New to concept art

[dyle]

As the title describes I'm new to concept art but, I'm not new to drawing. I can draw just about anything from memory and am getting fairly good with things like perspective, form and light. I would've got into concept art sooner had I have known of these brilliant things called tablets, which ironically I hate using. I just assumed everyone was doing this stuff with their mice.

anyway I guess the biggest thing I have trouble with is color theory. I understand it's a huge beast to tackle, so if there is anything I should pay attention to when thinking about color I'd love it for the secrets to be shared.

Thank you.

[TinyBird]

I can draw just about anything from memory and am getting fairly good with things like perspective, form and light.

Uh huh. Show some work. Might be easier to figure out what you need to brush up with colour too.

[MidgardSerpent]

Uh, what is the Dunning-Kruger effect?

[Stuart DeViva]

Uh huh. Show some work. Might be easier to figure out what you need to brush up with colour too.

I feel like I noticed a trend with those "don't worry I can draw" statements. Usually when people say that, it begs the question "who are you trying to convince?"

[Noah Bradley]

Post your work.

I'll be you a lot of money that your problems are (in large part) with your drawing.

[dyle]

I feel like I noticed a trend with those "don't worry I can draw" statements. Usually when people say that, it begs the question "who are you trying to convince?"

You people are reading into this way too much. I go on a computer forum and write my specs for my computer so that people understand better what I'm missing. I come on an art forum and write my specs and people assume I'm trying to say "I'm one of you guys". I'm not here to argue or get snide comments picking apart how cocky I appear to be and it seems constructive critism is lost on alot of people in the art world.

[TinyBird]

I go on a computer forum and write my specs for my computer so that people understand better what I'm missing. I come on an art forum and write my specs and people assume I'm trying to say "I'm one of you guys".

The problem with that is that you can't really write "specs" on your art level in the same way as with computers. Saying "my comp has 4 Gigas of RAM" is something you can objectively know even if you're a total beginner, but saying "I'm pretty good with form, perspective and light" is only your idea of "good" which may or may not be any good at all if you don't have enough experience in judging your own art, which most beginners do lack.
EDIT: Not to mention with computer specs you're talking about hardware which in this case would be pens, inks, paints and brushes, when what you are now talking about is more theory and knowledge.

Just post your work and we'll help you as much as we can.

[Charlie D]

dyle

Examples of your work will communicate your current ability and understanding of making "pretty pictures" better than words.

[vineris]

You people are reading into this way too much. I go on a computer forum and write my specs for my computer so that people understand better what I'm missing. I come on an art forum and write my specs and people assume I'm trying to say "I'm one of you guys". I'm not here to argue or get snide comments picking apart how cocky I appear to be and it seems constructive critism is lost on alot of people in the art world.

To follow with the computer forum parallel, imagine that you're posting your specs in a computer forum where most of the people asking for help are 50-year-old business guys who think that Excel is their operating system and they ALL start out by saying "now I'm pretty good with these computer gadgets but I'm just having this one small problem".

You didn't actually post any specs, because on an art forum the art is the spec. All you said was "I'm pretty good with computers and I'm having a recurring problem, I think it's the RAM." We have no idea what your level of knowledge is, what steps you've taken to diagnose the problem, what the symptoms are or whether the problem is actually the RAM. What kind of help can we offer you with this information that isn't "Google colour theory and hope you find something useful"?

[Arshes Nei]

Let's make this simple.

Please post your work or we can close this topic

[landylachs]

dyle, people aren't trying to argue with you, it's just the way your post comes across.

It is odd when you say:

I can draw just about anything from memory

Then follow it up with:

and am getting fairly good with things like perspective, form and light

Most people here reading this would probably immediately think you need to be more than 'getting fairly good' with perspective, form, and light in order to draw 'just about anything' from memory, which is why you've made people curious and skeptical about your skill level and are not receiving replies to your question.

Regardless, color theory is, as you said, a huge beast. It's difficult to give you any advice in particular without seeing an example of your skill level (especially an example that incorporates color). If you post some examples I'm sure people will give you much better advice and guidance.

[Alice Herring]

You people are reading into this way too much. I go on a computer forum and write my specs for my computer so that people understand better what I'm missing. I come on an art forum and write my specs and people assume I'm trying to say "I'm one of you guys". I'm not here to argue or get snide comments picking apart how cocky I appear to be and it seems constructive critism is lost on alot of people in the art world.

You haven't provided any artwork for people to critique.

That being said, you really should look around the forums first. James Gurney's Color & Light is often recommended. Briggsy has a color thread in the fine arts section. (There's a lot of great stuff over there.) There's also a pretty neat discussion in this forum that started with what kind of brand of oil paints to use, and has shifted into discussing limited palettes. The information is already out there, you just have to spend time looking.

Other than that, get to painting! (and start a fine arts thread where you can post your studies.)

[dyle]

http://ocularmeridian.weebly.com/

Here's some work I've done. But, I'm not really trying to get critiques, just painting methods.

Thanks for the help.

[TinyBird]

Here's some work I've done. But, I'm not really trying to get critiques, just painting methods.

Well, honestly said from those you really have a lot to work out with anatomy, form and values. There's some nice crosshatching in the guy image and you're off to an okay start, but yeah.

You'd do best to start painting from life, rather than copying Google'd wolf photos. Buying couple bottles of black and white acrylic paints might give you an easy start to doing quick painted value studies.
Start with simple things, boxes, balls etc before moving to more complicated things. As well as rabbit run's recommendations, you might want to take a look at the Loomis books as well as Bammes' life drawing guide.

[landylachs]

http://ocularmeridian.weebly.com/

Here's some work I've done. But, I'm not really trying to get critiques, just painting methods.

Thanks for the help.

Thanks for posting your work! I like your style, very imaginative, especially that pinkish distorted figure, love the form and design. Tinybird and rabbit run gave you good links and advice to start with, but from what I can see from your use of color, you seem to be making the shadows cooler and the highlights warmer (it's most evident on the pink figure drawing), when usually (not always - like if you want that atmospheric perspective effect on character art - but usually) it's the opposite way around (especially for skintones, like in the pink figure drawing) - shadows are usually more saturated and warmer (richer) and highlights tend to be cooler. Your color work would also benefit from darker, richer shadows/more contrast.

Your color values are also pretty even throughout the drawing, which doesn't give the colored drawings focus. Having both really light and really dark values will fix this.

[vineris]

You might want to check out http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/light.htm to brush up on lighting. When you are colouring something you are really working with light so knowing something about light and shadow will help you pick better colours.

[Arshes Nei]

I think you should also visit the Fine Arts Forum, there's a lot of great stuff in there involving color and many other exercises that will hone your skills. It's basically a good spot to get foundational skills.