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Concept Art: Is it necessary for any project?

I've started work on my first demo reel and I'm confused on so many topics that I'm asking questions like almost everyday here! Now, I've another question!

I'm not so great at drawing but you can say am better at creating 3D environments in 3D (of course :)). People say we must have an initial concept art to begin from. Well, I'm really not interested on using other people's concept art. Well, the other thing is you know I'm not great at drawing or you can say maybe I'm not good at lighting a scene in 2D with colors; that's where I get stuck!

I've a concept in my mind! It's quite a brilliant one I can assure you, but it's like, I don't know, I just cannot concept it down beautifully on paper. It comes out all crap, but in my head it's all brilliant looking :D!

So, what I'm asking is can I start the work on my demo reel without actually having a concept piece ready? I mean directly jump into working in 3D without actually having a concept piece? I don't know how good or bad a decision is this. There are many 2D and 3D Guru's here, so probably you guys can help me out here because I'm confused! :(

I will take you guys' advice and move on! :thumbup:
Thanks!

Replies

  • sprunghunt
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    sprunghunt polycounter
    Think of concept art as a kind of plan. The idea is to plan out what you're going to do so that you can see problems before you've done a lot of hard to change work.
  • jStins
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    jStins interpolator
    The problem working 'from your head', is that your mind's eye can fill in a lot of details without you consciously thinking about them. And I second sprunghunt, it's hard to create a solid plan without a solid concept / reference images.

    In short, I think it's a very very very bad idea to start anything without concept art or reference photos.
  • Jeff Parrott
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    Jeff Parrott polycounter lvl 19
    Work from reference. Always.
  • lotet
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    lotet hero character
    I agree with basically everything here.

    but remeber that a concept dosnt have to be a perfect 3/4 view with a front and side view.
    or a super awesome rendered painting.

    I do most of my concept art on post-its. that and some google refs can definitly be enough. but the main thing is to do your research. "winging it" isnt really something you do unless you have at least a few years of experience with that subject.
  • sprunghunt
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    sprunghunt polycounter
    sbiswas wrote: »
    So, what I'm asking is can I start the work on my demo reel without actually having a concept piece ready? I mean directly jump into working in 3D without actually having a concept piece? I don't know how good or bad a decision is this. There are many 2D and 3D Guru's here, so probably you guys can help me out here because I'm confused! :(

    I will take you guys' advice and move on! :thumbup:
    Thanks!

    Concepts are a good idea. The idea behind a concept is that it's a kind of plan. It's so you can easily see if your idea will look good and do what you want it to do without having to commit to creating finished work.

    However don't get hung up on creating high quality concepts. It's nice if you can draw really well and produce a beautiful concept. But a rough concept can be just as useful as a highly detailed one. You're just trying to get down the basic idea of what you're trying to achieve.

    Also you can concept in 3D - some concept artists already do this. You can create a rough model and paint over it in photoshop. Creating a placeholder scene is also a kind of concept. So don't worry too much about having good drawing skills, they're nice, but not essential.
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