads and turn them into tangible designs. It's a personal and often industry-specific method that needs to be efficient and adaptable.

What is the role of the design process in creating concept art for video games?

In video game concept art, the design process helps in creating characters and environments that are not only visually appealing but also functional within the game's technical limitations and animation requirements.

How does Tim McBurney view the importance of working professionally in the context of concept art?

Tim McBurney views working professionally as a separate skill that is crucial for employability. It involves understanding the specific needs and constraints of the industry, such as the cost of rigging in video games, and being able to contribute effectively in a production environment.

What are some of the industry-specific challenges that concept artists working in video games might face?

Some industry-specific challenges include designing characters that are compatible with animation rigs, creating variations of characters or creatures that are visually distinct yet share the same base model for cost-effectiveness, and understanding the technical limitations of different gaming platforms.

What advice does Tim McBurney give for artists looking to improve their concept art skills?

Tim McBurney advises artists to focus on four main areas: understanding design ethos, developing a research methodology, refining their design process, and working professionally within the industry. He also emphasizes the importance of finding a unique process that works for each individual artist.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 Artistic Growth in Design: The Conceptual Journey

Tim McBurney, a professional artist with over 20 years of experience, introduces the topic of improving design skills, particularly in the video game and film industries. He emphasizes the importance of design in the production process and suggests that it is a critical factor for employment in these fields. McBurney outlines four main areas for improvement: understanding design ethos, researching and immersing oneself in design theory, considering functionality and audience perception, and the process of design itself. He encourages artists to read widely, including books on advertising and other industries, to enrich their design perspectives and create unique, functional, and appealing designs.

05:02

🔍 Expanding Design Perspectives through Research and Cross-Industry Learning

The second paragraph delves into the importance of research and cross-industry learning to enhance design skills. McBurney advises watching design-focused content and understanding design processes from various fields such as architecture and automotive design. He stresses the value of recognizing similarities across different design disciplines and applying this knowledge to concept art. The goal is to avoid being too narrowly focused on video game concept art and to instead draw inspiration from a broader design ethos. McBurney also discusses the personal nature of the research process, suggesting that it should be tailored to the individual's thinking style and project requirements.

10:04

🛠️ Tailoring the Design Process to Individual Needs

In the third paragraph, McBurney discusses the personalization of the design process, distinguishing it from the design ethos and research. He criticizes the cookie-cutter approach to concept art tutorials and encourages artists to develop their unique process for transforming ideas into designs. The paragraph highlights the importance of understanding the functionality and iconography of a design, and how to effectively communicate these aspects to others. McBurney also touches on the use of thumbnail sketches as a tool for ideation and the importance of not strictly adhering to a single method but instead finding what works best for the individual artist.

15:04

🏗️ Designing for Production: Understanding Industry-Specific Constraints

The fourth paragraph focuses on the practical aspects of working professionally in the design industry. McBurney explains that understanding the technical limitations and production needs of the industry is crucial for employability. He uses the example of video game design, where considerations such as character rigging and animation costs influence design decisions. The artist must be able to create variations of characters that are both distinct and practical for the animation process. This requires a deep understanding of the production environment and the ability to add value to a team, which is a skill that can be developed and refined over time.

20:06

👥 The Importance of Teamwork and Industry-Specific Knowledge

McBurney continues the discussion on professional work by emphasizing the importance of teamwork and industry-specific knowledge. He admits his own challenges with working in a team and production environment and encourages artists to develop these skills. The paragraph also touches on the need to understand the unique demands of different industries, such as feature animation, live-action films, and video games, each with its own set of design requirements and processes. McBurney stresses that being able to work effectively within these constraints and contribute to a production team is key to long-term employability.

25:08

📚 Developing a Comprehensive Approach to Design

In the final paragraph, McBurney wraps up his discussion by reiterating the four main areas for improvement in design: design ethos, reference gathering, the design process itself, and working within a specific industry. He advises artists to work on these areas separately to understand their unique value and to identify areas of strength. The paragraph concludes with an invitation for feedback on the design-focused talks and an offer for more industry-specific knowledge, highlighting the importance of continuous learning and development in the field of design.

Keywords

💡Concept Artist

A concept artist is a professional artist who specializes in creating visual concepts and designs, particularly for the video game and film industries. In the video, Tim McBurney, who has over 20 years of experience as a professional working artist, emphasizes the importance of concept artists in the production environment, where they use their artistic skills to design characters, environments, and objects for games and films.

💡Design Ethos

Design ethos refers to the underlying principles and theories that guide the design process. The script discusses the importance of understanding and researching a design ethos to create unique and interesting designs. McBurney suggests reading books across various industries to immerse oneself in different design theories, which can enhance one's design process and output.

💡Functionality

Functionality in design refers to the practical aspects and usability of a creation. The video script mentions that understanding functionality is crucial for concept artists, as it influences how designs will work in real-world applications or within the context of a game or film. For example, McBurney talks about designing characters with consideration for the rigging process in video games, which is a technical limitation that affects design.

💡Iconography

Iconography is the symbolic representation or visual imagery used in art and design to convey meaning or ideas. The script discusses the importance of iconography in concept art, especially in creating designs that are instantly recognizable and convey the intended theme or message. McBurney uses the example of a pirate ship to illustrate how iconography can help in designing something that is immediately identifiable.

💡Research Methodology

Research methodology in the context of the video refers to the systematic approach one takes to gather information and references for their designs. McBurney emphasizes developing a personalized research process that aligns with how an artist best understands and interprets the world, which can involve visual research, reading books, or even visiting museums.

💡Design Process

The design process is the series of steps taken to transform an idea into a tangible design. The video script discusses the need to understand and develop one's own design process, which may include creating thumbnail sketches, iterating on ideas, and refining concepts. McBurney warns against following a 'cookie-cutter' design process and encourages artists to find a process that suits their unique way of thinking.

💡Production Environment

A production environment refers to the setting where creative work is produced, particularly in the context of the video game or film industry. The script highlights the importance of understanding the technical limitations and requirements of a production environment, as this knowledge can greatly influence the design decisions made by a concept artist.

💡Variations

In the context of concept art, variations refer to the different iterations or versions of a design that maintain a consistent theme or structure. McBurney discusses the economic aspect of design in video games, where creating variations of characters or creatures can be more cost-effective than designing entirely new models, and how this requires skill in making each variation distinct yet consistent.

💡Silhouette

Silhouette in design is the outline or general shape of an object or character. The video emphasizes the importance of focusing on silhouettes, especially in video games where they are crucial for quick recognition and differentiation of characters or objects on screen. McBurney explains that working on silhouettes can be a powerful design tool, especially for fast-paced or low-polygon games.

💡Industry-Specific Skills

Industry-specific skills are the abilities and knowledge unique to a particular field or industry. The script discusses the importance of acquiring skills tailored to the video game industry, such as understanding animation rigs and creating character variations that are both distinct and compatible with existing rigs, which is a skill highly valued in the industry.

💡Employability

Employability refers to the qualities and skills that make someone suitable for employment. In the video, McBurney stresses that being good at working within a team and understanding the specific needs of a production environment are key to becoming employable as a concept artist. He suggests that while improving one's design skills is important, being able to apply those skills effectively in a professional setting is crucial.

Highlights

The importance of improving the design aspect of one's craft in the video game and film industries.

Four main areas to consider for improving design skills as a concept artist.

The role of understanding and researching a design ethos for creating unique and interesting designs.

Reading books like 'Ogilvy on Advertising' to enhance the design thinking process.

The significance of functionality and iconography in design.

The value of watching design-focused YouTube channels from various industries.

The need to separate the design process from the concept art tutorials often found in the industry.

Developing a personal methodology for research to enhance design functionality and iconography.

The idea that research is a skill that should be tailored to one's own thinking process.

The design process as a separate skill involving turning ideas into refined designs.

The personal nature of the design process and the importance of finding one's own way of ideating.

The importance of silhouette and primary form in design, especially in video games.

The necessity to understand industry-specific limitations and needs for effective design.

The skill of creating interesting variations within the constraints of production environments.

The distinction between flashy concept art and the practical design work required in professional settings.

The four key areas of focus: design ethos, reference, process, and working professionally in a specific industry.

The necessity to view each of the four key areas as separate skills to improve employability.

Tailoring the design process to fit the specific needs of different industries such as AAA video games or mobile games.

Transcripts

if you want to be a working concept

artist an artist who uses their artistic

skill

in the pursuit of design especially

these days in the video game industry or

the film industry one of the biggest

questions is how do you actually improve

the design aspect of your craft how do

you get better at making things in a

design process that's what i want to

discuss in this video i think there are

four main things that we have to

consider here and four main things that

you can build

separately and i think it's important to

distinguish them as being separate

let's jump in get

started my name's tim mcburney i've been

a professional working artist for over

20 years and a lot of that has been

spent as a concept artist just drawing

random things for video games mostly but

also feature animation and some film

stuff so basically in that case what i'm

doing is i'm using the drawing skills

that i've built and you know a lot of

the design skills that i've built in the

pursuit of working in a production

environment and helping to design and

figure out what the stuff in games and

films etc should look like now i made a

video recently talking about art versus

design and my basic point there was that

the design is the thing that will often

make you the most money especially if

you just sort of want to get a job and

work on

you know some sort of big project if you

have a desire to work in the video game

industry or something similar the design

is the thing that will actually often

get you employed the design is often the

way that you provide value in that

production chain and i think it is the

most important thing to work on and

really get sorted so the question is how

do we actually improve that how do we

work on getting better at design and i'm

talking specifically here

as as if we're getting better at design

as artists right as artists who

especially are trying to draw cool stuff

from our imagination for you know video

games that have a high sort of fantasy

quota

right where we're designing monsters or

creatures or things for science fiction

and fantasy that's sort of where i'm

coming at it from now the four things

that i think are really important to

consider uh firstly the idea of

understanding and researching and

becoming immersed in the idea of a

design ethos

so this is where you can think about the

theory of design

and you might go and read a whole bunch

of different books right so this is

where you know you can

think about the design as being a global

concept

it's something that people access when

you know they're doing advertising so

you know you could read something like

ogilvy on advertising

the reason something like this is

important and it's important to think of

the design sort of theory and ethos is

that

the more different

elements you can bring into your game

the the more unique and interesting your

designs are likely to be often the way

to create really interesting designs is

through the thinking process

as i said in that previous video it's

often about thinking about functionality

and functionality mixed with what other

people think things are

and i think it's this general design

ethos that you're going to find a lot of

people in a lot of different

industries talking about from again

advertising marketing architecture

automotive design again there's a

foundational concept there where we're

sort of creating things for other people

and our art has a high level of

functionality

and i think the more you can read and

research and immerse yourself in that

stuff

the better your overall artistic and

design process is going to be now that

stuff isn't going to directly you know

make your drawing or design better it's

more going to lay a foundation

an ability to kind of understand often

what people are talking about and just

to sort of allow your mind to see things

from different angles so

for me personally you know i might read

ogilvy i'm advertising and again it has

nothing to do with designing monsters

for science fiction games but

the the things there that he's talking

about are very much about how you know

ads and marketing and advertising

sort of is viewed by an audience and

there's a lot of interesting stuff there

that you know

look it's it's not a one-to-one right

it's not like you're going to read that

book and that's going to be the how-to

for concept design but i think the more

of that ethos of design stuff you can

fill your mind with the better you're

going to be able to understand the

process and be a little bit less

intimidated by the concepts of you know

art direction working in production

environments and especially

viewing the audience and how the

audience is going to view your design

things that you can actually do to

really move the needle and help yourself

in this is potentially watch design

focused youtube channels

and try and view

yourself as potentially being able to

get more

from watching channels and things that

talk about design from different

industries what you'll find is that the

types of concept art tips you're going

to get from people who are

really embedded in you know the concept

art industry

is that there's a lot of industry

specific stuff terminology and process

and again we'll talk about this later

but i think it's important to separate

the idea of process right you may have

heard things like

doing you know a series of black and

white thumbnails and you know you pick

one of those black and white thumbnails

and then you know you build that up and

and people kind of think well that's

concept design and let's see that's a

process for concept design and i think

you know if you go and look at

architecture or you know automotive

design which again can be quite similar

to concept art but if you look at those

things you will see

the through lines and the similarities

between all design processes and even

though it's a little bit more abstract i

think the more you can do that

the the better of an understanding you

have for it so looking at architecture

and looking at industrial design and

trying to understand like why are those

things good and how you know did those

people solve problems and create

interesting solutions with different

architectural problems

there's also a lot of you know specific

architecture that you can actually apply

to concept design as well because often

we build buildings and that sort of

thing so the goal here with

understanding this first concept of

design ethos is to avoid getting too

stuck in the weeds of concept art for

video games

because what you tend to find is

everyone else is doing that and if you

want to build your design up the more

you can bring in from other disciplines

the easier your job is going to be when

it comes to potentially being a little

bit more unique a little bit more

interesting

again if you just stick to video game

stuff you're probably going to

understand a lot of the industry

specific things but when it comes to

bringing in extra design knowledge you

can quite easily get a lot of really

good information just from studying

these books looking at how other people

design things in different industries

and again just trying to fill your mind

with how people solve problems and the

theory behind that because people have

been doing this for hundreds and

thousands of years and a lot of these

basic concepts haven't changed and if

you learn them

and you're able to sort of see them from

different industry perspectives it can

be a really really helpful tool

in your toolkit the second thing

here is the idea of research

so

what we want to do is develop a

methodology of research when it comes to

both the functionality of the thing that

we're designing

and again the iconography or

the

ideas behind what other people are sort

of going to expect to see

so

in my previous video i gave the example

of a pirate ship or something like that

but you could also use the basic concept

of a pirate so when you're researching

the trick is almost for you to actually

figure out how you best

understand the world and this could be

through visual research

but again it's like exactly how do you

like to do it if if you really think

about building a process and a system

for yourself for how you research things

then

that's like a skill it's it's a habit

it's a process that you can go to again

and again

and again it might have layers it might

be about figuring out if you do need to

draw something really quickly or design

something quickly how do you get a quick

read on what that should be

understanding the functionology the

functionality and the iconography of

that

and you know as you work on a longer

project you might maybe read some books

on the subject

um you know again about pirates how they

lived how they approached life and

the more information you can get there

again it's not always just about

finding ref finding visual reference and

creating a mood board

the the better you actually understand

the subject in detail the more you're

going to be able to sort of again

extract little ideas out of there that

other people aren't going to get if

they're just kind of going to pinterest

and typing in something simple so when

it comes to research again i'm not

really giving you any sort of quick

how-to but i'm saying you should view

the research process

as a skill that is separate from all the

rest that is much better if you tailor

it exactly to how you think you might be

more intellectual you might be more

visual you might in general be more

interested in the iconography than the

functionality a lot of these things are

in many ways related to what type of

project you take on if you take on a

very cartoony project we're never really

going to get to the hardcore

functionality it's mostly about

iconography it's like how do i make this

little cartoony cute character feel like

a pirate

how do i make this little icon of a ship

feel like a ship and in many of those

cases you you you're dealing with stuff

that is almost an icon anyway these

little cartoony characters so

you know if you're very much you if

you're very iconically minded you like

simplifying things then that's where

again you're going to be looking much

much more at the iconography of the

subject matter and you know like what

makes a pirate ship look like a pirate

ship all the time because those design

challenges are actually really important

you know you might have a whole bunch of

little pirates a pirate ship for some

pirate cartoony mobile game and you got

to separate them all out and and sort of

deal with all this kind of design work

but you don't have much detail to work

with again that's where

understanding the iconography the

advertising side of it might be a lot

more useful and your research process

might primarily focus on those visual

things have other people solve these

problems

and again just looking for how to design

that game and make it function

versus if you're designing a realistic

pirate game that's where you might you

know go in and read the books because

you if you can extract a little bit of

extra information and nuance

from

many of the the great sort of books on

what it was like to be a pirate in real

life

then that is going to add an extra

little layer onto your design that is

just going to separate you out a little

bit and again people are not necessarily

always going to be able to see this or

spot this

because the research process is specific

to you

it's about how you think and how you can

extract information out of there so it's

not that people who read books on their

subject matter are better than people

who don't

you might need to go to a museum you

might need to see it you might need to

lay hands on the subject matter seeing

it in real life might be way way more

valuable than reading a book again this

is about you understanding how that

functions and making sure that your

research process is tailor-made

to yourself

and that it allows you to

improve your designs and make them a

little bit more special just quickly if

you want to learn a little bit more

about the illustration advice that i

have you can check out my free

illustration mini workshop it talks

about some of these same topics but

mostly related to illustration and how i

sort of go about getting more detail and

polish in my work which again doesn't

have a lot to do with design but you

hear a lot there about my journey and

kind of how i solved some of these

overall sort of problems in my career

and allowed myself to get my drawing to

a point again where i could get these

types of design jobs and you know handle

the drawing side of this which is a

completely different

kettle of fish but anyway check that out

if that's something you're interested in

it's free a link will be in the

description all right the third thing

that i think we can really separate out

is the idea of the design process so

this is where before i talked about the

idea that often if you really only are

just following concept art tutorials a

lot of what you're going to see is

process

people are saying here is a design

process this is the design process that

we use in the industry and again that

can involve doing thumbnail sketches

doing multiple thumbnail sketches then

doing cleaned up thumbnail sketches and

then doing options for the different

heads etc etc

and again you might learn tricks in

photoshop for how to do that you know

how to quickly create iterations

all of that stuff is process it's

technique it's how you get the ideas

from your head and other people's heads

onto the page and a lot of those things

are very streamlined

you're learning a lot of efficiency and

efficiency is not necessarily what you

want when you're beginning i think when

you're beginning you really need to

understand the design process behind

that i see a lot of people just

following cookie cutter design processes

and thinking that concept art is just

about

doing black and white thumbnails and

then blowing that up and then rendering

over the top of it

the thought process is far more

important and that's really what you

need to learn and i think you should

separate out the idea of how you

actually do that how you actually take

maybe a series of again you have

amorphous ideas in your head you have

what people are expecting to see that's

what the project needs there's how you

think that maybe you could make this

interesting for you as an artist there's

maybe some books you've read there's

some visual

you know language stuff there's some

iconography there's some functionality

trick is how do you actually turn that

into a drawing

right and how do you make it

so that other people can get involved in

that process

and that's where again what we're doing

is we're learning those concept art

processes and this again is something

where you can look at someone else's

process

but in many ways

a lot of that stuff happens in your own

mind and

you are working through it as well as

other people and the main advice here

that i'd give you as opposed to just

saying this is a separate thing don't

get it confused with understanding

design or understanding how to find

reference

again someone else's way of finding

reference is not going to be yours and

this is the same you need to find your

own process and way of thinking through

this you can certainly use other

people's processes and you can learn

really efficient systematic ways of you

know turning vague ideas into more

refined ideas

and there's nothing wrong with looking

at how that sort of has been done

but don't underestimate how personal

these things are if you actually really

want to get good at this

and you know for me personally if i just

use that standard cookie cutter concept

design process like i don't really enjoy

it i don't feel like i get you know

results that are that sort of good you

know my process again it it depends on

the subject matter it's i sort of know

from experience

what i need to do and it sort of changes

based on how much information i already

have how much i've done stuff that's

similar before it's very

you know personal and it's really

changes from project to project and what

we need

so

if we take example that concept of doing

thumbnails right where we focus on shape

and primary form

from a design aspect you have to

understand how all those things fit into

a process so working on big shapes and

thumbnails first

is really good if a you're stuck and

you're finding it difficult to push the

larger shapes

and that can happen because you're

drawing stuff and you'll kind of get

jammed into thinking about like the

details and just breaking out and going

okay i'm just going to do the

silhouettes i'm just going to design you

know 20 silhouettes on a page that's a

really good design exercise to break

your own mind out of thinking about

detail and also to ideate you know what

these different bigger shapes might be

so it's a good design tool but it's not

always the way that every concept art

thing needs to start

hopefully that's really obvious but

again it seems to me from the stuff i

see that that is not obvious right based

on a lot of tutorials

um

now the other thing there that you can

use that for is

in situations where the silhouette is a

primary thing that you're designing now

this typically has been the case in

video games and especially where we have

lower tech video games where you have to

really push the silhouettes

to make it clear what's actually

happening on screen so when we had very

very limited polygon budgets if you're

thinking about you know your sort of

quake one um probably not quick one you

know quake sort of three you know that

sort of playstation 2 era focusing on

the big shapes is kind of good because

that's all you have you don't have a lot

of other ability to really effectively

differentiate characters and secondly a

lot of games were really fast paced and

fast moving and you need to focus on big

shapes so you can tell the enemies apart

similarly if you're working on a mobile

game often you're dealing with tiny

little iconic style characters and again

just working the silhouette and the

bigger shapes is really important

so depending on what project you're

working on

that tool of

focusing on the silhouette and ideating

just the silhouette and sort of ignoring

everything else can be really critical

because it allows you to focus on the

iconography of the silhouette and how

that is going to effectively communicate

what the thing is to the viewer but that

is not design that's not the whole

you know

um

that's not the whole thing there's more

to it obviously as i've said so try and

understand those tools learn them figure

out your own and experiment because

again if you figure out exactly what

works for you

don't feel like you're not going to be

able to work you don't need to do

exactly the same process that everyone

else does as long as you can involve

other people in the process

and iterate and ideate and be flexible

an art director doesn't care how you get

the results they don't care what you

start with or whatever

you know again hopefully you have the

flexibility there but trust

that you figuring out your own process

and what works for you is going to be

really really important and it's worth

pursuing that and understanding that

you're unique and your design process

will be unique as well the fourth thing

is

that you want to consider working

professionally the working side of it

as being almost a separate skill that

you're trying to develop and

i think if you can get really good at

the working thing that often is

that's what will get you employed you

can always build your ability to get

better at reference to understand the

design ethos to read more books to be

able to converse in those you know more

ethereal design terms etc

you can always again improve your

process but the thing that often people

are looking for is can you actually be

useful

on a team can you insert yourself in a

production environment and add value and

i think this is where understanding

where you actually want to work

how that actually functions what the

common technical limitations are in

those production environments

and just in general what people kind of

want out of a concept artist in

different industries

and again this changes it's it's not one

of these things that's sort of fixed but

you know for instance if you're looking

at working in video games you can be

really good at

the research design at understanding

design ethos and again having sort of

dying process but

for instance a really big part of

working in video games is understanding

that the the rigging for characters for

instance is extremely expensive so a big

part of what we do when you are

currently in video games is

designing different variations of

characters

but we have to design them in such a way

that the animation rig

doesn't interfere with the proportion so

you can't just design any character with

any proportion and there are often

limitations in terms of what is easy to

animate what's not easy to animate there

are often points where again we want you

know things around the belt line or

something to stay static we don't want

that to expand too much why because

everyone's going to use a common

animation loop for you know picking a

gun out of a holster or something so

we're going to have sort of different

sizes and stuff like that you can't

change the proportions too much you

can't change where certain things are

because people just want to reuse

animations

and um you know if they can do that that

saves a lot of money

so just understanding you know those

industry common problems that you're

dealing with and that often you spend a

lot of time wrestling with as designers

um you know the other thing that often

happens is you see variations of

creatures the reason you see variations

of creatures and monsters and you know

the the prototypical one is just you

know this one's green and this one's

blue right and it's it's a different

monster and it's like the only reason

for that is just it's expensive to

design and animate and create two vastly

different creatures it's a lot more

effective

to design sort of classes of creatures

and then sort of create variations on

them and one of the primary design

skills that if you build

will allow you to get really you know

not easy work but will might make it a

lot more possible for you to get work in

the video game industry is you know

figuring out how to make really

interesting variations where

you really make the character look

different even though it's based on the

same base animation rig and to a certain

degree the same base kind of model and

everything like that so you know that's

a skill where it's very industry

specific and it's very much about

understanding what the production needs

and how you can help on that production

and i would say you know the better you

get at that the more employable you're

going to be

but often when we're starting out we

sort of see just these big you know the

big art books you know you see something

like

you know i think this is like the rogue

one art book right um and it's pretty

cool art book but you know you're gonna

see a lot of stuff that's a little bit

more flashy than that you know you're

gonna see the stuff that that looks

really sort of cool

and you know look that is a that is a

big part of concept art but you know a

lot of what we do is wrestling with this

like how do i make this like ogre guy

you know look different i got to do like

five ogres you know and i can't change

this but i can't change that but i can

change the face but can't change it that

much and so you know you sort of really

work on like sticking bits on or you

know making it feel like this one maybe

lives over here and this one lives over

here because you know they've got

different coloration or you know

different sort of texture on their skin

or something like that so

you know that's where again the more

industry specific you can be the better

you're going to be employable and it's

so important to view these four things

as being separate

because if you work on them separately

and you understand what's valuable and

what is the most valuable and

maybe you're really good at some of

these things to begin with you know some

people are good at research some people

are just really good at sort of working

in teams to begin with

you know personally i'm not that good

generally i didn't come out of the

factory good at working with others and

sort of working within a team i had to

really work on that aspect of

understanding that and trying to get

good at working in a production

environment right the drawing was kind

of okay me coming up with my own ideas

is kind of okay

involving other people in the design

process

was something that you know i really had

to work on right so you know for me

again the functionality side of it is

something i feel like i inherently sort

of understood to a certain degree um you

know when i was you know drawing my

pirate book you know i went bought you

know all these books on you know how

pirate ships are made you know i tried

to go and you know find real cutlasses

and real flintlock piss that kind of

came easy to me um you know but again

working with others in a production

environment was very very challenging

for me and you know maybe to a certain

degree still is you know i'm probably

not the best at that but all of these

things are separate there's four things

the first is design ethos reading the

books understanding the design process

design history looking at the history of

design understanding how design changes

over time second is reference

understanding how you

understand and get good at extracting

information from the world so that you

can create a nice understanding and

collection of reference for each project

the third thing is the process figuring

out how do you physically take all that

stuff

turn it into

a finished design or a process for

design a range of sketches again what

are they for you do you want to do in

the beginning a huge array of really

sketchy sketches again will that work is

that what you want

do you want to do you know maybe that

for yourself but then you know only do a

few much tighter set of sketches that

you send to someone do you want to

render them do you want to do them in

black and white do you start with color

whatever it is right that's where your

process is really important

understanding that and the fourth thing

is

working in a particular industry

and just understanding that the design

requirements the skills you're going to

have to build and the processes you're

going to really have to practice in

order to get in the door be useful as

soon as possible and hopefully make

yourself employable and continually

employable

are really important and that will be

different depending on whether you're

working in um you know feature animation

uh feature film is you know live action

is certainly very different um and again

you know working in you know video games

is going to be different but also you

know working in realistic you know aaa

highly detailed video games is going to

be different to working in mobile games

where things are often by by default a

little bit more iconic and a little bit

more

um you know

symbolic so you have to focus on

different things you have to

tailor all that stuff that i talked

about

to a particular design process anyway

that's all i've got hopefully this is

interesting let me know if these design

focused

talks help you

if you sort of thought about this if you

want a little bit more industry specific

knowledge again specifically about how

you get good at doing stuff for video

games how you get good at designing

stuff for animation etc let me know but

that's all i've got catch around happy

drawing

you