In lieu of my second book, I have written an article for CGchannel.com.Here are 10 questions to ask yourself before you apply for a concept art job – some career advice from me to you!
Let me know if you have any questions—your thoughts and comments are appreciated. Send an email to me@eliottlillyart.com.
Despite our artistic ambitions, and desires to improve and to grow as artists, it remains important to know when to sit back and take a break from it all. Since ‘Tis the season to be spent with friends and family, we here at the Big Bad World Of Concept Art, intend to do just that. This will be out last post for the year, but we will be back in January with all new content and a bunch of things for you to look forward to, such as:
In the mean time, be sure to take advantage of these great deals while they last.
Happy holidays everyone! See you all in January,
-Eliott
Applying textures to your images in Photoshop is a great way to add details and realism to your artwork. But it’s not as easy as it sounds.
The trick with using textures is to blend them seamlessly into the rest of the painting. You know you’ve gone too far when the underlying form starts to become lost. They should be used subtly.
– Peter Stapleton
Anybody can be an “artist”, but what makes an artist “successful” can be a mix of a few key elements. I talk a lot about discipline and focus in An Insider’s Guide For Students, but Cubebrush.com recently published an article called: 5 Reasons Why Some Artists Are Successful that offers additional insight and explains why some artists are able to make a name for themselves. Since the article is a very good and simple read I think it’s worth your time to check out. Hopefully you will relate to some of these reasons.
I can even think of a few additional reasons why some artists are successful myself. The main thing that I think is missing from their list is: “Commitment to their craft and focus on the execution”. I can’t stress how important those two things are when you are trying to make a name for yourself and get paid doing the thing that you love. But that is my thought, I’d love to hear what you think as well. Feel free to leave your own thoughts on this in the comments below.
How to create a design language within your artSometimes, the difference between a decent image and an amazing image can be as simple as the idea behind it and how well that idea is conveyed. I’m not referring to how well you can render or light the subject matter in your image, rather how cemented that idea is throughout the image itself. In order to make an idea feel intentional to the audience, the concept artist must repeat this idea as an over arching theme throughout the image. The repetition of that idea becomes an visual pattern, and that pattern then, becomes the design language of the image. Having a solid design language not only ties the elements in your image together, into a unified and cohesive design, but it also solidifies your idea and its intent.
Let me explain by using one of my favorite students’ work, as an example. The assignment was to draw a interior hallway of a space station. (This is an example of a typical assignemnt I might get from work) My student, Eskinder, did a great job on his homework, but there is defiantly room for improvement. In the images below, I show him (and you) how to design an interior space station with intent, focus and clarity.
The notes explaining how to design a hallway interior using a solid design language are taken from my “Intro to Concept art” Class, which I am currently teaching at Richland College (located in Dallas Texas). Have questions? Ask away in the comments below, or drop me a line at: me@eliottlillyart.com
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