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Concept/Design #1: Use of Concept Sketches, Roughs & Thumbnails Often, when you look at a finished painting/picture, you do not see all the early ideas that went into it. True, sometimes I just sit down and paint an image with no idea what I'm doing and it comes out well. But what if you need an image for a specific project? What if you have an idea, or already created a picture but you want to expand on it further? How do you try out a lot of different ideas? Many artists, including myself use concept drawings, thumbnails, and roughs. Below I will talk a bit about the different processes I use in developing images/ideas, though each artist really has their own methods that work best for them. Developing a concept/design I carry a sketchbook with me pretty much everywhere I go. When I'm working on an idea or design I might sketch it, or parts of it many times. I might try to use elements from the world around me... such as, in the example below, clocks.
 This concept example was something I did for my own project (of a girl riding a bird - which I still haven't gotten around to finishing). I had done a digital painting of her which I really wasn't happy with the style on so I started sketching some other ideas. You can see the page from my sketchbook (which was brown paper and I sketched first in blue, then in normal pencil). You can also see how I could further refined and colored areas for different ideas. This isn't a planned or finished image, just a set of ideas (with my notes!). In this case I did the additional color & details on the computer, but if I were just working with a sketchbook I would probably just have sketched them a few times using different color and detail ideas. Sometimes in developing a concept you end up with ideas you don't like, but in the process of sketching a character or idea a number of times you can develop some pretty cool ideas. Developing ideas for specific projects When it's not my own project, such as when I am illustrating for a story or doing fan artwork, I tend to work in a note taking/sketching process. While reading the story (or watching the movie or looking at the pictures) I have paper and a pen/pencil handy. Sometimes it's just a lined notebook or a scrap of tracing paper. I make notes and sometimes thumbnail sketches (see below for what thumbnails are) of ideas of what I might draw - I find doing this when I initially review the story (or whatever) gives better results then doing it after or on a re-read.. For example while reading a mystery I'm illustrating I might note things like: Sketching from Real Life Many of the ideas listed above about taking notes and making thumbnail sketches also apply to real life. Even if I'm planning to do a long sketch or study of a scene (for example), and even if I'm going to take photos for reference I STILL make quick thumbnail sketches. Why? Because a photo will show something pretty much exactly as it was, but it will not show MY first feelings or impressions of something and these can be key. If you're looking to do a lot of quick sketching to capture your impressions of real life things I would HIGHLY recommend the book "Fast Sketching Techniques" by David Rankin.  Using Thumbnails & RoughsThumbnails are a valuable tool that is often brushed aside by the beginning artist who is eager to get to more finished images. A thumbnail is a sketch/image that is usually small (or at least smaller than the planned finished image) and is pretty simple. Thumbnails tend to be drawn quickly to explore a number of ideas. My thumbnail sizes range from 1" to 5", most commonly they are around 2-3 inches (as those shown at the left). Thumbnails may or may not include color, shading etc. They are just a simple way of exploring ideas and composition without spending a lot of time. They are also good for capturing initial ideas/impressions of things. I find that thumbnails are a very beautiful kind of art in their own manner, usually very relaxed.
Roughs are ideas for images that are done quicker before a finished image is created. The border between Thumbnails and roughs has
never been really clearly defined to me. I, personally, think of small quick ideas as thumbnails... and then spend a little more time
on roughs exploring concepts. For example on my Tree City Project I created a sketch and then a value rough
(a black and white idea of where lights and darks would be), photocopied it, and then painted on top of photocopies a ton of color ideas (color roughs).
Even if you have an idea for colors already it never hurts to try out lots of ideas, you might find something you like better or that you
want to use on your next project.
For example:  There really aren't a required number of roughs or thumbnails for a project, but they can be useful. Also, if you ARE working on something for someone else you can show them roughs or thumbnails of ideas to see if it's what they wanted and sometimes it saves a LOT of time working on something that wasn't what they had in mind. Well, I guess that's about it for what I have to say about concepts and developing ideas and trying out colors and so forth. I hope that it's been interesting and helpful! For more examples of beautiful thumbnails and concepts you might try "art of" film/game books. I personally love the Art of Lord of the Rings books, they have amazing sketches, paintings and color concepts. |