What does it take to be a concept artist?
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I want to be a Concept Artist. I know its gonna be a tough road thatll need alot of discipline and hard work but its something ive always wanted as a career.
Im 26 years old right now and being a concept artist is something ive always thought about but swayed away from due to self doubt and the idea that you had to be somewhat born with it previously. I know shame on me. I know a little 3d, am currently a junior Graphic Designer, can draw observational drawings to a mediocre standard but currently am a complete newbie at drawing from the mind/imagination.
- How many months/years would it take to get that first job?
- What are the best and most effective ways to start self teaching and improving?
- How does one learn to draw from imagination?
Im 26 years old right now and being a concept artist is something ive always thought about but swayed away from due to self doubt and the idea that you had to be somewhat born with it previously. I know shame on me. I know a little 3d, am currently a junior Graphic Designer, can draw observational drawings to a mediocre standard but currently am a complete newbie at drawing from the mind/imagination.
- How many months/years would it take to get that first job?
- What are the best and most effective ways to start self teaching and improving?
- How does one learn to draw from imagination?
Replies
Depends on how skilled you are compared to others, and what your portfolio looks like. Get an artstation, and see what other concept artists can produce. You'll want to get on their level at least, before being able to get a job. https://www.artstation.com/
The best way to learn concept art on your own is probably to follow online tutorials. There are some here on the polycount wiki and Feng Zhu also has a large collection of free tutorials. http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Polycount http://fengzhudesign.com/tutorials.htm
You'll have a ton of competition since people have been training since they were in their early teens; even majoring in concept art, but if concept art is what you want to do, do it.
How does one draw from imagination? Well it's hard to describe. What I do is take inspiration from nature, and simply pay attention to environments around me. If you want to draw for games and movies, pay attention to what catches your interest; what looks cool, and learn how to draw that. Then change it around and add your own style to it. "Will this goblin look cooler with a laser attached to it's head? Yes. Why yes it will."
Getting mentors with 10 years of experience (EACH!) to school you will warp speed you towards being a pro yourself.
Heard the saying "You have 10,000 bad drawings to get rid of before you start making good drawing." (Or some such.) It's TRUE! And if you self-teach it'll take you as much as 10 years to get rid of those drawings. I speak from personal experience.
And that's just for drawings (what about design knowledge, lore knowledge, obscure Photoshop techniques nobody talks a lot about cuz it's crazy fast and effective, etc., etc.). Lots of concept art requirements now are actually steering away from hand drawn art.
You don't have to go on a long and hard mountain journey of concept art discovery. Take a helicopter ride and land close to the top!
Conclusion....hire mentors.
The problem for me is that I've already completed a degree in Graphic Design a few years back and as such I don't really have the option to go to an Art School / do another University Degree now.
Unless theres an affordable place to attend that isn't in the thousands, Self-teaching and online schools are my only real option. Is this do-able with that in mind? are there any good online schools that will allow me to improve without taking 10+ years to get anywhere?
Also, Peter Han teaches an online course on 2d.cgmasteracademy and he https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtFundamentals/comments/4lejec/peter_hans_dynamic_bible_the_legendary_dynamic/ seems really good.
Here he explains what is needed to be a concept artist.
Also Feng Zhu has some great videos.
And this thread is amazing "Journey of an Absolute Rookie, Paintings and Sketches"
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php/870-Journey-of-an-Absolute-Rookie-Paintings-and-Sketches
Hope that helps, and best of luck! don't forget to keep a thread http://polycount.com/categories/2d-art-showcase-critiques
As for drawing from the imagination, try drawing from a ref first, and then closing or putting the ref away and then draw the very same thing but from your imagination. Once you're done, compare what you did right and wrong, and then try to make fewer mistakes next time. But more than anything, practice, practice, practice. Good luck!
Teach yourself everything you can about design principles, and practice tight lineart as opposed to fancy painted effects. Strive for economy and clarity.
If you can achieve this level of clarity you will definitely catch the eye of studios (example here from Platinum Games) :
If I were to give you a (very rough) study plan, my suggestion would be to shut down your computer for a few months and fully focus on pencil lineart like the above (doing some live studies, some copies from existing 2d art and photos, and of course a lot of imaginative concept art loosely relying on reference).
Ignore "speedpaints" and all that sort of stuff, as they are not going to teach you anything and will only reinforce bad habits.
Rendering is the trivial/easy part, you won't need much time at all to master it. Pick the local color, establish light sources, construct shadows and/or reflections, done. Developing a strong design sense however takes years, but it is also a lot of fun.
Here's a video where one art school grad sought out a working professional to help him level up his knowledge and polish his portfolio. He got a concept art job after getting sufficient coaching. There are lots of people offering mentorships online but the best learning mentorship environment is where you can meet face to face with your mentor and you can ask as much question as you need and get direct feedback on your work.
@littleclaude I gave the Frank Victoria video you linked a watch. Some good advice through that video and i'll be sure to check out his daily spitpaints. Im debating whether to start a progress thread in the 2D art showcase section or whether to wait for now until my abilities progress a little further before posting
@Stinger88 Thanks for the insight. I can see the logic in your approach but I sometimes do worry that extending myself too thin through a variety of different targeted jobs would hinder my progress when I could focus primarily on Concept Art and perhaps one other thing that is closely related. Though I suppose it depends on the person and the circumstances.
@krraej I'm actually going through Crtl+Paints videos right now haha, still at the stage of drawing spoons but hopefully it should start to pay off as I progress.
@pior I think I can see what you're saying. Focus on clear visuals that represent your design ideas as opposed to fancy paint effects right? I'll keep that in mind moving forward. Thanks for the advice, I'm definitely trying to work on the fundamentals and tilt more towards traditional pencil and paper for now until I feel like my foundation skills are getting more solid.
@MagicSugar Thanks for the info, I see what you're saying. I didn't even realize online mentors could really be a thing haha.. and only the lucky few would find someone willing to give the time to help. I'll keep that in mind though. I watched the video you linked, some good information throughout, thanks again!
Exactly. Now of course expressive paintings can be a great tool for exploration and sometimes can be enough for a modeler to work from, but being able to provide accurate lineart (as a end product, or as a basis for further rendering) will make you loved by modelers because they'll know that when they get a model sheet from you they will be able precisely tell how things need to be built.
Good luck !