A Bentley Design Tutorial: SketchBook Designer 2012

Part 1: Concept Generation

Objectives of this tutorial: To explore concept generation techniques used to define and create designs for the
entertainment industry, refine a design and create a design model sheet (views for construction), and focus on
the tools in SketchBook Designer that facilitate concept generation.
Design principles we will look at when generating concepts include the following: story and context,
concept/character description, research, function and form, silhouettes and thumbnails, symmetry, proportions
and shape language.
SketchBook Designer focus tools
Simplicity in work flow
Symmetry: Bi-lateral
Symmetry: Radial
Curve Snap
Gradient Fills
Layer Warping
Custom brushes

The Narrative
(hypothetical story)
What is the context? A live-action movie. X-games meets Need for Speed in an on-line open world race.
Story. On a distant planet, high stakes racing is all the rage. Aircraft pilots race against each other as well as
compete against millions of viewer participants on-line. Only the top digital winners are awarded sponsorship
and can be eventually chosen to train and compete with physical aircraft for fame and wealth.
(On-line story and name generators like http://seventhsanctum.com for example can be helpful in coming up
with stories, technologies, and names).
Concept design brief. Generate concept designs for futuristic racing aircraft vehicles. Each design needs to be
distinct from the next through visual language and shape. All pilots are humanoid and will have sponsors.
Research
Create image boards. Read up on technologies. On the Internet, browse F1 racing, X-games, BMX, Rally,
etc. Look for design styles that inspire, i.e. Streamline, Art Nouveau. Look at the shape, form and texture of
bugs, fish, birds, vehicle design, motorcycle design, concept design, WW2 Airplane design, military, aerospace.
Great ideas/inspiration found by reading Popular Science, National Geographic, Cycle World, etc.
(Due to ownership rights, no image boards will be displayed).
Concept Generation
Silhouette/Thumbnail sketches: Any design should have a strong and interesting silhouette. Each team airship
needs to be recognizable even when seen at a distance when all details are lost. It is easy to explore many
directions quickly.
Very defined shapes can help define different teams and emotions.
In general: Circles/round forms are seen as friendly and natural. Squares/rectangles convey a sense of mass and
stability. Triangles/sharp angles convey a sense of attack or can be seen as sinister.

Custom Brushes (shapes language): Creating libraries of brush shapes can help keep each team's design
separate. As brushes are splattered onto the canvas, new ideas and concepts occur. It is up to the designer to
discover them. These stamps were created with distinct shapes: triangular, circular, and rectangular. I captured
the shapes in the stamp area of the brush modifier, then played with the stamp spacing, transparency, and
rotation to create unique looks and patterns.

Symmetry: Most man-made objects as well as creatures have symmetry. Take any of the more interesting
concepts from the thumbnails and apply interactive symmetry to its layer, spinning it around until you discover
interesting shapes and ideas. Photos can also be symmetrized with wonderful results.

Warp: The warp tool in the palette is amazing by itself, but when used with symmetry all kinds of designs can
be discovered. Select the edges to create new handles, and adjust them to taste.

Select a Design and Basic Concept Description

It is wise to have deadlines set so that you can move one phase of design to the next. I am happy with some of
my silhouettes and thumbnails and want to clean up one idea in particular. It is a futuristic racing aircraft. The
nature of the racing is dangerous. The concept is influenced by a mix of Streamline design, motorcycle design,
organic life (in this case manta rays, bats, and insects) and, as always, Star Wars technology and art.

Final Line work and refining the design

Creating multiple views. I like to simply strike horizontal or vertical lines on a new layer from all my main
points of interest. Then it is a matter of designing while keeping hard points in mind. It is also important to
remember that even Star Wars technology needs some engineering space to look realistic. I tend to use multiple
layers as scratch paper and explore many styling possibilities before I come up with a suitable design.

Defining the lines. Using SketchBook Designer ,we can generate clean lines using the Vector Layers. These
pencils, pens, and brushes look beautiful and have the ability to be edited, even with the mouse. I generally go
through many iterations of my favorite concepts before creating the finalized design concepts.

Once the strokes have been converted to Guide Curves in the Vector Layer, the painting tools can snap to them.
Vector strokes can be filled by Gradients which can be distorted so that the highlights match their forms.

Final Model Sheet

By snapping onto the Guide Curves, I've redrawn the final design views. Some simple shading helps to
understand the form. Anytime there is a value change in shading, the mind will see surface change in the
design. The concept just needs a suitable name.

The Knievel Concept

Final Knievel Concept Description

A futuristic racing aircraft. The nature of the racing is dangerous thus the given name Knievel. The concept is
influenced by Streamline design as well as organic life, in particular manta rays, bats, and insects. The color
will be taken from Evil Knievel's outrageous red, white, and blue, outfits.

Coming Soon: Part 2

Illustration
Surface Language. (Position, Tangent, Curvature).
Perspective views, camera angle, lens.
Lighting.
Shading.
Coloring.
Masking.
Layer blending.
Textures and logos.
Final touches.

David Bentley
bentley.design@yahoo.com