The Concept Creative Process?

[Grooveholmes]

Can some of you guys share some of your concept 'tricks' if you have any? Kind of like the theory behind coming up with this stuff. Is there a particular process you go through? Mad amounts of thumbnails? Brainstorming methods? Concentrating on a certain story-line elements?

I'm just curious as to how some of you go about it(creative process). My school didn't even offer any kind of classes devoted to concept stuff. They were pretty much like, "Uhhh, do it."

J
:chug:

[chris]

most of my ideas come from the time i spend waiting to fall asleep. i just start creating situations and ideas in my head and let them all mishmash together... if my imagination develops a cool looking character/situation i take it in my mind and develop the look of the idea further. when i think i have an idea worthy of putting on paper, i do rough sketches/thumbnails to get the idea down. then when i have time i finish it.

or... just doodle around. i have plenty of finished pieces that started from drawing a weird looking face.

chris

[Deth Jester]

Creative process..

Well, I am not an expert but Ill give it a hack.

I have 2 ways I dot things. One is the hectic way.. the other is the precision way.. depends on how much time I have.. how devoted to the project I am.. etc.. I am not a proffessional, and I dont do art for a living.. I did graphic design,web design, and desktop publishing.. but its pretty much the same approach..

Hectic Way:

1. Figure out what the hell Im concepting for.. *reason* *what it is going to be used for* *who is my target audience* *basic things.. the WHo, what ,when, where, why, and how's*
2. Gather information, references, anything that remotely has to do with what Im working on..
3. Go over the info, familiarize myself with it...
3. Start to develope..(with this comes many things.. For instance if it is just a charecter concept... then I try a bunch of poses.. outfits...etc... do a lot of 3-4 inch thumnails.. then I pick the best one and work it as far as it needs to go... Sometimes I find myself not likeing it, so I go with the runner up...

Precise way:

1.Figure out what Im concepting
2. Do some warmup sketches if I havent done any art that day
3. have at it straight from my mind.

Im not sure exactly what you are looking for, but I hope I could help.

But a good way to look at creative process is just look at it light creating anything else or doing something, for instance, a term paper, or rebuilding your computer cause it crashed and wont boot..

*shrugs* hope I didnt confuse you

good luck

peace.

[rubygenesis]

Hey thats a good question. for me its just a passion, eventually i would like to publish a graphic novel, and i've been slowly piecing together a story line for years. but the best part is imagining the world,creatures,and characters that would exist in this story. here is where i derive most of my ideas from concept to colored work.:)

[Grooveholmes]

Just giving this one a lil *bump* to see if anyone else has any brilliance to drop on us.

[gekitsu]

that's an interesting topic :)

for me, the main difference is if i'm designing for something with a fixed topic like: design a car that blablabla...
then, i search for reference, try to get a bit of a feel for the subject matter and gather ideas, as well as knowledge what generally used approaches are, what has been done, what is the breaking news etc... just what i find without getting bored. :)
then, i gather ideas usually with small thumbnails (and i mean really small... about 1-2 inches) and see what develops.
once i stumble over some cool elements that could make a fine design, i start fine-tuning, adding details and so on...

other way is i see something and think: wow, that made a freakin' cool blablabla. then, i start sketching blablabla's right away :)

[Darrell Bowman]

it was sid mead who said he starts with the enviroment first then puts the product into the enviroment ie cars then he puts the figures in around the car and the activity that going on.

so think of the enviroment first.

also think if i could have any painting i want what would that be. sometimes we go to the fridge say there is nothing to eat
but if i say to my self if i could anything right now what would i
like to eat ie chinnese food ( i know i know) then i find a bit of rice some left over vegtables etc.

hope this helps

[Grooveholmes]

Good advice Darrell. Basically to keep it simple. At least in the beginning anyways. I always seem to get ahead of myself and complicate things too much. Meads advice is good too, very practicle.

Thanks.:D