Unit 45 - 2D Concept Art
Scenario
Keeping a sketchbook is a great way of keeping track of creative ideas and getting in the habit of regular drawing, as well as being a useful resource for large works when you are feeling short on ideas.
Artists do not need to have that much information on their site. You might only need a small blog with the following pages.
About the artist | Full portfolio gallery | Contact page
Carefully choose what to include in your portfolio. Quantity is important to demonstrate you can keep a consistent level of quality and to show variety. However, quality is more important than quantity. You will be judged on your worst piece of art.
You're not competing with your secondary school buddies. You are competing with industry veterans. When putting together a portfolio look at the best artists in the industry for inspiration. Don't feel comfortable just because you were the best in a class you took in college. Drawing orcs and spaceships isn't enough. It goes deeper than just the subject matter. It's about including art that would be used during the production of video games. Even if your portfolio pieces are from personal projects and have not been used professionally, that doesn't mean they can't appear to be "real".
The elements you must include when designing your game level include, but are not limited to:
Drawing media: pencils (graphite, colour, watercolour); charcoal; pastel (soft, hard); pen and ink; marker pens
Drawing techniques: line, eg gesture, contour; tone (value), eg shading, linear hatching,cross hatching; texture; perspective (1-point, 2-point, 3-point, 4-point); foreshortening; composition; colour
Observational techniques: lines; edges; spaces (positive, negative); shapes; relationships between spaces; light and shade; scale; point of view; gestalt (spirit or essence of subject matter)
Working process: preliminary sketches; media experimentation; annotated studies; final drawings (life drawing, environment)
Physiology for drawing: skeleton and muscles (human, animal); body proportions; bio-mechanical movement (human movement; animal movement)
Sketches - Different Media
Pen:
Below is a selection of some quick sketches using a pen. I wanted to create a variety of pictures on the page in order to display my experimentation with this media.
The image below displays use of different media techniques. In the future, I will be adding images showing examples of where I have experimented beyond the 2nd dimension. The use of Galvanised wire, Wire mesh, clay and other modelling materials, allows me to do this.
Different strengths of pencil:
The picture below is my first "real" attempt at creating a portrait drawing from a picture. This image uses a variety of different pencil strengths, ranging from 2B through to 6B. Unfortunately, Due to photocopying capabilities, the image appears a lot lighter than the original.
Using the same techniques incorporated into the above image, I created a quick sketch of an eye. In order to create and add detail, I started with a lighter pencil to define the base. Following this, I increased the pencil strength in order to pronounce detail in the areas that needed it. You can clearly see the sections that have been built up using darker pencils, this is the best way to create detail when sketching.
Digital Graphics - Photoshop, Illustrator etc
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