So you have an idea for a story - a game, a movie, or maybe something smaller is scope. How do you get it out of your head and in front of an audience?
One key step in this process is concept art production. You—or, more likely, someone you've hired—need to convey visually that first sense of joy you felt when you got the idea.
This is the topic of my latest course, CONCEPT: Creating Concept Art with Blender's Grease Pencil.
You idea could go in many directions, but you want to go with the clearest, most impactful version that is going to hold someone's attention.
This is why the process of concept art is so important. It is imagining all the things it could be so that you can better form what it will be.
The process of creating a concept allows for broad thinking and brainstorming in order to funnel it down into something specific.
There are four main steps:
- Ideation
- Thumbnailing
- Refine
- Final concept
These steps have been used time and time again for good reason: they work. In my experience, no book better outlines the depth at which concept art can go than The Skillful Huntsman: Visual Development of a Grimm Tale at Art Center College of Design
If you can get a copy, I highly recommend it!
Here is a quick breakdown of the above steps:
1. Ideation
After meeting with your client and going through a brief outline of what they're thinking, you take these notes and explore images, art, photos—anything that evokes a sense of what was discussed.
There are many online tools for gathering these. Pinterest is one example that makes this very easy.
Once you have a collection of images to inspire some ideas, begin to do some rough sketches.
Maybe you like a certain pose, but an item of clothing from a different image? Perhaps you like the color scheme from a photo? Do as many quick sketches as you want.
The more you draw, the more you will realize what works as a good direction and what doesn't.
All the while, keep in the back of your mind: Does this serve the brief? It is okay to color a little outside the lines. Sometimes, a happy accident could spark a new discussion that improves the concept!
2. Thumbnailing
Imagine the brief was to draw a chair. The goal is to design something that can support a person's weight when they sit on it.
There are MANY chairs that would fit this brief! How many legs—if any—should it have? Does it need a back? How high should it be? What materials is it made of?
Each thumbnail could be a potential candidate that takes into account all of these questions, but each addresses the fundamental goal: design something that can be sat on.
The goal of thumbnailing is to show your client a variety of concepts that could all potentially work.
From here, they can make more specific choices about how it should fit their broader idea.
Further discussion at this point should narrow down the candidate designs to a handful that could be explored more fully. This is when we refine.
3. Refining
You can now focus on a more detailed version of this concept by taking one or more designs. Here, you narrow the focus further and just work on details in the context of this single idea.
Colors, textures, and patterns could all work as further variants, but the fundamental design shouldn't change that much. Your client can then choose one or two for you to polish into a final piece.
4. Final Concept
Now you take the time to illustrate the concept as if it were going to be the finished accepted piece.
You work on clear definition, color, and texture choice, even adding lighting and shading. Everything about it - the pose, the lighting, the overall mood - should tell a story that reflects the brief back to the client.
And this is to produce just one piece!
Ideally, you will be producing several, as the process invites collaboration and discussion to serve the project's overall vision.
In Conclusion
Methods of concept production can vary in complexity, but at the core, they all follow a similar outline. Getting into the habit of working this way is key. From there however, the kinds of art you produce, the tools you use and the methods you develop are up to you!
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