Grouped Feedback FINAL TERM

Beth: 

Pretty cool. But coul dbe improved : 

1-Extend framing to the right

2-Increase saturation on key elements

3-CHange sky and horizon line

4-Add small details such as particcles, debris, birds, lances, remains of battles etc, smoke in the back, maybe another robot.

5-Cockpit lights

6-Shadow and light layers

For the future: Train more : Values and Light Set ups. How light works. Animation art. Ref:NinoKuni, Gibli, Zelda, Anime, TRyan Lang,  Alex Zedig Diboine, Abe Taraky, Serge Birault, 3D and 2D animated Movies and their concept art,etc. 

Jaria: 

Great job, complex image.

1-Make it more moody
2-Unify colors with photo filter
3-Better balance of depth layers with the fog
4-Add particles and crows
5-Kill buildings behind archway
6-Intense light and rim light
7-Some drawing anatomy issues

For the future:
Learn to identify your drawing weaknesses so you can make them a strength.
Study how light works and the skill to paint it realisticly or stylised.

Jessica : 

Not much to say, just make image lighter to see the coolness better, creatures and blood could have been more apparent as well. Awesome designs as always.

Ro: not bad !

1-Angle is too simple. Kills your epic sense and drama. Usually try and place the camera at human eye level for big monster images.
2-More FX for explosions, exagerate !
3- More silhouettes in the back, maybe destroyed city ?
4-More complex bridge design and more destruction.

For the future, be more bold with your work. Go nuts. Have fun, stop stressing.
Creature design and Character design is what you want so follow and study those types of pros. Papstein, Marantz etc etc You have to be a kick ass designer. So always speed sculpt. You have to have a zbrush central sketchbook, and design every day.
Then study light and anatomy so your designs are realistic and presented well.

Feedback Paintovers Class Week 9

Lesson Post Week 3:: Composition

Hey everyone,

Because i thought my last posts were very short ;) i am making a longer one today.

So here is a little post about some basic rules in composition to sort of summarize all of the things you've been hearing me say for the past two weeks. With some ....very super short ...addons :) I don't claim to know everything and what i know is not mastered yet, hell i feel like a hack most of the time. But either way, here is a breakdown of what i have gathered about composition.

This are basic things to follow. When you start mastering them, you will be able to create more complex compositions and images and you will also be able to break these so called rules. But in order to break them you first need to control the basics. Same goes for anatomy or any subject. If you want to create crazy vehicules you need to understand how existing vehicles are made. If you want to create cool or stylized or awesome creatures and characters, you need to first master human anatomy for example.

So think of these rules ....as suggestions. These technics of composition are just one solution among many. They will help you create a more successful image, faster and easier.

The foundation of composition is, in my opinion, a matter of relationships between the shapes that form your image. And by creating an interesting arrangement of these shapes, you will force the eyes of the viewer to travel around the canvas. Then end goal being this: Manipulate the viewer and control his eye movement !

I like simplifying or breaking down those relationships like this :
-Placement of elements in my image between themselves and the frame
-Shape of elements
-Scale of elements

And then when you get better at painting... add values and color :
-Value of elements
-Color of elements
-Cast shadows of elements
-Edges of elements

The simplest composition template is the rule of thirds.

A-Rule of Thirds:

Some people like being fancy and talk about the golden ratio and golden spirale. I used to as well, but i quickly realized it can be really close to the rule of thirds.

For me, the rule of thirds is not a template to follow exactly but something more approximative.
Look at this musician here. His placement is almost on the third vertical division right. But his shape breaks up, and has some parts that are really far out that third division. See ? So it is not an exact thing to follow but just a guide. His face could be perfectly fitted in the intersection of the two third lines. Horizontal and vertical. But that would mean cutting his right hand by lowering the guy. Same for the tip of the guitar...it could arrive at the intersection on the right side but it falls short. And it still works pretty well. So its not something we as artists have to follow blindly. But just something to help us make our choices quickly and with confidence.



Now look at this temple.
See the golden spiral ? Where it coils up ? It is supposed to be the perfect placement of your focus point.

 But its pretty close to a third right ? So .....just stick to the rule of thirds and you will be fine.
Until you become better and want to explore more.

The Rule of Thirds functions pretty well, because it makes one element of your image be more important than the rest. This creates contrast and that contrast attracts the eye of the viewer.

Why do we avoid placing our elements in the center or perfectly symmetrical ?
Because it lowers the contrast and the visual interest.

Actually you could divide an image in more than thirds, as long as you create an appealing contrast. But ...the rule of thirds is not everything, eventually you will be able to create solid compositions with values and or color alone.

B-Values in composition: 

Try applying the rule of thirds to your value arrangement as well !
I like simplifying my values in three from the start, Darker, Mid Grey and Lighter. And i try to treat them as composition elements and have a rule of third dictate their ratio in my image. One of those values has to dominate the other two.

Look at this painting by the great Justin Sweet.
Can you tell me how the values are organized here ? I would say that the value covering the most space here is a dark value. Then we have mid greys in second position and then in third, the smallest area is covered by the lighter values. One, two three. Rule of thirds applied to values to create a composition.

You can even use this for depth...you can have a background be mainly light values. Then the midground, made of grey values, and then the foreground darker values.

Again as in the placement of your elements, any arrangement of values would work as long as you follow the simple pattern. Making an image interesting and easy to read, with depth and nice contrast.

Conclusion: Guide the eye with your value arrangements. Direct the viewer by creating interesting and well balanced value compositions. Add the most value contrast on your focus point.

C-Color in composition: 

Check this kickassery by Cornwell. Holy crap, so simple but it works.

I feel really compeled to check the red scarf on the neck of the cowboy on the left. He is looking straight at the other dude with the tie...the tie is red but less intense...but it makes a connection with the two subjects....this guy on the right is also wearing a green suit.... green and red....color theory anyone ? Observe how his tie and his suit have touches of colors that are a reminder of the surrounding colors of the background : Blue and the sort of ochre Yellow. Check how both heads are aligned with the nice blue structure behind the. Helping you move between them.
Ok so let's continue .... because there is more. Now the guy with the tie is looking at the prisoner, and this is fucking awesome....the prisoner's hat has a really nice and saturated yellow right next to that blue!.....Color theory anyone ?

That is just fucking genius. And i am just checking the colors here. But this image, if turned to black and white, will drive your eyesight all the same. More on that later.

Let's continue on colors here with a Jon Foster image. I love this guy, he uses crazy colors and weird compos.
On this image  you mostly have a cold hue all over. Thats your main HUE. Or color if you prefer. But just where you are supposed to look, bam ! Juicy warm hotness all over the focus point. And with color contrast and saturation contrast. The face of the kid is pretty warm and saturated but his hair is not, and his jacket is very saturated as well. Stay with me people ;) now check his sleeves...yellows-oranges and blues...color contrast creates COLOR VIBRATION and attracts your eye....that yellow and that blue or could it be just a nice grey that looks blue next to a warm hue of the yellow ? Holy crap, i 'll avoid that subject because that is for a painting class. But just notice and be aware of that for now. So to resume, cold hues and warm hues guiding your eyes here. Again there is much more to this image than that, but i dont want to lose you even more ;) So i will stop here with  this.

Another little example with our digital painting forefather, Craig Mullins.
Very quickly, check were are the most intense, and saturated colors. How about the area with most value contrast ? And shape contrast?

Conclusion: Guide the eye with color contrast. Direct the viewer with contrasting hues and contrasting saturation. Add the most color contrast on your focus point.

D-Strength Lines: 

Now lets talk about one of the most important aspects of an image: Strenght Lines !
Or directional lines or implied lines or whatever you want to call them. I think this might be my favorite composition topic.

Lets grab the Cornwell image again. In black and white and see our reading direction.

We are going in a loop like this one.

Now check the placement of elements around  tie guy. He is the only character that has a almost fully visible archway, BUT he has a window and on top of the window is a piece sticking out of the roof and on his right, on the roof, a pot.

This is to balance the image and to guide your eye towards these areas so that your eye doesnt get lost with the bare background. The pot is also there to stop you from leaving and forcing you to go back down to the guy and start the loop again.

Cornwell again. I love this guy, i just bought a book of his work thanks to kickstarter.
Super simple image right? Now scroll down and look at the lines i traced on top.

What do you think ? He goes so far with his shapes, that you are trapped and cant go out. Forever in the visual loop he has imposed on you.

These strength lines create a path for the eyes to follow. You have the power to direct the viewer, tell him where to look first and where to end. Its pretty damn cool. You can create visual loops and have them relook everywhere over and over !
But that's not all strenght lines do. They also re-enforce focal points. You have heard me say this a lot: "Look at me !" While i trace a red line in an image right ? Well this is it.

Jon Foster again. I do not know who started this, i suspect it was Phil Hale. Another amazing artist. But yea these weird flying compos with robotic stuff shooting at the main focus was a thing these two did a couple of years back.

Conclusion: Guide the eye with strenght lines. Direct the viewer with the main lines of your image, create interesting visual loops that lead to your main focus point(s).

Almost done guys, just one more tiny chapter. EDGES. This one is one of the most overlooked aspects of painting with the "magic grey" i mentioned when checking a previous image with the kid.

E-Edges: 
I think nobody or very few digital artists think about Edges. I am bringing back Justin Sweet here.

I just have 2 questions....where are the sharpest edges? And where can we find the most edge contrast in the picture?


And here ? Are the sharpest edges on the background ? Or where Richard Schmid wants you to look?

Conclusion: Guide the eye with edges. Your focus point should have the most contrast in terms of edges. Usually use the sharpest edges on your focus point...but sometimes you can do the opposite too. Why should there be super sharp edges in a place with low importance in your image right ? So simple yet nobody really pays attention.

So imagine if you mix it all up ? It's up to you. Explore and test, have fun. That is the key to learning and progressing. Treating your personal work as a ....laboratory of sorts. Stop thinking about what are people going to say when i post this ? Is this going to be successful? I need a job ! Haha! Don't sabotage your fun with doubt and fear.
Also all these rules can be broken and bent. Just this week i found at least 5 paintings that break away from all that i ve been telling you ! But they were done by masters.

Ok so now your brains are melted and you want to kill yourselves.
Follow this advice, consistently and rigorously, and you WILL become very good at composition.

1-Read every day one post of this :
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/search/label/Composition
With focus and intension. Analyse the images, when there are images to be analysed.
2-Read every day one post of this :
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/search/label/Perspective
With focus and intension. Analyse the images, when there are images to be analysed.
3-Choose one painting of a master painter ( old, traditional media ), that blows you away. And observe it, and analyse each and every aspect that we have in this post. Do this at least once a week.
4-Choose one painting of a modern digital painter ( contemporary, our industry ), that blows you away. And observe it, and analyse each and every aspect that we have in this post. Do this at least once a week.
5-Take photos at least once a week, take a bunch of pictures, think about every aspect of composition that we have reviewed here.

Learning takes forever, and when you finally climb that mountain, you'll just realize there is a bigger one just in front of you.

We will review this in class before the next assignement ;) But in here you have enough regarding composition.

Week 2 Feedback for Efe Sketches

Hey Efe,

This is nice. Your compo could be much better though,

Check this correction :

As for everyone, later on, for yourself make sure you push your design. Study sleek product and car design and even costume design and improve this image for your folio.

For now just make sure the compo is better.

Good job.

Week 2 Feedback for Seif Sketches

Wow, this is very very good. First image works because its cinematic. ANd has nice foreground elements. 

Only one comment here but its not that dramatic, i mean you could leave it this way. BUt the girl is straight up in the middle of the image, i would test and see if i move it a bit to the right like so.

Now in terms of design, its ok but mainly because you nailed the values ( light) and the realism. 

So this shows everyone, that a good presentation can make a normal design look great. ANd the opposite is also true.

This is not a design class, so you do not have to push the designs but if i were you, later one, for my portfolio, i would improve the designs of the boots and mecha. Right now the boots are too cartoony. Old school design. ANd the vehicle also looks a bit funny with the chubby little legs etc. But do that later on. Your composition was great, simple and solid. Good job.

Week 2 Feedback KristThumbs 02

Alright so ...very nice speed painting!

Now the weakness here is in the composition. Your framing and your placememts are way off. Also she is driving a streched cube. You can do much much better than this.

So you will stop painting this and you will start drawing. To make your designs better.

1-The girl and the cabine-cockpit are almost in the middle of the car and the middle of the image. We will always or when possible, aim for the thirds. Not the middles. I would try to place the girl and cabine further to the left of the car. I would try to make her head and some part of the gun, to pop out of the silhouette of the car. So we breake the shape.

2-The gun is almost horizontal. Make it diagonal. Is she firing? Why ? To what ? She could be reloading if she has the gun lowered. It could be resting on her top crossed leg, justifying her sitting position.

3-The right part of the car is cut. I would show the whole car.

Design.... that car yo....Nope. Make it amazing. Its the biggest object. It has to be great. I would make it longer.

1-Extend the frame, to give breathing space especialy to the left.
2-Oh and flip your image, its better if the girl is facing the right.
3-By moving her and the cockpit, look at how the shape pops out in a more interesting way ? And boom her head is framed by the fire. Focus point trickery ;)
4-Lower the scale of the fire on the left. Only the fire behind her head can be that big and intense. Focus point shape and saturation contrast remember?
5-Design that car ! Now you have space on the left. Trace your perspective lines and draw that car!
6-I lower the gun a bit, it could even be lower than that, make sure its canon comes out of the shape of the car.
7-Cable on floor going towards focus point. It should be perfectly place for that direction but a little is ok. So it guides the viewers.

Week 2 Feedback Beth Thumbs 02

Hey Beth,

Well its because the foundations are off. The drawing, perspective, values and color are off. DOnt worry too much about getting them right because you do not have much time. Focus on composition and drawing.

1-Your image has color saturation and hue and value contrast all over the place. So its difficult to read.
2-Edges: edges are incredibly important in an image. Again a part of painting that is learned in foundation training. The edges are all sharp in your image here. So there is shape and edge contrast everywhere. Again eyes are attracted and its tough to read.
3-Drawing, the girl's scale is off. She should be scaled down. The drawing of her body is full front and the vehicle is in perspective. Also the BG is not understandable. Which doesnt help.
4-COmpo: AVoid the tension near the girls head with the BG. There is too much going on in there with the pole and sort of beam intersecting behind her head.

I think you did not trace your perspective lines, am i right ?

Check this rough paintover:

I had to revert to black and white. Kill all the BG. Trace all perspective lines, and start drawing the buildings and the base where the mecha is standing on. Then redraw a bit of the mecha because you cannot draw the mecha if you have no drawing of the floor where it is standing. Also whithout perspective lines how can you draw ?

Focus on working step by step:

1-First you composition
2-then perspective and drawing
3-then add on some design and detail on the drawing.
4-Then the values

When that works....go for the painting, colors and clean render. Dont jump the steps because of time. Better to have a good black and white sketch than a bad final color image.

Week 2 Feedback Alex Thumbs 01

Week 2 Feedback Alex Thumbs 01

Hey Alex, ok so good job with the composition.

First image is pretty straight forward, not much to say here. Maybe just move the set up to the left a bit like so:

Your main element ( the girl) should be at a third of the image or at the golden ratio spot. We will touch on this in class next week.

The 2nd image is cool, very narrative but off subject since we cant see the car well and the girl is kneeling so we cant see her either.

The 3rd image is really interesting but for some reason its a portrait image and we cant see the car.....too bad it could have been great if it had been in landscape portrait with the car showing up.

Now same comment for everyone:
Very rough and simple sketches.  The design of things and drawings are not clarified. Make sur you know where you are going.

Week 2 Feedback Miguel Thumbs 01

Week 2 Feedback Miguel Thumbs 01

Hey Miguel,

Not much to say here because you did a good job with balancing the girl and her vehicle, how they are placed, and facing each other. Good. I like all of them. She seems to have a cool pose too.

There are a few mistakes with the framing of the images but easely fixed. Also you only have one vehicle design? I would say these are thumbs that need clarification.

The main issues here are the following : Design and entertainment factor.

1-The landscape is fine. But it has nothing interesting. It is super bland.  The landscape is the third most important element of this image. Make sure it is treated that way.

2-The vehicle looks like a ......

Yep, it does. Don't worry, it happens to me all the time.

3-Vehicle design. Aside my previous comment, it feels really flimsy. Like it could break anytime. Will it survive the harsh tracks ? The impacts and attacks ? How is it built? If you were a death race champion, how would your vehicle be? What would it do? WOuld it be fast ? Or strong ? Destructive or agile ? With long range attacks ? Or impact based attacks ? How will she drive this? How is she seated? 

4-Same comment as everyone....you better know where you are going before starting the painting. Drawing, design, perspective etc, lighting, all needs to be figured out and clear for you. To avoid further issues.

Week 2 Feedback Jin Thumbs 01

Week 2 Feedback Jin Thumbs 01

Hey Jin,

Some cool things here in terms of composition.
I like things on the three of them.

BUT...;)

First Image:

1-You clearly need more space up top. SInce the frame is almost touching the canon
2-The canon is melting and droopy. Add the close image frame and it seems that its being pushed down by the tension. Droopyness and melted drawings in hard surface is the enemy. Make sure that it looks strong and well built since it is a weapon.
3-I like the pose of the girl, make sure we understand if she is standing in front or leaning against the truck.
4-She is almost perfectly placed between the two tires. Move here to the left  or way to the right after the canon.
5-Too much space where the smoke is. Its empty.
6-I would move the whole set up to the right so i get less space on the right and more to the left.
Its always better to have more space where things are facing, than behind them.

Second Image : 

1-Very nice combo and angle for the truck and the girl. She looks like wonder woman though !
2-HUGE space on the right....
3-Move the whole setup  to the right so wonder woman is on the right of the middle line.
4-Or add something there to justify the space. Something important that can increase your storytelling.

Third Image :

1-I feel that she should be a bit more to the right, like her leg should hit the middle of the tire.
2-Her pose is a bit weird. Super centered and symmetrical.
3-The vehicle could be longer on the left to cover more BG.
4-Good use of cloud direction

Overall:
-Almost good compos
-These are more thumbs than skecthes, so same advice as for everyone, for yourself, and to avoid futur trouble, make sure you clarify the drawing and design before jumping to the painting. Know where you are going.
-There is no real design yet, but make sure that your designs are great. Right now its a pick up truck with a canon on the back and some sort of tractor piece upside down attached to the front.
-Ask yourself when designing an man made object with a function.What does this do? HOW does it work? How is it built?

Lesson Post :: Image Correction Example 01

Hey everyone,

I'll try to do every once in a while ( takes time ), a post where i pick up one image done for a homework and try to do a black and white sketch correction. Showing you what  i felt was off and what i would do to correct it.

So here we have an image done by Miguel. I feel its a great example to show you some of the main key points of what to do and what not to do, what works and what doesnt.

Its a very simple image, full front angle and view. Sor its fairly easy to make something like this work out.

Ok so...something is bothering me, mainly the fact that she is facing the right...but there is nothing there. So i feel i am suffocating. I feel uneasy. Learn to be in tune with how you feel when you see a visual. Because like that you will identify what works for you and what doesnt and you will have a Clearer Direction.

Ok, so very quickly, I make the format of the image more dynamic. Its less squarish. Less heavy. That is why cinematic formats are always so appealing.
I then give her breathing space to her right. Basically the direction where her face is turned too. Ok now i feel i can breathe easy. I also break the alignement of her body with the cauldron. Make sure the shape of her body and the cauldron are different.I add some junk on a table where the cauldron is but its not appearing because its ok, i can get away with it. Then some junk shelf it the back and i keep the skull, and add maybe some other thing hanging to the left on the wall. The background is very low contrast. Because it is the last thing i want viewers to see. It try to group my values in areas of less focus and less contrast. Grouping your values is very important. This is not a painting class but you will hear me say this a lot.

I also DRAW everything. Yes its rough but then i can take time to clean up. Everything should feel 3d. There is a hard structure under her skin, and under her clothes as well. I need to feel that. I then design everything and think while i am doing it. The line of her costume, the decorations, where they are placed, the  break up of small shapes like her gloves and the shoulders, the fact that she has a cloth belt with stuff on the left. Etc. The cauldron has decorations, handles, i increase the number of the little hanging bits on it etc etc .

This sketch is done in what ...ten minutes ? Fifteen tops ? It is a mix of confidence, absence of fear and doubt, repetition and habit, and finally some foundation knowledge.

Here are some more images with things that i tried adding to the sketch.

1-We changed the composition, what does that mean:
-The placement of every asset in the image
-The shape of every asset in the image
-The image framing
-The angle of view. Imagine you are viewing the image with a camera. But here we kept the same full frontal view.

2-Design !!!!
-Look around, even simple objects are cool and have detail on. And we are suppose to make exagerations and ENTERTAIN. So make cool shit ! Right ? So add density and details. Clothes have seems, patterns, textures and materials ! Add jewelry etc ! The sphere she is holding should be amazing ! Like a chinese puzzle ball or something!

3-Lighting:
-Keep it simple for now with two light sources.
So here we have an exterior light coming from a window or door. But then the light travels in the room, and bounces of everything so we should have soft light hitting her from the opposite side of the main light source. Again, this is no painting rendering class but this is the stuff you need to practice hours on end.......

4-The read of your visuals:
How is your image read by viewers ?
What order? What do they look at first ?
1-Face
2-Hands, action, and object of the action
3-Cauldron
4-Then background
5-Then full circle, back to the face

Recommended References to study : 
Marcos Mateu Mestre's books
James Gurney's blog and books:
Posts on composition
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/search/label/Composition
Posts on perspective
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/search/label/Perspective

His blog is absurd....ten times more info than his books. I mean i started reading today again, his posts on composition...i realized i did not know anything...

Week 2 Feedback Beth Sparks Thumbs 01

Week 2 Feedback Beth Sparks Thumbs 01

Hey Beth,

These are particularly interesting. I am starting to see a pattern of how you work, with this second homework. You are good with composition, your ideas are usually dynamic. That is really good. The issue here is the roughness of your sketches. If these are for you, ok thats good. But these cannot be showned to a client yet. And i would strongly advice cleaning them up, clarifying designs, shapes and values, before starting colors, painting and rendering. Because it will be tough to do it WHILE you are painting and rendering. I do this all the time too. It comes back as big trouble later on.

So here is a very quick feedback:

So let' s start with A: 

1-Great idea, very original compo, i rarely see this. Good job. Overall all are ggood actually.

2-Needs more space to the left. Because it feels a bit bunched up, and too close to the main subjects.Would be cool to see a bit more of the vehicle so dont be afraid to zoom out a bit, too show a bit more legs, left side and slightly at the top. BUT, if you decide to show all the top part of the mech, avoid having it too close to the frame, to avoid the tangent tension.

3-The pose of the pilot. Has to be cooler. I made a quick example here. She is watching the city behind here. TRy out different options see which one you like.

4-CLarify your designs ! ANd you values. Right now its way too rough to start painting.

Image B: 

1-Great job.

2-Great lines converging towards your focus points. 

3-I scaled down the pilot to improve scale contrast and make the vehicle more impressive, also it greats a better reading order. First the big vehicle, 2 the human, then third the city behind with a big toward as landmark.

4-CLarify your designs ! ANd you values. Right now its way too rough to start painting.

Image C: 

1-Cool idea again !

2-Try zooming out again. The feet are too close to the frame.

3-Decrease the tilt of the floor, to the right of the girl see ? Its way too tilted.

4-Empty area to the lower left? Needs something.

5-Try zooming out a bit and pushing your vehicle to the left. Its ok if they are not overlapping (with the pilot).

6-I wonder if bringing the vehicle closer to the pilot, and increasing its size would work.... HUm its up to you, if you want to try that out. Its not necessary so its up to you.

7-CLarify your designs ! ANd you values. Right now its way too rough to start painting.

Image D: 

1-I like this but i would push the guy ( looks like a bro ! )  to the left. Make the image full cinematic 16/9. 

2-CLarify your designs ! ANd you values. Right now its way too rough to start painting.


In general, because your comps are all dynamic they have all complex cam angles and perpective. You will have to clean them up. Start by adding your persp grid in a separate layer, and then start cleaning up your drawing. No need to be extra clean. But just clean enough that your know where you are going.

Pro Life Post :: On Technics and Career Choices

Hey people,

After the last class i realized (even more) how some of you are really worried about the choices you will have to make, and what some teachers and other professionals say regarding technics and styles and how that would affect your careers.

So i 've decided to give you some of the information i 've gathered in these past 15 years, more or less, while studying and making visuals for clients.

I do not have the perfect recipe. But if i break down my career for you, you might get a clear example. It's a long article, so if you suck at reading, try to read a section of the post every day. I could have cut it in parts but i really want you to get the message in its entirety so you "find" yourselves faster. I will write about my choices, and what i learned, what i did wrong and the technics i used, so i am sure in there you will find useful info. In a later article i will also give you examples of very successful pros, who all have different backgrounds, paths, styles, technics and processes. To further push the point that technics, and processes are secondary to hard work, quality and good foundations. And so, should not be your main focus.

I will post some art from each period of time. I dont have everything anymore.  Due to a hard drive crash i lost my concepts from funcom, IFS, some volta stuff, and some Beenox stuff..... -___- sucks pretty bad.
Alright so here we go ...

First 4 years:

These i call the dark days ;)
Four years of odd freelance jobs that were not for clients in the entertainment industry (graphic design, architecture, children illustration, tv adds, marketing etc), just to get by, survive, and whenever i had a moment to spare i would work on my portfolio and try to improve. No cool tutorials everywhere back then...so no info whatsoever on how to be a pro. I feel these years are pre-junior years haha ! I sucked so bad... i don't think i deserved the junior title. Because a junior is suppose to be pro, a newbie yes... but still, a pro.
The only cool thing that happened is that i enrolled in a crappy graphic design school in a small city in France and i met  some cool people, and learned to use a computer other than to send emails. I touched a lot of softwares because the school program was retarded. So we had like 10 to 15 classes for different softwares. We did not learn anything but that killed my fear of softwares and nowadays if i want to learn and be good with a software, i get to it and really really learn how to use it, with confidence.

None of the jobs i did, were interesting back then, or making me proud. I couldn't even use that to look for jobs in games. It was really depressing. I used any technic to do whatever, just to get paid a little. But i learned a lot and eventually through hard work, and the help from my wife i nailed a job.

Enter the junior times: 3 years in total.
Half of those 3 years, I worked for a company called Funcom in Norway.

Back then, there were no specialisations in concept art. You had to know everything. So in Funcom, all of us did characters, monsters, weapons, props, vehicules, environments and marketing art. It was extremely hard but i believe that helped me a lot to get where i am today.

Even though i was a junior i got an associate art director role, and that gave me a huge slap in the face. It showed me the other side of the curtain. What leads and art directors need, and how much of a diva, concept artists are. It made me a better pro because i understood where my clients were coming from and how they saw us princesses ( code name for concept artists internationally ;) .

I mainly used 2d, digital drawing and painting at Funcom. Because using pictures was really really bad back then. More than frowned upon. You were a cheater, a loser and sucked big time if you used a picture and you were immediatly called out by every body around you. From 3d modelers, to game directors, art directors and concept artists etc. It was really frustrating because i needed to use pictures to deliver the required quality....tough times. Why ? Because my foundations sucked. It also shows you that there are trends, and technics that are in, depending of the year, or the online interests. So another reason why you should not pay attention to a technic because one day its in and the next day its out.

After almost two years i left for Singapore. And started working at IFS. It was an outsourcing concept art, illustration and comic book studio. Outsourcing studio means that bigger clients call them to help out on big projects. It is very common in games and movies. And again, since many projects of different nature come in, we had to do everything, and change styles and technics all the time to satisfy the mandate. So i did a lot of everything, from marketing posters for car companies, to animation concept art, coloring comic book pages and other stuff. A lot of digital 2d and a lot of painting over photos ( slightly different than photobashing i feel). Using photos was almost a necessity, and it was forcefully imposed by the bosses. Because those studios aim for quantity and speed to survive. Again learned a lot on everything.

I worked my ass off, like you have no idea, working in the morning before work and at night, and in the weekends to create my portfolio. I would create tons of personal IPs, with different visual styles and technics that i liked, to explore and challenge myself. None had a realistice rendering. Not one. And no photos. And i posted every week. Got some success online. Got some offers....

After a bit more than a year i left and started freelancing.

Intermediate years for 3,5 years give or take.
This is when things started to get interesting. I got bigger projects, took an environment class with Feng Zu in Singapore, and that helped a lot, got better jobs, better pays and i improved a lot....

Zbrush 3 came out back then, and i was in love, and saw the amazing potential it had. So i started learning the software, not like crazy because i was really busy but enough to get around. Then something funny happened. I did what i consider now, a mistake.

I sold out.

During my personal time, I started to do generic rendering like every body else, i became like the rest of the cattle. Going in the same direction. I wasnt producing with fun/love/passion anymore. My art became generic and less cool. Because i was doing stupid shit like....generic hill with castle and guy on horse with a stick. Generic scifi environment etc etc And also because my foundation skills were not good ( drawing, painting, color, values etc) well....my attempts to create realistic concepts were mediocre at best. Because i was afraid and insecure especially in front of  the new mass of amazing online talent, i tried to be like them...failed, I lost my online following and disapeared.

But on the pro side of things, it was cool, so that was a plus. I chose to move to Quebec City, to work for what had become my main freelance client. Another outsourcing studio, Volta.
Being in their studio did not work for me. I became an AD for them and even though i learned tons, i really did not like it there, so i stayed only one year.

Yes i am the one year wonder....

Until i found a job with Beenox Activision. Worked on an Old Man Logan game that got cancelled. Best project ever so it's cancelation hit me really hard. Good. It was a great lesson. I had a great AD   ( happens to be my CEO and creative director now), he pushed me really hard, and i improved a lot. Then we did some Spiderman game and some skylanders stuff. Not my kind of thing....I was mainly photobashing back then especially for environments on Spidey. And this is when i realised that photobashing had become my crutch. And that no matter how i trained, my foundations skills sucked big time. STILL. Without the right photo....i was useless.
Dont get me wrong i was still very productive, fast, and had crazy ideas all the time. Those things were my strength. But even so, i was extremelly behind, struggling when i did not find the right photos and compared to the rest of the artists at CGHUB... The posting plateform back then...i was bad. So i started working like crazy on my time again, for like six months. Non stop. Building my skills, at night and weekends, no vacations etc.

And i dont know how but i nailed a lead job at Ubi Montreal for Farcry 4.
(I later realized that no one in Montreal wanted to work with that team and that AD, so basically they needed a pigeon from outside town, to fall for the offer ;) ) That was me yo !

Enter the Senior years; FINALLY ! 4+ and counting.
1 year at Ubi Mtl, learned tons again, did just characters, and lead a team of concept artists. I also found a nice art atelier, with a good teacher. To pratice my foundation skills...FINALLY !

So every saturday no matter what...i was there for a full day, drawing traditionaly and painting with oils, from life, objects, still life studies, and live model studies. With pencils, charcoal and oils. Long studies, no gesture exercises, no speed painting, no rough paintings, just hard core ultra rendered extremely long studies, sometimes 8 days for 1 study... and this is considered short in fine art.

That changed my art and gave me a tremendous boost. I would work traditionaly on saturday, go to work on FC4 during the week and then at night and on sundays, i would work on my personal stuff, trying to use digitally what i had learned traditionaly. I did that for a year and a half, oh and i was also freelancing for Applibot during that whole year, but eventually i left Ubi when i got my permanent residence.

I set up shop as a fulltime freelancer.  And got the best three years of my life and my career.

Out of nowhere, i was getting offers every month regurlarly, and in peak seasons, what i call hunting season, i would sometimes get 3-4 offers per week. Clients where calling me for my art, and i realized i had a good reputation, so my soft skills and professionalism were paying off. So was my intensive traditional training. Most of the ingredients were there and i could feel the huge difference in my art. The change had finally come and the career i had worked so hard for, was begining.

For those crazy intense and busy freelance years, i worked on many projects, mainly realistic visuals because that is what i have in my portfolio. I used ALL technics and ALL processes. I worked on many different genres too. Horror, post apocaliptic, historical, shooters, scifi.... you name it. And i did visuals that were fully digital 2d, no photos, no 3d. Some others were 3d plus digital paint, some fully photobashed, some a mix of the three...again you name it. I learned a bunch of softwares because that has become a sort of hobby of mine, and i have a lot of fun trying to fit them in my pipeline. Because....i want to..not because my clients need that. My clients have no clue what tool and process i used to create the visuals, they cant tell the difference. Anyways, as long as they are happy, why should they care.

Conclusion:
In my to do list of softwares to learn and implement in my workflow i have .... more or less 5. And i will get to them. But no matter how many softwares you know, if your foundation skills are not at the appropriate level, it wont matter. Your visuals will look bad. Period.

I am extremely fortunate that i can choose who i work with and choose how i create my concepts. And i know many people in similar positions. Like i said i will provide different examples of artists, to make sure you understand the following. Technics and tools do not matter.

What are the common denominators ? The ingredients that you keep on finding in these peoples careers and art?

Hard Work, Consistency, and Discipline
Solid Foundation Skills
A Clear Direction

What is a clear direction ? They know who they are, what they want, and where they are headed.

Saying that photobashing ( or any technic)  is more important/better, than  another...is as retarded as saying that using a round  brush is better than a square brush. A technic is a tool, it is a way to get where you want to go. A 2B pencil or photobashing? No difference. The difference is you, your design sense, your foundation skills and the passion that you have for your visuals. What will you make with that 2B pencil? What will you make with those photos. I dont care, no one cares...but it better be damn good.

At the begining of your career, those first 2-4 years depending, you will obviously try to learn as much and try to deliver what your client needs. On your spare time, you will work hard to get where you want to be. And slowly but surely if you are consistent, you will get there. And you will be able to choose your clients and projects. Eventually.

So for now, try to have a Clear Direction, be patient, if a teacher tells you do this or that, say yes teacher, to be polite and give away a pro attitude...and kill it during your spare time.  Same with clients. At the begining beggars can't be choosers. If you have a preference for scifi or for fantasy or whatever, and hate doing the other, or if you are forced to photobash and feel like dying inside, well turn it around, own that scifi project you hate, and own that technic you do not want to use....those are learning tools ! Try and learn as much as possible because when you go back to the genre and technics you like...what you learned on the others will make you a stronger and better artist.

Work hard to have the luxury of choice. Work harder to have more choices than the person next to you. Because you can be sure, many of us are grinding away right now while you are not.

Hope you find some useful info here or that it helps you be less afraid of choices. And less worried about technics. If you found the post was too long, well you are not reading enough. Last week, I started reading my second novel this month.