From the course: What Is Concept Art?
Learning about design
- [Instructor] If drawing fundamentals are like learning to make a sentence, then design is like being able to take those sentences and turn them into poetry or a great opera. Design is about making choices to solve a problem. It's a very iterative process. Artists do not always make the right choice from the get go. This is fine because above all else, classic art is about providing more than one solution to any given problem. Being able to create cool things is important to selling an idea. However, the decisions that are made in order for something to be cool are what design is all about. Remember the Rock Digger? I wanted this creature design to feel like a big brute, almost like a big bouncer or Sumo wrestler. I wanted him to feel fierce, and that's why I gave him a very unwelcoming face and really large, menacing claws. Now, the design choices to help support the basic idea were the following: One, he was part of a slave race, so the armor needed to feel very oppressive. And two, he's based off an armadillo and pangolin, so the plated armor of my design mimics the armor from these animals. That, and the Rock Digger's claws are also used for digging just like an armadillo or anteater. A lot of my design decisions are based off things in real life, things that have a function and a purpose. However, it's important for me to explore different drawings and not just settle on one. You can see in these design iterations for the Rock Digger how I was playing around with posture, body types, and even armor segmentation. Through this type of iterative process, you'll be able to discover something fresh and bring new ideas and designs to the table. Just remember, it'll take a lot of practice and a lot of bad drawings to get a solid concept.
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