how to develop my design skill? can anybody help?

[skykeeper66]

so i'am a student in graphic design, but i want to have a job in concept design for game, so what do i need for develop my design skill? what exercise do i need to take to design some concept? is it necessary to draw the subject from real life before i can designing something ?

[arenhaus]

Get the "Visual Literacy" book. That will teach you a lot about composition and conveying ideas.

Yes, it is necessary to draw from real life. Where else would you learn how everything works and looks?

There is no single "exercise" to take. Just learn to draw and paint. Real well.

[sone_one]

go search for principles and elements of design. investigate those terms through experimentation, reading, looking at design stuff (usual suspects like cars, clothing, paintings, everyday tools, and such). should keep you busy for the next couple of centuries .

and maybe do some of those... http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...sitions-100-!! or similar.

there i disagree with arenhaus... drawing stuff from real life might teach you something if it comes to design, but not neccessarily... first and foremost it just teaches you drawing from life. if youre about design, study design.

[arenhaus]

there i disagree with arenhaus... drawing stuff from real life might teach you something if it comes to design, but not neccessarily... first and foremost it just teaches you drawing from life. if youre about design, study design.

The guy said he wanted "concept design for games". That generally involves designing objects, characters, environments etc. - not some abstract design stuff.

[sone_one]

The guy said he wanted "concept design for games". That generally involves designing objects, characters, environments etc. - not some abstract design stuff.

marketing piece -> [edit] might [/edit] need ability to draw and paint well if it comes to representational qualities (most of the time based on provided concepts).

concept -> needs good design. ive seen so many beautifully rendered concept art pieces that completely lack on the design front. and ive seen alot of crudely drawn concepts that were really well designed and contained a lot of information.

[edit] good design is good design (shapelanguage, rythmn, balance, etc) no matter if its 3d or 2d, used to inform an abstract composition, or a representational figure. you can draw from life all your life without remotely becoming a good designer. you cant spend 30 minutes studying design without becoming a better designer than you were. easy choice for me.

[Charlie D]

Scott Robertson's videos may be of help

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMokHIs27vk

his reading list mentioned in video above

http://drawthrough.blogspot.co.uk/20...-workshop.html

edit to add

http://char.txa.cornell.edu/language/introlan.htm

A couple of sites that may help turn on the light switch.

http://www.dezeen.com/
http://www.diseno-art.com/
http://www.core77.com/

[JeffX99]

so i'am a student in graphic design, but i want to have a job in concept design for game, so what do i need for develop my design skill?

Switch your field of study to industrial design. The sooner the better.

[skykeeper66]

sadly i don't have enough money...

[skykeeper66]

@arenhaus thx bro , but when do i need to learn the design? do i have wait several month before i can design something?or i start doing design while i'am do some draw from real life?


@sone_one i've learn that in my graphic design school about rhythm and composition in my first year in indonesia it's called "nirmana dwimatra"..

[Januz]

Watch all the Feng Zhu Design School videos and follow his advice.
https://www.youtube.com/user/FZDSCHOOL

Look for some Open Source games that need a concept artist so you can build experience and porfolio.

[arenhaus]

Start whenever you want, the sooner the better. No one can promise you'll be able to design it well at first, but if you don't try to design stuff, you won't learn to.

In addition to being able to draw and paint, you'll need to know how and why things work. So you can design them to look like they do their job - ideally, so that they could actually do it. LoTR team made real swords, and Nolan's Batman reboot uses actual working Batmobile... and Cameron had a new type of hardhat diving helmet designed for "The Abyss", which is used in real practice now. These are the extremes, but that's also why they work so well visually: they are functional for real.

[snacks ex machina]

Get the "Visual Literacy" book. That will teach you a lot about composition and conveying ideas.

Which one?

[JeffX99]

sadly i don't have enough money...

Well, I don't know your situation of course but...graphic design and game concept design have about zero in common. And if you're in one field of study I don't see a big issue switching? Unless you're about done. One option would be to be the best graphic designer you can be and get started at a game company in their graphics department...once in the door work on your own time to develop your skills and awareness of what teams might need in the way of concept art...basically work your way into the job you want sideways.

[sone_one]

having a graphic design education under my belt aswell, i wouldnt say it has zero to do with concepts for games, but certainly most of those graphic design (at least mine) educations are overrated and filled with alot of bs. any industrial design (or achitect) major seems to be better at transporting design knowledge.

[arenhaus]

Which one?

http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Literac.../dp/0823056201

[JeffX99]

having a graphic design education under my belt aswell, i wouldnt say it has zero to do with concepts for games, but certainly most of those graphic design (at least mine) educations are overrated and filled with alot of bs. any industrial design (or achitect) major seems to be better at transporting design knowledge.

I kind of agree but in a very limited way sone. My degree is in graphic design as well and I actually did use it a great deal starting even day one at EA - I almost always did the front end, splash screens, any logos, etc. Additionally I learned a great deal about presentation and perfection in my design studies which has served me well in any number of ways. That said however an industrial design curriculum will be far more valusable in games (I know you weren't disagreeing there - just reinforcing the point).

[QueenGwenevere]

It may depend on the school, though... Some schools lump illustration under "Graphic Design", and illustration should be good preparation for going into concept art... (I know some people in European schools who are basically studying illustration and/or cartooning, but under the label of "Graphic Design". And some schools have vague labels like "Communication Arts", and who knows what that means exactly.)

But if a graphic design major really means strictly graphic design, then yeah, that's not great preparation for a career in concept art. Unless you can manage to include plenty of drawing classes within that major, which depends on the school...

(In my school people went into "Illustration" if they wanted to draw, and they went into "Communication Arts" if they wanted to work with typography.)

[fxEVo]

Becoming a good concept artist requires the skill of an illustrator/fine artist and the mind of inventor/innovator which need sciences knowledge and "how thing work", know one thing is tough enough.

[JeffX99]

Becoming a good concept artist requires the skill of an illustrator/fine artist and the mind of inventor/innovator which need sciences knowledge and "how thing work", know one thing is tough enough.

Not really - you're sort of blowing it out of proportion. Concept art is really a form of design and is about problem solving. You explore many, many "concepts" to various degrees depending on stage of the production and what is required at that particular point. You have to have good research skills and an ability to extrapolate. Just keep in mind concept art isn't one thing - it has many facets and people tend to specialize in areas best suited to their abilities and vision.

[fxEVo]

My good sir, maybe because I've worked as one of concept artists around so I hold a great pride about that, or maybe I'm talking about how concept design affect the society in many ways more than game and film, but all of "problem solving" "good research skills and an ability to extrapolate" is what functioning in mind of inventor, isn't? Look at Syd Mead's design, they are almost can be manufactured, and how many people get into NASA and AirForce because they was inspired by StarWars designs during childhood? I'm not trying to make it look big and scary but again concept design is about inspiring, not just a mere visual pieces of cool stuffs. And anyone who want to join in but dont know about its capabilities and know about their responsibility then they only can be average at best.

[Velocity Kendall]

plus, being a designer frees you from a lot of teenage artist block crap. you know what needs to be done; the brief spells it out. and if youre blank for ideas, do studies and thumbnails. then you just have to solve the puzzle, pick the most interesting and appropriate solutions, render it as comprehensibly as you can and kick it out the door BAM!
(then make some changes for the AD, then kick it out the door, BAM!)