Comments on: I need a concept artist

By: matt

matt — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 19:22:24 +0000

I have booked a block of time tonight (seeing as Cocoaheads is postponed) to sit down and try drawing something. I don’t know how it will work out. I’ve spent years telling myself I cant draw when I think really I didn’t WANT to draw, I just wanted to write. I don’t know whether I can draw. I do suffer from the “not knowing when to stop” in drawing and art (I enjoy sculpting beeswax….but I think that may be illegal in some countries).

We’ll see what tonight brings. Maybe nothing.

I got in two quotes for art so far and both of them were in the hundreds of dollars range so commissioned work is out of the question until things are a little more concrete in my head. I’ll be working on drawing tonight, then system for the rest of the week on a game that I wrote in 2001, listed on the ideas page as “Rex”

By: mabmorrigan

mabmorrigan — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 19:12:45 +0000

Aidan’s right. This time, anyway.

Just sit down and try. I know that one of the ways I draw (and I’m not bad at it) is pulling up a picture on the internet that I think has good angle and definition and “feel”, and then I use that as my base and change what I like on it… hair, clothing, adding scales or spikes, etc. Boris Vallejo is very detailed at musculature and pose; if you can get the base form down, the rest will superimpose (with lots of erasing if necessary).

And honestly, I don’t think the subject of payment should enter into this right now. We blog because we love this subject, artists (esp. rp rendering artists) draw because they love the medium and subject matter. It’s about name recognition. It’s about a cause. And it’s a thing you can likely do yourself. I don’t know… I’m not saying you CAN’T pay someone, but I’d rather involve people who do it for the love of it. Name recognition and having your stuff seen is quite a bit of “payment” right there, IMO.

By: matt

matt — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 14:03:56 +0000

Trouble is, I used to be not bad at drawing. In university I would dismember small animals and draw their bits and pieces which incredible detail. Hence, I reckon that if I can dissect it, I can draw it.

Going to be a bit tough for “in character” pics….of humans and 8-foot tall lizard men….

By: Aidan

Aidan — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 08:25:46 +0000

You can get better at drawing you know. It just takes time and practice. That’s why they teach it at schools.

It’s not quite the same, but while I worked for GW, I had to paint miniatures. When I started, I wasn’t terribly good. By the time I stopped working there, my miniatures were painted to almost “magazine” standard.

Drawing is the same. Any artist will tell you there are rules you can learn which will help you draw things to perspective, get people shapes correct, etc. Being really good is hard, but being competent just takes time.