Phase one: Studio Introduction

[J Wilson]

My latest batch. Following the same theme of ancient machines being over grown, and fossils. My concept is this world has seen many ages rise and fall, and the land reclaims each. There should be evidence all over the place. Visual themes would be fossils on most stones, and plants over growing and entwining with ancient machines. I still don't feel like I've completely captured that feeling so I'll explore more of that next time.

[Toxdel]

heres a couple things to illustrate what I was saying in my post about the water planet meeting the desert planet, the thumb is of the swamp created between the two

[Lez]

made durign a break in school this morning. Its a continued concept from one of my earlier thumbs... Just think I saw some potential or something.

[daldbaatar]

Ok guys...i tried to depict the merge ( collision ) zones...and i hope u guys will like it. More concepts are coming up soon.

The idea of war on the top right is: Both planets are advanced...The green planet is where the humans live and the culture is not so different from the culture we have in 21st century now. And the other planet's culture on the other hand is kinda bug meet high tech culture. As u can see that humans are using nukes and aliens are using lazers more. And the lower right pic depicts a stranded or a spy coming back to the humans and the helicopter is there to get him. And there will be tons of tunnels leading to each other by digging through the merge zones and making it like ant tunnels---ideal place to make tunnel wars.. The air landing is made impossible due to heavy military concentration around the merging area. This is the WAR side of the planet-what if scenario if they wage wars.

[Earendil]

Nice concepts guys!

[J Wilson]

One more, same sort of concept. I think my next batch needs to explore other ideas.

[Gundersen]

The dweller: A tips for you idea, find pictures of old industrial machines and get them into your paintings. Atm i cannot see any old machines covered by nature..

[Gundersen]

two concepts, The Arrival and The Cave

The Arrival: from one planet to the other...

The Cave. Civilization has been ruined, and we are now hideing in caves outside the "infected" cities

[Earendil]

Two more.





I think the 2nd one may be more effective with the character way closer to the foreground on the lower left 3rd point...not sure...

[Gundersen]

Earendil: Post bigger mate! When it comes to the 2nd one its always effective to put the main focal point in the midground, so if your character is your focal i think its ok as it is now, but if the character is watching your focal point, then id move it back.

And also watch the values, your front element is lighter then your midground atm. Meaning it reads a bit wrong. Keep the black close to us!

[Gundersen]

Looks around the room, Wondering why the Art Director wasent in yesterday, and havent seen him so far today.
Asking Dalb: Hey have you seen form?
Dalb is to stuck into watching britney dance on Youtube, so i dont get any answer..
Well well, just have to wait for Adam then..

[Earendil]

Earendil: Post bigger mate! When it comes to the 2nd one its always effective to put the main focal point in the midground, so if your character is your focal i think its ok as it is now, but if the character is watching your focal point, then id move it back.

And also watch the values, your front element is lighter then your midground atm. Meaning it reads a bit wrong. Keep the black close to us!

At Revelations Jason said Black in foreground, light in background produced boring "art school" images, so I'm just experimenting. You can read notes on his color theory lecture here:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...0&postcount=40

Maybe if I drew it more like rocks you'd say "oh it's rocks reflecting sunlight in the foreground, which would not be black."

Definitely keep the focals away from the edges of the frame that's fur shure.

I'll do some big ones JEEZ. If post them bigger as they are now, I'll get "they're too blurrrryyy".

Big bold strokes? *scared*

[Gundersen]

EKOes: Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i think you are posting a bit wrong. READ posts before you post, this is a class with 10 students. If you need a mentor then ask in mentor thread

[Gundersen]

At Revelations Jason said Black in foreground, light in background produced boring "art school" images, so I'm just experimenting. You can read notes on his color theory lecture here:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...0&postcount=40

Maybe if I drew it more like rocks you'd say "oh it's rocks reflecting sunlight in the foreground, which would not be black."

Definitely keep the focals away from the edges of the frame that's fur shure.

I'll do some big ones JEEZ. If post them bigger as they are now, I'll get "they're too blurrrryyy".

Big bold strokes? *scared*

Hehe sure, just experiment But read his notes again, hes says this "-Basic color theory creates boring, "art school" images." Values and Color theory is not exactly the same in this sentence. Basic color theory is more about what shadow to use to what color, and stuff like that. Values is the saturation of the color.


Paint bigger! larger canvas!

[J Wilson]

I'd say tone/value is the element of color that has NO regard for saturation, personally.

As for painting bigger, we're all still doing thumbnails and sketches so I don't see any reason to press anyone for painting bigger actually. At this stage, whatever you feel most comfortable with for getting an image down. I don't believe we're here to critique each other's work style so much as the concepts and images.

[Gundersen]

I'd say tone/value is the element of color that has NO regard for saturation, personally.

As for painting bigger, we're all still doing thumbnails and sketches so I don't see any reason to press anyone for painting bigger actually. At this stage, whatever you feel most comfortable with for getting an image down. I don't believe we're here to critique each other's work style so much as the concepts and images.

Dont have me mistaken, I am not criticising Earendil, Just giveing a tips if he wanted it.

Value is defined as the relative lightness or darkness of a color

well well

[robmorfin]

Gundy, be nice to others and they will be nice to you, remember, you are not the Creative Director (mentor), let's all have fun together and help each other, that will create a better working Environment here at the office, and by the way, thumbnails are suppossed to be small, fast and without too many details.

[J Wilson]

I understand there is no malice or over criticism meant, I'm just trying to keep criticism on the right track.

Saturation to me is the intensity of the hue/chroma, and has little to no relation to it's value or overall darkness/lightness. A bright blue can be either dark or light, as can a dull blue. Your original statement of "Values is the saturation of the color" seemed confusing to me so I added in my understanding of the subject, but I'm sure I actually just read what you meant incorrectly. I should actually read the notes you are both discussing as it sounds like a very interesting topic.

[Gundersen]

An hour painting, Felt like doing a bit more then a thumb

[Earendil]

Hehe sure, just experiment But read his notes again, hes says this "-Basic color theory creates boring, "art school" images." Values and Color theory is not exactly the same in this sentence. Basic color theory is more about what shadow to use to what color, and stuff like that. Values is the saturation of the color.


Paint bigger! larger canvas!

For thumbnails?! Head 'splode! O.o

Yeah actually I should've read them, because the notes written are a paraphrase of what Manley said. When I was there I remember him using the whole "darks in foreground, lights in background" as an example. The notes don't (and probably can't) cover every word from Mr. Manley's mouth.

Nobody's being overcritical here. Gundy's just keeping me on my toes.

[Earendil]

Also, I suggest reading the information contained at www.huevaluechroma.com

It's very good.

Now...where is...*looks around for that one guy*

[Form]

Its a little past midday and you are all getting a bit concerned that your Creative Director has been eaten by wolves or possibly abducted by space faring she-demons. Actually... you aren't concerned at all, and the idea of your asshole of a boss being digested inside a giant alien mothership is starting to grow on you, when alas, in he walks. Sporting a 2 day beard and red baggy eyes, he takes a few steps in the door, burps softly, and walks over to his desk.

You notice on your fancy Fake Calendar that it was in fact his birthday. Understanding his plight and being totally willing to forgive and support him, you ignore his tardiness and keep working really hard!

()

After a brief afternoon snooze he takes a wander around to look at the progress of the last few days. Noting the general improvement in the clarity of thumbnails, he still seems as pleased as he was on the 3rd. Lez's storm thumbnail 22 catches his eye and he mumbles something about possible cover art for the game box. You hope he remembers that after the hangover tomorrow...

Looking at Jean-Yves thumbnail in post 117, he seems to be a little confused. Jean-yves loads up the newer version a few posts later and it clicks. Adam reminds you all that describing scale is another very important part of thumbnailing. Looking around at alot of the thumbnails for the 'collision zones' he notes similar absences of elements to indicate scale. An area where two planetes collide would be gargantuan in scale and should show dramatic atmosphere and a grand/epic evocative landscape. He would like to see this are pushed further in terms of establishing this sense of grandeur.

Walking over to Earendil's computer, he leans down towards the thumbnails to get a better look. Earendil pipes up: "what's the matter boss, too small?". "No, i think the problem has more to do with making sure your shapes and forms read well. Keeping your value ranges a bit tighter and not so high contrast so the focal point can be made clear and the forms read in a heirarchy. At the moment there is a bit too much detail at that scale which confuses the first read. The third thumbnail is great with a big dominant foreground shape that jumps out, whereas the other 3 fall short because all the areas are equally demanding on the eye. The size isnt the problem however."

Thumbs from the Dweller catch his eye in particular. "I quite like the idea of an organic planet 'taking over' a world where technology has either run amok or is abandoned. The idea of nature taking over machines as a contrast to the standard 'industry vs nature' themes is an interesting one. I wonder, could you do some closeup sketches showing how the organic stuff might physically take over/control the machines? This would be very interesting to see!"

Daldbaatars 3rd thumbnail with the helicopter is a very interesting shot design, and Adam notes the effectiveness of having two contrasting planes. Turning the ground plane at 2 different angles gives the environment a feeling of vertigo and can make for dynamic shot designs. The thumbnail gives the sense that the man is looking straight out in front of him and sees a helicopter flying almost straight down, two 'characters' in different gravity situations. Very interesting!

Gundersen's next two are interesting, and the top one has a nice overall lighting setup and a good sense of scale. Earendil's two thumbnails are nice too but the bottom one could use some more overlap to get everything reading correctly with recession in space.

As he is commenting on some of the thumbs, the team starts to raise some questions and gets a little heated. Adam reminds them to keep it simple - thumbnails don't have to follow any particular rules except one - they need to communicate. It is hard to test this yourself, and the best way is to show them to someone else and ask them what the thumbnail is depicting. If they cant tell you without any hints, your thumbnail is not succesful. Beyond being 'readable' in this way, there are then degrees of success based on the strength of your idea itself. But at a bare minimum, we need to be able to tell what it is. Use whatever you need to get this across.

Everyone seems a little disgruntled at the vague answer but Adam SEEMS to know what he is on about and he assures them to keep at it.

Adam then mentions that the director will be looking in on the work in a few days, and that the time is drawing near to settle on a concept. He urges you to develop your ideas as hard as you can between now and the 10th and try to be as creative as possible. There will be a meeting on the 10th with the Director and a final decision will be made on the concept.

With that he swats a few of the flies buzzing around his head and falls asleep at his desk.

[Earendil]

Earendil nods, scribbles a few notes, face palms, and passes out on the desk. They say sleeping on something helps you learn it.

[Gundersen]

/me notes down he ONLY GOT ONE SENTENCE feedback!! hehehe

Where is the rest of you guys? There are 5 guys that havent posted thumbs since last time!

[J Wilson]

*The Dweller notes the interest in seeing some close ups on the plant/machine concepts, and starts planning out ideas along that route. He also caught the birthday reference and makes a mental note to buy Form a beer during the next work lunch. Dweller then begins thinking that a lunch time beer sounds perfect right now and excuses himself to go get one.*

[~Faust~]

Hmmmmm yes, my updates as well as my communication were too small the last few days, so I`ll throw in some ideas. I also got to like the Nature vs Tech thing so I`ll try to dwell on that. Made some thumbs on that matter:

[~Faust~]

In general, I think the concept is very hard to make sense of, since two planets colliding would mean that every sort of life would be obliterated on either of them. But, on the other hand, there have been very nice ideas so far.

Trying to give some opinions as long as I am in the internet:

Gundi : I particularly adored your pics from post 128. They are simpe yet beautifully describe what you`ve written there (I actually looked at the pictures first) your last one, on the other hand, does read to me, but it does not really convey something useful for me. I would not know what to make out of it, other than a guy in a cave. Maybe you could make the place somewhat more characteristic with defining the rocks a bit more? I don`t know.

Earendil: I do not think your thumbnails are too small. The last two are somewhat undefined, though. As I see it, the first is some kind of alien-invasion in a city-scape whereas the second is unclear to me. Is there a water-surface or are those floating islands? I actually saw the character after I read that you implemented a character in there. That figure is very abstract and blends in too much with the grass if someone asked me. Oh, and there is smoke coming out of the background-

Dweller: Beatiful. I should start making pictures like you do.

Toxdel & lez: nice work, although I am somewhat confused by Toxdels idea with the swamp-desert-water thing. You should make somewhat more of it, I need more thumbs on that.

Daldbataar: Nice pics, I like the war-one very much. Your description is also quite good to visualize, but I miss the visualization on your part. What is the architecture of the bugs? The landscapes on their planet? How does the zone between the planets look like from a bit closer? I think that I should not make stuff like that up, but you should provide me with some visuals.

[Earendil]

Thanks Faust, methinks I'm getting too sloppy. I'll keep it tighter on my next set.

[daldbaatar]

ok Faust...will do

[robmorfin]

some more thumbs.