Hard surface sci-fi guides?

Zack Maxwell

So I love sci-fi hard surface stuff. But when I try making it myself, I seriously struggle with getting ideas for all the small details required.
I'm wondering if anyone knows of some good quality guides that help out with this. Or just some basic advice.
I can find plenty of guides on the technical process of actually creating the art, but that isn't where I'm struggling.
The issue is more with creating the concept itself. Coming up with detailed designs.

sprunghunt

Grimwolf said:

So I love sci-fi hard surface stuff. But when I try making it myself, I seriously struggle with getting ideas for all the small details required.
I'm wondering if anyone knows of some good quality guides that help out with this. Or just some basic advice.
I can find plenty of guides on the technical process of actually creating the art, but that isn't where I'm struggling.
The issue is more with creating the concept itself. Coming up with detailed designs.

Something you might want to look into is the technique called kitbashing: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitbashing

also related to Greebles:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeble (there's some good examples in this article)

This is generally how a lot of those small details were added before computers became common in FX. So a lot of the visual language you are having trouble with creating comes from artists using this technique. 

Subtle 1rony

You're on the right track. Technical process and the design itself are two separate skills to master.   

While design can be a general term that covers a wide range of things, there are fundamental concepts you can study to apply to whatever you want to make. I'm speaking of what's known as The Elements and Principles of Design.

Here is a nice writeup on wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_elements_and_principles

I think it takes practice to become comfortable with these concepts, and as the wikipedia page suggests, they are rules that can be broken. But you'll notice whatever medium you choose, whether you're working with pencil and paper, doing traditional oil painting, or using 3d software, the same concepts apply for effectively communicating a visual idea. 

Lastly, I thought this was a nice writeup that shows the application of some traditional design concepts in a 3D scenario. It might have been sufficient enough to just send this, but I wanted to give an explanation as to where those concepts come from: 
http://www.3dlessons.com/tutorials/Primary-Secondary-and-Tertiary-Shapes-85882.html