My name's Mathias, 17 years atm.
As the title suggests my goal is to "break into the industry" as they say.. and achieve my dreams of becoming a concept artist for game development.
The genres I enjoy the most are fantasy, dark fantasy etc. From software is my favourite video game company and the games they produce are very dear to my heart. The idea of being involved in developing such projects fascinates me and I wi'll not stop working hard until I achieve just that.
I am very aware that the way of getting in is very VERY tight and I'm determined to get as exceptional at painting and designing as humanly possible to "get my foot in the door"
Sadly I can't afford to attend schools like FZD or Art Center (in fact most people can't).. and there is no way I'm letting myself get deep into student debt.. so self-taught is most likely the way to go.
I currently go to a fairly easy going artschool that teaches basic fundamentals.. so time really isn't an issue for me.
Most of the things I learned on my own with the help of instructional youtube videos and attending livestream critique communities. And just a ton of mileage of course. Although my focus is on increasing the amount of work I produce on a daily basis. Quite allergic to wasting time I suppose..
The learning work flow I have in mind so far goes basically like this:
1) Decide on a specific game project (Theme, Setting, etc..) - most likely change every few months or so
2) Split it into 6 basic categories:
- Character - turn around (production ready) - (6)
- Player-wearable outfit (2D layout) - (5)
- Creature - turn around (production ready) - (4)
- Environment - exterior - (3)
- Environment - interior - (2)
- Weapon - (1)
3)Dice roll 4) Work my ass off 5) Hopefully have a presentable finished concept at the end, repeat
Also specifically for this month I took on a personal "1000 Designs" speed and mileage excercise.
For those curious as of writing this I'm at number 247.
These works are all from imagination and for a very specific reason (that being speed).
Few studies here and there (like cloth for example) but mostly for understanding of given subject so that my thinking brain can apply these rules from memory without having to look up a reference each time.
Below will be a few examples of my early illustration/fanart/study work. (full gallery:minipantsu.deviantart.com)
Then a couple pages from the 1000 Designs excercise.
..And starting next month I will fully devote myself to the concept art learning process mentioned above.
So stay tuned! ..and thanks for reading in this far if you took the time to do so :)
Hi,
It's great you started so early and already have a goal and a plan to achieve it. My piece of advice would be to do as many anatomy studies as you can - especially if you plan to become a character concept artist - it's important to buils strong fundamentals in the beginning. I can already see your head is full of design ideas, so they thing you need the most is to be able to convey them in a well drawn concept.
Hey, lookin' good! You seem to have a very clear set of goals in mind which is a huge plus. Having a sketchbook is always good for extra learning/support so you're two for two there haha. Can't wait to see more. Keep up the good work!
(03-17-2016, 03:30 PM)Piotr Jasielski Wrote: Hi,
It's great you started so early and already have a goal and a plan to achieve it. My piece of advice would be to do as many anatomy studies as you can - especially if you plan to become a character concept artist - it's important to buils strong fundamentals in the beginning. I can already see your head is full of design ideas, so they thing you need the most is to be able to convey them in a well drawn concept.
Good luck and keep it up!
Thank you! I will take your advice and do a ton of anatomy studies in my sketchbook once I'm done with the 1000 designs challenge :)
(03-17-2016, 05:10 PM)Riprap Wrote: Hey, lookin' good! You seem to have a very clear set of goals in mind which is a huge plus. Having a sketchbook is always good for extra learning/support so you're two for two there haha. Can't wait to see more. Keep up the good work!
Thank you! I will start posting here on a regular basis once I'm done with the challenge. So definitely look forward to that! Also I appreciate any form of critique so please any of you feel free to do so. :)
I love it! Your approach seems to be really structured, you should do great if you continue to put in the hours I think. Since we have pretty much the same goals (getting into the industry) I'll definitely follow your journey.
Looking at your stuff I see a lot of value studies. I think it will help you immensely to do a lot of solid linedrawings (like you already did in the latest updates). I think this helps to develop a solid design sense since you have to draw out everything nicely and in perspective. Personally I decided to put my value studies on the side for the moment and instead focus on really solid linedrawing and design skills, and then moving forward again.
Anyway, really nice stuff and I'm looking forward to seeing more!
(03-24-2016, 01:25 AM)miracoly Wrote: I love it! Your approach seems to be really structured, you should do great if you continue to put in the hours I think. Since we have pretty much the same goals (getting into the industry) I'll definitely follow your journey.
Looking at your stuff I see a lot of value studies. I think it will help you immensely to do a lot of solid linedrawings (like you already did in the latest updates). I think this helps to develop a solid design sense since you have to draw out everything nicely and in perspective. Personally I decided to put my value studies on the side for the moment and instead focus on really solid linedrawing and design skills, and then moving forward again.
Anyway, really nice stuff and I'm looking forward to seeing more!
Thank you miracoly! I'm getting very comfortable with using ballpoint pen now so there's that at least..
However it's tough for me to draw hard surface things for perspective learning purposes since I can't really seem to pull out the appeal I normally get from soft surface design.. to me there's just something too stiff about blocky vehicles and things like that.. and I have no idea how to approach that specific subject in a fun way..
You seem to be having a blast with your hard surface perspective studies from what I can see.. any kind of help on that particular subject would be much appreciated. :)
I'll spend the remaining couple days working on a "Berserker" concept piece for crowbbit's monthly facebook group contest..
hopefully I'll make it in time. :)
Welcome on board, and may I say you're off to a pretty amazing start already! Even in art school you can only improve if you put in a lot of hard work and hours on your own, so being self-taught is not much different, really. There are so many amazing tutorials and videos from professionals nowadays online that it can be pretty overwhelming even, kinda makes you think if studying on your own can even be more useful sometimes... and being without debt is pretty great too! Keep up the great work c:
(03-27-2016, 05:04 AM)herkkusieni Wrote: Welcome on board, and may I say you're off to a pretty amazing start already! Even in art school you can only improve if you put in a lot of hard work and hours on your own, so being self-taught is not much different, really. There are so many amazing tutorials and videos from professionals nowadays online that it can be pretty overwhelming even, kinda makes you think if studying on your own can even be more useful sometimes... and being without debt is pretty great too! Keep up the great work c:
Thank you! I do agree with you actually.. however not having a diploma would kinda limit my visa a lot.. and certain companies only take people with diploma OR 10-ish years of industry experience.. so yeah.. there's that I guess. That's also why I'm not 100% decided on further education yet..
(03-27-2016, 05:04 AM)herkkusieni Wrote: Welcome on board, and may I say you're off to a pretty amazing start already! Even in art school you can only improve if you put in a lot of hard work and hours on your own, so being self-taught is not much different, really. There are so many amazing tutorials and videos from professionals nowadays online that it can be pretty overwhelming even, kinda makes you think if studying on your own can even be more useful sometimes... and being without debt is pretty great too! Keep up the great work c:
Thank you! I do agree with you actually.. however not having a diploma would kinda limit my visa a lot.. and certain companies only take people with diploma OR 10-ish years of industry experience.. so yeah.. there's that I guess. That's also why I'm not 100% decided on further education yet..
That's true as well, but the majority of the concept artist ads I've seen have the art school diploma as a bonus, rather than a requirement (Blizzard as one of the places), I do believe that your portfolio will speak much louder than a diploma, and places that might have that requirement might still even hire you, you'll never know! But it's obviously not bad if you do decide to go for it, it's great for that "safety" of a degree and also contacts in the industry. I suppose there is no wrong option here, really :P
(03-27-2016, 05:04 AM)herkkusieni Wrote: Welcome on board, and may I say you're off to a pretty amazing start already! Even in art school you can only improve if you put in a lot of hard work and hours on your own, so being self-taught is not much different, really. There are so many amazing tutorials and videos from professionals nowadays online that it can be pretty overwhelming even, kinda makes you think if studying on your own can even be more useful sometimes... and being without debt is pretty great too! Keep up the great work c:
Thank you! I do agree with you actually.. however not having a diploma would kinda limit my visa a lot.. and certain companies only take people with diploma OR 10-ish years of industry experience.. so yeah.. there's that I guess. That's also why I'm not 100% decided on further education yet..
That's true as well, but the majority of the concept artist ads I've seen have the art school diploma as a bonus, rather than a requirement (Blizzard as one of the places), I do believe that your portfolio will speak much louder than a diploma, and places that might have that requirement might still even hire you, you'll never know! But it's obviously not bad if you do decide to go for it, it's great for that "safety" of a degree and also contacts in the industry. I suppose there is no wrong option here, really :P
Yeah.. I think you're right. Well I'll be working my ass off on my own anyways so it doesn't really matter to me all that much.. just as long as I improve.. that's all I need. :)
Here's the Berserker concept I did for a group contest.. had to bust this out in 3 days to meet the deadline so I wasn't active as much.. but now I'm finally done with everything that I set up for myself this month.
That means I can finally begin working on my own projects as I mentioned above in the introduction.. dice rolls and everything. So stay tuned!
Here are a few thumbnail sketches and brainstorming ideas for this first project.. areligious-themed dark fantasy game!
Don't expect anything super refined at all times.. however as well as the finished concepts, I will be posting dailysketches, thumbs and ideas along the way. As well as some anatomy studies. :)
