IDW - Activity Discussion

[Legato]

hate to be the dissension in this discussion but time and time again, a good compositional render with environment win over pure industrial design. thats not all bad - its really pushing me into presentation, but i wonder if we are talking about two different kinds of industrial design

there is of course the ID used to produce, and market real items, for instance the x4000 m battle wagon by undead industries where you would have a product page and the like, and than lonely concept art, used for the game industry, only seen by the 3d modelers and art director, which is only there to convey a working design that will eventually be seen, used or shot at by the main character.

since its the latter form of concept art i am lusting over getting a job for its what i want these activities to focus me to a sharp edge on, but i still really don't know what will be expected of me - and ultimately need to get better at environments anyway

in my opinion - in regards to the clock and time table - i have the fortune of getting massive amounts of time to do this project, i budget myself time-wise and only have a finite amount of time before i graduate and want to stock my portfolio with as much quality stuff as i can. personally i would really thrive with a deadline that is to the day with a +/- 2-3 hour deadline because for instance on this last topic i had basically 2 days where i was 'done' and really really wanted to keep the wheels spun up so i could hit the ground moving, instead i had to fill my time with other things, while not bad, was kinda irksome in regards to my desired order!

[yoitisi]

Legato: It is, indeed, the 2nd option we're talking about here. However, for a convincing and believable design one often needs knowledge of how things work and how things look, which is basicly part of the first. We are not designing products that actually need to be produced, which makes live a lot easier for concept artists

Also, it is true a lot of people here vote for the image they like most, not design as such. I suppose this is natural, but you've got to remember that if your design is worked into a 3d model and used in a game or movie, it can't carry its background and stuff around through the process anyway. That is why I want to push you all to focus on the design first.

As for the deadline, I understand it can be annoying now and again, but I've got a life too I'm not sure if the 'clock' idea would work, but I'm thinking of a way to make it more regular.

[form2function]

Well, to begin with, I personally see ID as an extension of Concept Design. In concept work you take a piece up to a certain point and then let others worry about the details. In ID, you continue along the product's road all the way to production. They're not really seperate paths to me, one is just a stop along the other's road. At least when it comes to objects, which is what we're studying in IDW. Of course as Concept Designer has to study more than just objects, which is why we have other areas of focus here like environment, character, creature, etc.

However, also keep in mind that presentation, composition, and aspects such as environment and/or characters are all seperate issues.

Presentation has to do with the overall feel of, well.. your presentation. It includes your design, your composition/layout, your text, and everything else that comes with it. Could even include hand-outs that you give out to those you're presenting to. Composition, for me, mainly has to do with the spatial organization of the various elements included in your presentation as well as your design. It defines the focus, and leads the eye along the path you want it to follow. Aspects such as the visual hierarchy of various elements come heavily into play here. And then you have any settings that you integrate your design into, if at all. That's where the environment and so forth come into play.

Traditionally in a presentation you have at least two pages, one that details the technical side of your product and another that's more "situational" and can include placing the product in an environment and so forth. Call it the money shot if you will. That's where you use your rendering cycles for the 3d models, pull out all the stops on your painting technique, and so forth.

In IDW we only get one page to work with, and for me I usually try and combine both aspects into it as best as I can. A money shot alone will leave the viewers wondering how the hell it works or what that little shiny bit on the upper right side of the design is, etc. And a technical page alone will leave them lusting for more razzle dazzle.

I think for our IDW entries, the order of priority should go something like design -> presentation -> environment/characters/creatures. You don't really need to create the Mona Lisa to have a powerful and effective presentation of your design. Even without a detailed render, if you organize the information you have and tie it all together well, you can create a more powerful end image than someone with just say a money shot.

Want to see what I mean? Go check out my entry for the #50 maintenance droid round. I pulled that little guy completely out of my ass since I caught it on the last day. He was overly simplistic and lacked all that wonderful detail that all the other entries had. However, by creating a strong presentation for him (I feel) he was able to stand alongside all the other great entries at least without seeming out of place. He wasn't any great winner, nor did I expect him to, but try and picture how bad he'd look if it was just him on a page. The point is, presentation can make a huge impact on your work, both positive and negative. So for me it's more important that an idea is well presented than well decorated. But the most important part will always be the design itself.

Now as far as what you should be working on towards your future as a concept designer... Pretty much all of it, really. And by that I mean everything, your industrial designs, your environment designs, your character and creature designs, your style and visual language, your composition and presentation, your skill in different software and design techniques... All of it. Concept designers are probably the only design profession that even more broad in the amount of subjects you need to tackle than industrial designers. In ID you need to run both sides of the brain at 100%, but in concept design you need to run the left at 100% and the right at 500%.

So if you feel lacking in a particular area, then by all means try and integrate it into your IDW entries. Or try and focus on it entirely by taking on challenges in that specific area. Though I find it easier to break into a new territory when I combine it with something I already know and love. Sort of like adding sugar to the medicine.

[yoitisi]

form2function: Again, usefull stuff. I think I need to refine my earlier words by saying that while the main focus of an IDW entry has to be on design, the presentation of it helps to sell it of course. However, I consider the optional environment, characters or creatures as a means to present the idea. There are simpler ways to present it, which prevents people from putting to much time in a full background painting and forgetting about their design.

Also, I cannot totally agree when you say that Industrial Design is only an extension of Concept design. Their are similarities but also a lot of differences. For instance, in conceptart you don't have think about production processes at all, while with any Industrial Design it might be highly advisable to do so already in the first stages. There are more issues to deal with like that, and they all influence your design. Since you don't have to do this for concept art, you end up with different approaches I think.

[form2function]

There are definitely differences. And I agree to an extent with you. However, to play devil's advocate, I would argue that there are also production issues to at the very least consider if not directly deal with. A concept artist might not need to worry about factory production, but a good one does keep in the back of their head the limitations of the medium that their concept will be carried into. In theory it's nice to think that we can let our imaginations run completely free without any regard to the production. But the designers that do that, at best, see large parts of their work utterly butchered when it reaches the hands of the 3D artists, costume designers, set designers, and so forth. Yes, it's a given that the concept will be distilled into workable application, but keeping some of that in mind while creating your design makes the difference between a smooth production that hits its deadlines and shines in its results and.. well, being cursed by everyone that has to translate your ideas after your create them.

It also depends highly on what you're hired to create. There's a big difference on how repercussion-free you can be when designing the overall stylistic feel of a project and when you designing something like a particular piece of armor or a vehicle. If you're creating a style or visual language, practical reality is largely out the window and that's definitely an area where concept design differs greatly from industrial design. But when you're conceptualizing an object, that object will have to be produced in some fashion. It's not your job to know how to do it, but it is your job to keep in mind that someone else will have to do it. And that becomes even more crucial when you're working in the movie industry, as opposed to the game industry, where often your designs will have to be made into physical props and sets by standard manufacturing processes.

So. Yes, I agree there's a big difference. And my analogy is fairly simplistic and not meant to account for the finer differences. But there are also similarities that often designers just coming into or thinking about coming into the business aren't prepared for and end up learning the hard way. I think it's good to consider that earlier than later.

[grenogs]

A very interesting discussion you got going there guys, i would say something but i'm obviously out of my depth here, myself coming from a totaly different art background. But thanks for this, i've probably learned more from this one discussion than the whole time(approx 5 months) of following IDW and looking at all the images here on a weekly basis. I dont know if thats a good thing or a bad thing, but anyway cheers guys, much apretiated.

[yoitisi]

form2function: You actually managed to change my view on this subject slightly, so thanks for that. You know, I was wanting to put some of the things we mentioned here on the banner or somewhere, but seeing the amount of text we produced (especially you ) I think it's best if I just redirect anyone with questions about it to this thread.

Grenogs: Any contribution is welcome, espcially since I (and I think form2function as well) am from an Industrial Design background, so hearing it from someone with a different background provides us with a different view. Also, while we discussed the what and why here, the how is still up to you and is best learned from examples and own experience.

[form2function]

Yoitisi: Yeah, I'm a long-winded bastard, I know. I kinda like the intro you came up with though, it keeps things light. And it's hard to condense such a broad and complex topic into bullet points. Plus keeping it in the thread keeps the discussion going. And yes, I'm mainly coming into it from an ID background as well (if the name doesn't give it away), so my views are definitely skewed to that. Sort of.

Grenogs (and everyone else): I'll second Yoitisi's request, jump right in. The more varied the views, the better. I don't think any of us currently active in this little section are uber-professional concept designers, so we're all sort of exploring our way into it. The good thing is we all appear to be learning.

[ScaryPotato]

yoitisi made mention of a couple of things in the thread for the bio-mechanical tattoo gun about boosting what goes on here at IDW, and here is my response to it (which I originally posted in that thread itself, my mistake!):

"Although I haven't taken part in IDW too much lately, I do lurk around and see what's happening and do think it's getting better as far as the entries are concerned. I wonder if there is a simple way to glorify IDW though, because I'm pretty sure everyone does the COWs and CHOWs since they seem more exciting and attention-grabbing. A Spanish High Inquisitor is a pretty rockin' topic, but what would be be without somekind of crucifix or bible? I'm sort of straying from my idea...anyhow, I do think some links to related themes would really help, first thing that comes to mind is this site:
http://www.drawthrough.com/
and maybe even www.ryanchurch.com although he's got lots of enviromental stuff too.
Getting even FURTHER off topic, there is a whole lot of stuff that never even touch since this forum is strictly for industiral design, but what if it was expanded to all forms of prop design?"

Expanding more on that thought, the name itself would fit in a little closer to the other forums, POW! Plus, opening it up to completely different topics from week to week might really be interesting....a cluster of mushrooms one week and then a towering observation post the next week... so that's my two cents

[Trashy]

Okay I'm just going to throw some things out there regarding getting more people to come to IDW. I dunno if any of these suggestions will be useful but take of it what you will I guess.

Well, I think first there are some people who are just afraid when it comes to industrial or anything that involves a more technical side to drawing. Haha...I know I am but when it comes down to the designing bit it's quite a blast actually.

I think the main bit is main just advertise IDW more. You can always take some of the recent pieces you thought were pretty exceptional and post them in the finished section just to show more people what we are up to if you can. I notice that Fozzybar, Oregano often or used to make it around to sketch books and people interested in making monsters or characters and leave comments and also sometimes mention the weekly activities to them. It's just a other way of bringing more awareness to the activity. I know it's a little bit of a chore but it might help. There are plenty of people here who I think would be interested in these activities, but just simply aren't too aware of it or bother checking it. Just bring more attention to it really.

In terms of topics choosing, well industrial design can be pretty broad really. I think the main thing you have to ask yourself is why certain topics were more successful then others. Why did the tank topic have the most entries ever in IDW? One reason I think is it is something that a lot of us know. Who doesn't know a tank? Right? That and well...it blows stuff up. In terms of industrial design warfare is a big deal in that category. Theres just soooooo much you can take from there. I'm not saying make it all about weapons but maybe do some research on them more and maybe have a topic each month dealing with designing a weapon...possibly??? Wouldn't it be cool to re-design something like "Thor's Hammer". Er...okay...I'm rambling here, but maybe you might get what I'm saying past the gibberish. Back on topic of the tank, a other thing that helped that topic is really good reference material was posted as well. People were able to get a good idea of possibly approaching the topic. reference material always get the creative juices flowing more. I would encourage people to post reference material and if you could find something for each topic more it might get more people involved. Again, it's more chore work...but it might help. I know I could make it a point to post more stuff like that and anybody else involved in the activities. It probably wouldn't be too hard.

The best thing is to keep the topic always fun and approachable. Observe a lot of work being put into movies and video games now of days too. Look at the work being done in games like Warcraft, Halo, Half-life, Soul Caliber, Starcraft, Gears of War. Were does industrial design fall into those? Think of the topics that could be used from them also.

Ummm...anyway hope that helps. I said my peace and rambled alot

[yoitisi]

ScaryPotato: About your first point, I suspect your right that COW and CHOW seem more exciting. Then again, what is a main battle tank less than a high inquisitor? The thing with the topics is, that prop design pretty much is IDW stuff. Any tips for a prop design we don't really handle here yet in your opinion, I'd like to hear them but post them in the suggestion thread so I won't forget them when looking for inspiration Not sure if changing the topic radically to the borders of what IDW is would really help though, as it has been done before and people started complaining it was too much EOW.

Trashy: Thanks for the links first of all, I think I should have to find a way to do a little more with those links than just gather them in a thread. Need to spend some time figuring something out there I suppose Lately, I started getting more active on the Sketchbook forum (although not making such obvious advertisement for IDW), so I might be able to do some advertisement over there. Then, the warfare side of IDW is very cool and all and I know it is by far the most popular topic around here, but it is not all IDW is about. In my mind, doing too much military topics will probably attract more people but will also dampen the creative spirit around here as most people grab an idea that has already been thought of and make their own design of it. Nothing bad with that, but IDW is also about thinking of a real original solution for a problem. I do, by the way, try to think of examples in movies and games when I come up with topics. The problem with that is the same as with military themes, it doesn't always make people do the most original idea. I think the cutlery topic was a succes, while you probably wouldn't really see that in a game. Anyway, thanks for the input, it gave me some inspiration already.

So, I got some suggestions of my own but I have to think them through a little bit more: First, would it help if I started a mentoring thread? Trashy mentioned that some people might be scared to do industrial stuff and technical drawings (and I suspect he's right in that aspect), and since I teach in daily life anyway I might be able to get some people to step over their fears It would also help to give IDW some more advertisement I guess. Second suggestion: more tutorials? I myself am not a big fan of those as they often teach the more advanced stuff first but forget the basics, but again it might help people when trying to do technical stuff.

Anyway, keep the suggestions coming so we can make IDW big

[Legato]

quick question, and i hate to sound blunt, but do we really want more people to the point where we alter our concepts to taylor to them? people do the popular ones i think because the feel like they are good at them - and i don't know about you guys but i take pride in knowing that i am one of the few that is into this certain niche of concept art. now when i post stuff to my DA gallery i'll always explain the the IDW group and link to the thread, but im willing to bet that anybody who participates in any one of the activities knows that we are here.

i really enjoy the mixed bag of art, even though some of it isn't as fun as the rest, im using this as one of my primary exercises to get good enough to do this for a living. and its been said to death, but the fact of the matter is one day you will be creating a main battle tank and the next day you are making a crate... you gotta do it all!

in regards to tough critique/mentorship, i can't speak for form2function but he has been a vital instrument in my development as of late, and thats just on AIM. and while our core group fluctuates (heck i've only been doing this for a few months with any sort of consistency) i still think in terms of critique we need to be significantly harder on ourselves. there have already been some tussles about constructive critique, and unless we can let go of our art, nothing much will come of it... steering your talent in regards to the yes and no of a vote isn't going to get you anywhere, you gotta get into the meat of it in the comments.

in regards to tutorials some of the best things i have ever learned have come about recently from iain mccaig dvds, and an entire year of my life was spent using painter because of a ryan church tutorial, so i personally find screen cap stuff very valuable, but that being said, my fundamentals are crippled retard babies and nothing but going back and buffing out that unrefined core is going to change that.

last note, theres a wip thread in the main forums, but it might be nice to get something more industrially focused... like a wip group, or forum that only focuses on industrial design - not rendering etc... that can be very subjective but like fantasy art that involves alien anatomy there still is a wrong even if there isn't a right

[Trashy]

Haha...no prob with the links...I know I sorta piled them on though..

Oh about the warfare stuff, topics. Ignore that, no it is very important to keep the topics different for everyone, I sentenced that wrong. That was just a tangent. Me typing without really thinking

It's true, you can't just be doing tanks, battle droids and all that stuff all the time. Industrial design has a massive range of topics and it's so broad. It does boil down to real simple crates as Legato mentioned sometimes. Heck, did you see the phone link...practically insane!!! The main thing is just keeping it fun and interesting. There is plenty you can do with a crate. Just make it fun, it could be a specialized crate that holds top secret weapons(argh, stop using weapons!), or killer Pokemon critters...to just shoes for that matter. Just leave it really open to the imagination. I think that's why the cutlery worked because it did leave a lot of it to your imagination. You could pretty much go anywhere with it and it's such a common household item too. We use it day in and day out.

In regards to critiques, very important. The critique's given in the tank topic were the best I'd ever seen. I would go as far to say they were even better then the one's on any other activities I've seen also. So yeah, having nice critique sessions like the one's during the poll are important. I understand what your saying Legato in terms of getting into the meat of our comments and ourselves. We do have to look at what we do with a objective eye.

Tutorials are a crop shoot with many. Plenty can get a lot out of them but mostly if you want to improve you gotta do it yourself and practice tons. I say that if somebody made a piece they really liked in one of the topics and saved the steps and wanted to put it in the tutorials section, go for it! I don't think it's absolutely required for us or you to post lots of tutorials on how to do this or that. If people who participated wanted to make tutorials on how they did their piece, hey thats great...but that option is up to them.

Er...I rambled again. Okay, I need to draw more

*edit*
Oh about the mentoring bit, it's a nice idea but I'm worried that maybe it would be too much also. What I mean by that is you don't want to over-extend yourself as it already is if your real busy...however if you do think you have the time it's up to you.

The main thing is keeping IDW running smoothly. I imagine it would take some time to do something like that maybe. Although I do like the idea of it what Legato is thinking. Having some kind of forum focusing more on industrial design, robotics, tools, weapons...etc. Things like reference material could be posted there as well. It's still a decent amount of work but it could help a lot. would be a great plug for IDW as well

[yoitisi]

Legato: I agree, I've seen a lot of good critiques here in IDW which I'm really pleased with. However, my logic behind the idea of making IDW more popular was that the bigger the competion, the more it motivates people to do their very best. Getting a couple of pro's in here to set an example would really motivate everyone I think. Not to play down anything that gets to poll, but the quality simply isn't always the best in every round at the moment. I prefer a fully rendered and painted piece above WIP's and half finished works to be honest, and seeing what happens in COW, EOW and CHOW I think IDW sometimes lacks this a bit.

Trashy: No problem, any thoughts are better than none You're spot on with your crate-example, I might even make a topic out of it...the problem with those tutorials is that in my opinion, too many entries at the moment are barely past the halfway finished milestone to do this effectively (Come to think of it, did you save the process on your cutlery? )

I've got a couple of announcements actually:

First, I decided to start mentoring after all Although I'll be busy the coming two weeks, I still have enough downtime in between projects to set something up I think. If not, I will after those two weeks. So, if you are interested, check here: Mentor sign-up thread page 16

Second, I think the idea of making a thread with inspiration, discussion about design in general and all that kind of stuff is great. I might change the 'link' thread somewhat to allow for this to happen.

Last but not least, I'm currently trying to get a winner icon off the ground (yes, at long last). The first ideas sound promising, but we're far from anything finished so I won't promise anything. However, I need someone to make us an icon like the COW icon (and recently the CHOW icon as well). I've not yet any idea what it should look like (the sprocket is already an icon so is not really suitable I guess). If you are willing to create and icon or know someone who can, please let me know.

Edit: Just for clarity, I didn't just started mentoring to attract more people for IDW. It was mainly inspired by the fact that I get mentored by Jens on landscapes and color studies, so I figured I should return the favour. Then again, I hope the result of me mentoring is that we can raise the quality in here so people will get even more inspired. This is in the end I think the main aspect that will get more people in here, if we start making top notch renderings that blow peoples mind

[Trashy]

yoitisi-Haha, I think the crate idea would make a great topic. Nah, really didn't save too many steps with the cutlery

Hope things go well with the mentoring. That class filled up super fast! I'll likely do some of the assignments also in my spare time. Gotta work on my perspective.