Snowball effect of problems. ):

[vSanjo]

Hey guys.

First off the bat; It's mentally annoying that my first post here is one that I wish I didn't have to post. .__.

Before you .. skip to the next thread, i'll just make this clear beforehand. ;3
This isn't a 'I have no inspiration' or 'I don't know how to draw xxxx, show me' thread. I think it's a much bigger perspective.

Here's as much as I can write out without sleeping. (:

I've always been a fan of creating my own places, animals, people, weapons, etcetc. This was from a young age (probably around 5-ish. When Pokemon was starting to hit.), but I don't think my skills were nurtured.
I have alot of confidence issues, and moving schools frequently (Think 2-3 schools a year for a good 4 years), really burnt my confidence down to a nub. Skip forward 'till I was about 14~15, when I was in an Art class in High School and I just couldn't finish an piece without it feeling terrible and like I could do better. From about age 7-14 I hadn't really drawn much because of the same reason.

ANYWAY. Trying to keep this from being a sob story. .__.;

So, moved to Australia from UK, which was a major kick in the balls too - and because I had about 1.5 years left in high school, I wasn't allowed to take an art class. THIS frustrated me, to the point that I tried 'shifting' my career options from art-related to a number of things.

So I went to University after leaving High School to a programming class that didn't work out at all. After I left that last year on my 18th birthday, I've had a while to ferment over what I want to do with my life and how I want to go about it.

I want to be a concept artist. I KNOW getting a job as one in Australia is like finding a needle in a haystack. I KNOW competition over this is already fierce. I'm not bothered. For me, doing a job I can wake up, get out of bed and ENJOY my job is far more rewarding than buying a Mercedes and driving home to my mansion made of Unicorn tears.

This comes to the start of the many problems I have. ANY, and I mean any help on one or five of these problems would be a major leap forward and would deserve a hug. Even crack an egg of experience on me. I don't care, I just need direction right now and a (friendly) truthful outlook.

Firstly; The University course (http://handbook.ecu.edu.au/CourseStructure.asp?disyear=2008&CID=971&USID=2178&Ver=6&HB=HB&SC=UG)I was planning on taking requires a portfolio. I've not seen this page in a while, and from when I found and saved it, to now, I think it might be the wrong one for me now, but that's not important right now. What IS important is the portfolio part.
1. My skills are less than favorable. I'm not a BAD artist. I can draw things from life very well, and that's coming from a guy who's very self-conscious. However, I definitely don't have the skills required to put a portfolio together, and i'm almost terrified I won't be able to 'get' them the level required. I'm not 100% on what i'd require as a concept artist, but I do know I atleast need considerable PS skills. I would say I don't have them either yet.

Secondly; I don't know of any ways to develop these skills, whatever they be. I by NO MEANS want to 'fast track' my way to being good at art. I know that's impossible, and the perfect artist is never attainable, but I really don't know what skills I need to train, and how. I know concept artists aren't limited to environments, and I know they aren't always limited to just Photoshop. However, I'm hazarding a guess I WON'T need to master using charcoal (don't like using it. ;3), or master human anatomy to within a hairline of photorealism. Handy, and definitely something I'll find myself looking into, and over, and over, and over, once I have the 'primary' skills, but not right now.

I know 'practice' is the general answer here, and I know it works.. However, I'm looking to learn the SKILLS to practice with. i.e; drawing 'eggs' for heads, or 'correct' shading techniques, or anything like that.

Thirdly; There's a 3rd problem, I just.. can't really get my head around it right now into a describable issue.


I've tried to link together similar issues, so you don't get bored halfway with dealing with other people's problems. However, I can honestly say that even posting terrible drawings on dA, and reading other comments from people here, people are just incredibly nice and supportive. In a way that I seriously never expected, and has sanded down the rough edges of my confidence. ;3 I guess that's what happens when the people you grow up with are depressing, pessimistic and generally cruel people. :/

tldr.

I have GOOD basic skills. Drawing from life w/ pencil, shading, and 'ok' perspective skills. I can tell when things are wrong, but usually have trouble fixing them if they're beyond my skill level.
I need to get more skills leaning heavily towards being a concept artist, and have them honed well enough to get into a university course next year w/ a portfolio.

But I swear to whatever god/deity/cat/pencil you believe in. I am hell-bent on becoming a successful concept artist, and now I have a 'clear' direction in life, nooothing will break that up. I just need a violent kick in the right direction.

If you managed to read all this and not give a damn, i'm still thankful you took the time. Most people wouldn't.
If you DO give a damn, then please throw anything at me. I'll take anything right now.

Thanks so much.

David. ;3

[Elwell]

Firstly; The University course (http://handbook.ecu.edu.au/CourseStructure.asp?disyear=2008&CID=971&USID=2178&Ver=6&HB=HB&SC=UG)I was planning on taking requires a portfolio. I've not seen this page in a while, and from when I found and saved it, to now, I think it might be the wrong one for me now, but that's not important right now. What IS important is the portfolio part.
1. My skills are less than favorable. I'm not a BAD artist. I can draw things from life very well, and that's coming from a guy who's very self-conscious. However, I definitely don't have the skills required to put a portfolio together, and i'm almost terrified I won't be able to 'get' them the level required.
Forget all the other stuff. If you are halfway decent at drawing from life, you have exactly the skills required to put a portfolio together: that's what people are looking for in a school entrance portfolio. All the other fancy technical stuff is what you're presumably going to school to lean how to do.

[Ilaekae]

Elwell hit it on the head. Don't worry about what MIGHT happen, good or bad. Worry about now.

You have skills of varying degrees that you seem intelligent enough to recognize as immediately useful or not. You seem to have had a lot of "life change" experience that most people your age didn't. So...play to your strengths. Do what you do best NOW, and use what you have had access to SO FAR, to get some portfolio pieces together. Don't try to beat the shit out of Android or any of the other people in the masthead above, because you'll just get frustrated and look like a complete dream-land idiot to the interviewer.

Just make it as clear as you can when you go in with your portfolio pieces that you KNOW you're capable enough, with time and help, to someday meet these pros head on and be able to score points.

If I were looking at your portfolio, I would want to see that you SHOW promise/potential and YOU know it, and it won't be a waste of time and resources to help you out with an education and guidance.

Concentrate on what you can do NOW. The future will automatically take care of itself, one way or another...

[CCThrom]

Just to reinforce what's being said... your current task is to get IN to the university. University admittance portfolios are different than professional portfolios. They will not expect you to have a professional portfolio NOW. That's what you will presumably be learning while you're AT the university.

Granted some universities are tougher to get into than others, but none of them will expect your portfolio to look like a polished professional's portfolio before you enter the school. What you've done so far should be enough (for now).

[TASmith]

Drawing from observation is important, but more important is showing you can work hard. I'd suggest you start a sketchbook on this website. Those of us here can suggest themes to explore for a portfolio, which pieces might be best, and we'll see firsthand how good you are, and how hardworking you are. If you win the consensus here, it should build your confidence in the real world - worked like a charm for Alpenflegger (check his sketchbook).

There's no "get skilled quick" trick, but there are books you can study, like Bridgeman's anatomy books. I've been warned against this approach by some fine artists because afterwards, you don't "draw like yourself, you draw like someone else, with all their mistakes" But Bridgeman's books are very, very good, and with enough time, your drawings will look like your own again, just better. You can look them up free to download online. Human anatomy is a must for concept art.

Besides anatomy, you should know portraiture, building and vehicle design, some creature design. Try it all. Lean perspective. Draw as much from life as possible, see if there are some figure drawing courses or groups near you. Self Portrait day's coming up Nov 1st, so why not start practicing for that?

[Black Spot]

I agree with the comments posted. Start a SB and post the pictures you have problems with in the critique section (one at a time). If you want to be a concept artist you might have to rethink about your attitude to anatomy.

[Flake]

The previous posters are bang on about the "drawing from life looks good in entrance portfolio" thing.

If I could pick only one thing likely to get you admitted to most art schools, a portfolio of half decent drawing and painting from life would be that thing..

Do a bunch of that to the best of your ability, you should be fine.

[vSanjo]

Wow! Thank you everyone!

I'm so grateful for the advice, and seeing as most of you said the same thing, it's probably useless replying to each one individually. :P But know that i'm grateful.

So I've learnt to just draw from life like there's no tomorrow. That I can do. That I know I can do well.
Looking at that course, it doesn't really go into concept art that much (one unit, I think?) so I might look into something more artistic and less 3D modelling and whatnot. But for the sake of this thread let's just stick with it. ;3

Also, I need to get some books/e-books on anatomy, portraiture, building and vehicle design, and a little creature design?

What i'm not always sure of is how skills develop. Like I said before, I have to understand how something works, and why it works to be able to fully devote myself to it. I'm not like 'Well, that's stupid so im not going to do that' - i'll still practice my ass off, but until I know how screwing up 100 PS paintings or drawing from life a few hundred times truly works, then I won't feel i'm truly improving. I don't care if I know im only improving 'once every week' or something silly, so long as I KNOW this.

Again, thank you so much for the advice already. I'm still looking for more! ;D

I'll edit this if nobody replies in a few hours, im in a rush right now.

[TASmith]

I don't know many books to recommend, but I do know there's a lot on this site. You can look up a thread called "conceptart 101" with many creative exercises to try. There are also the videos you can download on this site - see at the top. They're all very high quality and long. I've bought a couple and I'm very happy with them. And, all of the artists who make those videos: Djurdjevic, Dos Santos, Dobsky, Remillard - they also have threads in the Finally Finished section and Sketchbook section. So check those out! Also check out pretty much every 5 star sketchbook thread and see what you can learn from that - especially cicinimo's and min yum's (bumskee). Take a look at all those options - it's months of content, mostly free.

[vSanjo]

I'll look into the videos and books on this site, but right now I definitely don't have the money to invest in them. Same with courses elsewhere. ):

HOWEVER; I know there's a few free ones too! That's great, but I also have How To Draw Manga 'Bodies and Anatomy' - When I bought it, I wondered why the only thing related to manga/anime in it, was the fact that the bodies were stripped of skin, except a giant manga head. Weirded me out, but any idea if they're worth using, or should I just look for a real one?
Looking at them, they seem okay, I haven't really read a 'real' one, but im hoping this will do. (:

I think it's time to get to the library, too.

[TASmith]

Never touch a manga anatomy book. I've only ever seen one artist use a manga construction system successfully, and thats the cartoonist Tracy Butler: http://tracyjb.deviantart.com/art/Lackadaisy-How-to-Draw-34701897

What you want is this: http://www.archive.org/details/constructiveanat00briduoft

[dierat]

I would say, try to focus on the basics first and conquer those. Learn anatomy, perspective, value, and color. Don't worry about creature or vehicle design just yet. If you master human anatomy, you can use that knowledge as a building block for other types of creatures. If you master perspective and drawing from a reference, you can use those tools to draw vehicles, cityscapes, etc.

For your school portfolio, drawing from life is always a winner. Do self-portraits, still lifes, try to get a landscape or two in there. See if you can get some friends or family members to sit for you so you can get some lifedrawing too. Generally schools would like for your portfolio to be a bit varied, to show that you're trying to branch out and learn new things, so try to have a bit of range in the pieces you choose.

Btw there's a subforum on this site all about art schools: http://conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=15
(be sure to check out the stickied threads at the top, like the one linking to free art e-books)

And there are lots of articles out there with advice for developing your portfolio (just googling 'art school portfolio' will get you a bunch, like this one: http://www.artschools.com/articles/portfolio/ )

[vSanjo]

Sorry, would like to just update on my problems, and give this link;
My Sketchbook (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2490776).

:3

But thanks again for all replies, keep them coming! :D Either here, or in my new Sketchbook.

@dierat; Thankyou for the links! I've read through alot and they're definitely useful but not just yet, I think. Once i'm better and believe the art I do is portfolio-worthy. :)