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Discover how professional artists create
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LEARN FROM…
Robh Ruppel
Marek Oko
Okon n

1 8
Stephan
Stephan Mart
Martinier
inieree
GAME Daryl Mandryk
Luke Mancini
 ART 
 ART  Maciej Kuciara
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Easy to follow step-by-step tutorials in  S e 
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Painter, Photoshop and SketchUp Ma ss 
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CREATE AMAZING
DIGITAL ART
Concept art skills from the makers of Uncharted 3,
  Video
 Video games
games take years to make,
make,
 with hundr
hundredseds of peopl
peoplee having
having
an input into how the final game
looks and plays. But often just a
handful of creative artists can
determine the style of a game.
Concept artists will work on the
 visual
 visual foun
founda
datio
tions
ns of
of a video
video
game, designing characters,
 vehicles
 vehicles and worl worlds,
ds, and setting
setting the rules by which
which everyt
everything
hing will
 work.
 work. It’
It’ss a vital and skillful
skillful rol
role.
e.
 To
 To gain
gain a grea
greater
ter insigh
insightt int
into
o how
how conce
concept
pt artists work,
work, and how
how
 you
 you can
can crea
create
te your
your own
own art for
for video
video games
games to a pro
profes
fessi
sion
onal
al
standard, we’ve teamed up with some of the industry’s best artists,
 who between
between them have have wor
worked
ked on Uncharted
Uncharted 3, Star Wars: The The Old
Old
Republic,
Republic, Rage,
R age, Fallout: New Vegas, and many more best-selling titles.
In our Character Art chapter, starting on page 32, Naughty Dog’s
Maciej Kuciara shows how to design a heroine with multiple genre
references. On page 50, Rocksteady’s Kan Muftic reveals how he
redesigned DC’s anti-heroine Harley Quinn for Batman: Arkham
City. In our Creature Design section, Blizzard’s Luke Mancini
demonstrates how to paint the Zerg from StarCraft 2 (page 60), plus
chapters on environment painting and vehicle design, including a
 worksh
 workshop op from
from the amazing
amazing FengFeng Zhu (page
(page 22),
22), will prov
provee
indispensable. Everything culminates in our ‘live project’ from the
artists at Leading Light studio, who demonstrate how all these skills
inform a game’s pitch and product design.
If you enjoy this special issue of ImagineFX, why not try the others
in this new series? See page 115 to find out more!

From the makers of 

Claire Howlett, Editor
claire@imaginefx.com
 We’re
 We’re the only magazine
dedicated to fantasy and sci-fi
art. Our aim is to help artists to
improve both their traditional
and digital art skills.
 Subscribe to ImagineFX today and save
money off every issue! See page 49

 The finest artists in the world offer you the best guidance,
share their techniques and offer inspiration in our video 38
game art workshops.

 Workshops
Practical advice from professional
artists in 18 step-by-step guides
16 Vehicle design
Explore ways to make video game vehicles
18 Sci-fi vehicles for
video games
22 Create your art
in parallel
28 Add colour to a
space battle
32 Character art 
Breathe life into your game characters 44
34 Design your own 50
game hero
38 Develop poster
art for Crysis 2
44 Design a space
opera princess
50 Recast a classic
comic character
54 Unify a range of
fantasy genres
58 Creature concepts
Create monsters that will surprise and shock 
60 Paint an epic
alien battle
64 Paint dynamic
concept art

70 Environment painting
Create working environments for video games
72 Make a setting feel
believable
76 Establish the scene
of a game
60
82 Introduce unique
visuals
84 Visualise a game
world
88 Production design
Design every element of a video game pitch
90 Lead character
94 The environment
98 The enemy
 Game Art 

6 Art spectacular!
 Art from the pros behind
Guild Wars 2, Syndicate,
Mass Effect 3 and more.

76
106 Artist Q&A 
64 Real-world portrait issues solved…
Remko Troost
Ubisoft artist Remko shares his advice
on creating mood paintings and where
to start when thumbnailing vehicles.
Philip Straub
Discover some new tips on creating
spacecraft for video games with this
17-year veteran of the industry.
Jonathan Standing
Learn to design modular characters and
add decals to space armour designs
 with experienced concept artist Jon.
90
Gary Tonge
Having worked for Sega, Capcom,
84 Eidos and more, who better to reveal
 what exactly a concept artist does?
Daryl Mandryk
Improve the speed and impact of your
painting workflow with EA’s leading
concept artist.
Daniel Dociu
Learn the value of setting achievable
goals for your concept art with the
Guild Wars 2 art director.
Aly Fell
Master the rules of better character
design, and discover why all concept
art needn’t be digital.
Andy Park
Let the God of War 2 concept artist
98 show you how to overcome your fear of
painting in colour.

I nc lude s
Free resources f our hour s
of v ide o!
Sketches and videos to help you learn…
Video workshops Resource files
 Watch our contributors in action and Use our artists’ layered hi-res PSD
pick-up some vital tips, with video files for inspiration.
 workshops from leading concept
artists including Maciej Kuciara, Custom brushes
Luke Mancini, Kevin Chen and Recreate workshop techniques using
many others. the artists’ own custom brushes.

See page 114, or visit http://ifxm.ag/game06art 

Gallery 
Gallery 
Get inspired by the creativity of
the professional artists behind
 some of the biggest video games
Kekai
Kotaki
awaii-born Kekai has
H been working in video
games for 10 years with
 ArenaNet. He started as a texture
artist and, eight years after
landing his first job, is now  
concept art lead on Guild Wars 2.
Kekai’s impressionistic art style
is instantly recognisable, and he  
has been given a lot of freedom on
Guild Wars 2 to create a world that
“we thought was cool”. He says the
team didn’t set out to change how
fantasy art is perceived: “We were
trying to find new ways to express
the core ideas that make up the
fantasy genre. I’ve always tried to  
Restrictions on art have been
loosened quite a bit, enabling
us to explore and get some epic
moments into the game
add that hard edge to my work – to
make things cooler, full of motion
and emotion.”
 The game takes place 250 years
after the first Guild Wars, so there
was plenty of scope to develop the
look of the world, but freedom
brings new trials. “The challenge
was operating with this freedom
and getting that high level of work
done without falling on our
faces,” says Kekai.
Kekai’s art demonstrates there’s
room for new ideas on the biggest
stage if you’re prepared to meet
the challenge.
www.kekaiart.com
Wise words
“I think of it as designing
monsters that fight heroes and
heroes that fight monsters;
everyone needs to be the hero
Kekai Kotaki
Gallery 
Sean A
 Murray 
principle concept artist
 A at Todd McFarlane’s Big
Huge Games/38 Studios,
Sean A Murray has had the
enviable job of designing a new
fantasy world for the video game
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
“Our goal has been to present a
mysterious world teeming with
magic and mysticism, as opposed
to a world of pure reality,” he says.
His work on these pages
demonstrates a colourful, original  
 world that blends classic fantasy
 with a bit of the ‘old west’, as seen
in the concept for the game’s
Detyre Mining location.  
 With a background in
illustration Sean combines
traditional and digital techniques,
producing detailed pencil sketches
that are then scanned into
Photoshop, such as his depiction
of the Adessa Tower from
Reckoning, which was “a more
functional piece of concept ar t”,
It was not a typical setting for a
Sean says, “showing how to
combine various modular pieces
fantasy universe. We wanted to
into a unique Gnome tower.” infuse a bit of Old West into it
 The early painting of Bolgan
Forest, however, is one that Sean
looks to when summing up his
work on Reckoning. “This is one
of the very first images I did for
the game,” says Sean. “I think it
really set the stage for what we
wanted to go for visually in terms Wise words
“The most successful concept artists
of colour palette and creature
are those that put an emphasis on
design philosophy.” communication and storytelling
sketchsam.blogspot.com before picture making.”
Sean A Murray / Alessandro Taini

 Alessandro
Taini

aving worked for UK

H developer Ninja Theory for

eight years, Alessandro
 Taini is now visual art director for
the BAFTA Award-winning studio.
 Alex’s concept art has a unique
painterly feel. His female characters,
particularly Trip from 2010’s
Enslaved: Journey to the West, are
beautiful but capable heroines.
Like his other heroine, Nariko,
from Heavenly Sword, Trip is a
flame-haired female lead character
imbued with beauty and brains.
 When Ninja Theory was chosen to
reboot the Capcom series Devil May
Cry, Alessandro began creating
mood paintings for the studio’s
concepts for the popular Japanese
 video game series.
 Tapping into his Italian heritage,
 Alessandro created a stunning
Renaissance-inspired depiction of
the game’s hero at play: “With this
image I wanted to illustrate the
personality of Dante,” comments
 Alessandro, “a young rebel without
a care in the world.”
 www.talexiart.com

 This image
illustrates one
of the characters
of Enslaved to
explain her
background
outside of the
game’s context
Gallery 

Bradley
Wright 

s part of the concept art team

 A  at Starbreeze, working on

the remake of the video
game Syndicate was a thrilling
challenge. “This game, and the genre
it sits in, is a dream for any concept
artist to work on,” says Bradley.
Bradley’s approach to the project
 was to go back to the 1993 version
of Syndicate and start pulling out
key elements, visual markers, and
“legacy elements… vital design
features and principles that we
could stick to throughout the
production time”.
For a game set in a sci-fi noir
future filled with flying cars and
gleaming towers, surprisingly
Bradley says he enjoys designing the
nuts and bolts of the game’s world.
“The challenge of making a chair
fresh and interesting is something I
strive for,” says Bradley. “It takes time
to get something as simple as a chair
from concept to model to in-game,
so you want it to look good.”
 These elements of a game’s world
seep into the subconscious and
begin to form a larger, coherent
picture that allows the team to tell a
story. “Starbreeze has always had a
strong history of developing story-
driven games with characters and
atmosphere that have depth and
layers to them,” says Bradley.
“The concept art – and equally the
game design – feed into this
philosophy. We seek to push and
explore these depths with innovative
ideas and artwork.”
bradleywright.wordpress.com

Wise words
“It is important to understand
how 3D is produced. This aids me
in creating more detailed, faster
 Bradley Wright 

 The freedom to stand up and say

this does or doesn’t work is great for
a team environment
Gallery 

 Joe
 Madureira

oe Mad entered the comic book

 J industr y at the age of 16 when

he joined Marvel. After 15 years
on Marvel titles including Uncanny
 X-Men, as well as launching his own
series Battle Chasers, Joe called it a
day and delved into video games.
 After a stint at NCSoft, he left to
form Vigil Games and designed his Death is more aggressive
own colourful world for the
Darksiders series of games. The and intimidating than War,
sequel, Darksiders 2, features the
new iconic anti-hero Death.
and has zero respect
 Although Joe has taken on the
role of director for Darksiders 2, he
for the laws that
has still found time to create the govern Heaven
central character. “We knew that we
 wanted Death to be a lot more and Hell
nimble than War. He moves faster
and fights more acrobatically,” says
Joe. “Therefore, his weapons had to
be smaller and lighter, and he had to
 wear much less armour. All of these
things start to paint a picture. With
all that in mind, I try to think of the
‘attitude’ that I want the character
to convey.”
 The Joe Mad-style – part western
comic, part manga – feeds into video
game design perfectly. Although Joe
 works with a team of artists to
convey his ideas into the game
 world, this comic book legend’s
stamp is clearly delivered.
So what would his 16-year-old self
make of this new game? “This is
exactly the kind of game I would
dream of playing, never mind
 working on,” says Joe.
 vigilgames.com

Wise words
“There’s always room to get
better, and there are always
people doing things better
 Joe Madureira / Kan Muftic
R  character and its world
I basically just start drawing
 with all of that stuff popping
around in my head, and hopefully
something cool comes out that
people are excited by
Wise words
“It’s important to consider the
character in-game instead of thinking  
about the pretty drawings. It’s useful to
know what the character is doing in the
game while I’m drawing, because it’ll
help me give him personality.”
Kan
 Muftic
ecreating an iconic
is one of the biggest
challenges facing a video game
concept artist. Working on the
award-winning Batman: Arkham
City meant redefining the look of
one of the world’s most popular
comic characters.
 Artist Kan Muftic picks the
game’s environments as an area
 
the concept art team focused on
to give their game a new look.
 
Each area of Arkham City had to
feel unique while fitting into a
consistent world, which involved
everything from Gothic and
Victorian architecture to glass and
iron Art Nouveau décor, creating  
layers of styles that highlighted
the city’s evolution.
 The museum in Arkham City
is one such design that Kan is
rightly proud of. “I pushed that
idea from the very beginning of
the project,” he says.
But this wasn’t simply an
exercise in aesthetic design.
“Gameplay is king,” remarks Kan,
referring to the need to ensure
that his designs for the game met
with the direction the game’s
scriptwriters and game designers
were going in. “I spend a lot of
time talking, consulting and
suggesting things to the team. It’s
not all about the drawing.”
 The end result was one of the
best games of its generation, a
visual spectacle that is as fun to
play as it is good to look at.
kanmuftic.blogspot.com
Gallery 

Patryk
Olejniczak

s the new concept artist in

 A  BioWare’s marketing

department, Patryk
Olejniczak has the enviable job of
bringing Mass Effect 3’s cast of
characters to life. Patryk focuses on
pose, expression and background
detail to tell a character’s story.
“During the whole process I try not
to forget about the importa nce of a
proper eye-catching character pose
and expression, which encourage a
 viewer to study the ‘story’ of the
painting,” says our cover artist.
“I often start with loose, basic
brush lines for the characters. I like
to play around with random photos
and textures until I am satisfied,” he
says, explaining how he uses in-
game screenshots to reference the
realistic lighting and colour tones.
“I put a great effort into trying to
present them as detailed as possible,
but somewhere along the line I took
the liberty of applying some of my
own tweaks,” Patryk reveals,
explaining why Zaeed’s gauntlet is
a different shape from that of the
game’s character.
Patryk uses different blending
modes and the Dodge tool to create
his realistic, brooding character
portraits. Detailed research helps too,
especially when rendering Mordin’s
armour: “It needed proper research
of shiny materials and careful
application of them,” says Patryk.
“Challenging as it was, it made me
more confident in the style, which is
always rife with realism.”
garrettartlair.blogspot.com

Each character brought

Wise words
me the same amount of
“Try not to forget about the
importance of a proper eye-
excitement for a variety of
catching character pose
thoughts and reasons
Patryk Olejniczak 
 Vehicle
design
Create exciting vehicles
for video games
 Feng Zhu
One of the world’s
leading concept artists,
Feng Zhu has worked
for the major developers
and publishers in the
video games industry,
including Sony, Ubisoft,
NCSoft, Epic Games and
EA studios.
Learn to draw inspiration from
painting two images at once.
Turn to page 22

 W orkshops
How to paint vehicles for games
18 Sci-fi vehicles for video
games with Kemp Remillard
Design vehicles from sketch to final
render in Photoshop and SketchUp.
22 Create your art in parallel
with Feng Zhu
 The legendary film and game artist
 works on multiple images at once.
28 Add colour to a space
battle with Ryan Dening
Use layers to create a spaceship scene
from Star Wars: The Old Republic.

I’ve often found that

problems in one image can
lead to solutions in another
Feng Zhu, page 22
 ehicle design

SCI-FI VEHICLES
FOR VIDEO GAMES
Massive Black’s Kemp Remillard explains how to take a
concept from sketchpad to video game…
esigning vehicles for video games can ensure that the concept fits the needs of the game philosophy, I feel that the more real I can make

D seem like a daunting task. Depending

on the project, the concept artist can
encounter design challenges that range
from “we don’t know what we want – show us
something cool” to “we have about 20
requirements that need to be in the concept – and
make it look cool”. Here, I’ll go over some of the
decisions and methods I use when designing sci-fi
 vehicles for video games.
 The whole process is an odd mixture of research,
planning, experimentation, layout and illustration
– all while working closely with your client to
engine, story and aesthetic. While there are many
methods and approaches that concept artists use,
designing vehicles can be fun and rewarding with a
little research, planning and creativity.
Science fiction vehicles can take on many forms,
depending on the project. For this tutorial, I will
focus on that special brand of sci-fi that I love the  
most: the near future. I’m fascinated by military
and space technology, cur rent events, history and
sociopolitical interactions as a whole.  
 These interests are elements that I try to infuse
into my creative concepts daily. As a general  
something fictional, the better t he concept and
final illustration will be.
For the two vehicles in this project, I will play the
roles of art director and concept artist by creating a
brief describing the criteria for the concept to meet,
then designing the vehicle around that criteria.
Along the way, I’ll show how to go through an
iterative process using both Photoshop and
SketchUp to design functional science fiction
vehicles of the near future that can be incorporated
into a sci-fi video game’s production pipeline
with ease. Hope you enjoy it!

Kemp
Remillard
COUNTRY: US

Kemp is a
concept artist
with Massive
Black in San
Francisco.
Kemp has designed
vehicles and created
concepts for high-
profile clients including
THQ, Hasbro, Sega,
Nintendo and NCsoft.
Brief and background
www.kempart.com 1  The first order of business when concepting vehicles for games is to review the d
client brief and understand the background of the world that the vehicle will exist in. Cop y Merge
GET YOUR  The goal here is to create fictional military vehicles that might exist in the next 20 years
+ Pas te
 i f t+C,
Cmd /C tr l+S h
RESOURCES or so. With that in mind, I begin by doing research on possible future military projects.  t hen Cm d /C tr  l+ V
See page 114 now! la yers
In addition, I read up on stealth technology in aircraft, and what design concepts go Copies all the

Reference
2 Gathering good reference is vital to
a good design. One great site with lots of
images from around the globe is www.
militaryphotos.net . If you want to
understand vehicles, take some time to
look at them and study their features and
subtleties. Then try to understand as best
 you can what the functions of the various
parts are. Shown here are the rough
sketches for a proposed VTOL (vertical
take off and landing) transport jet with  
stealth capabilities. Real-life jets like the
Sci-fi vehicles
Thumbnail sketching
3 Now I am ready to begin sketching
out simple thumbnails of my vehicles on
Set up Save paper or in Photoshop. Depending on
Selection
When doing vehicle the client and brief, this first round can
illustrations, set up Save be loose and fast or a little more refined. I
Selection regions in prefer to work in a plan view at th is stage
Photoshop for both the
interior of the vehicle
to get a quick silhouette, but a three-
and the exterior. That quarter view can also be useful for
way, you will keep your showing up more information. Usually,
edges consistent and
have a way to make
once an option is selected I then move
F-22 and F-35 were referenced, p ossibly on to a block-in model in SketchUp, but
belonging to the same family of aircraft
quick masks for painting
broadly in both areas. more revisions may be necessary later on.
from a single manufacturer. For my
project, I decide to be a nerd and name
my planes the MV-35 and the MV-36,
M for multi-mission and V for its VTOL
capabilities. One overarching
consideration when designing stealth
aircraft is to make sure that none of the
angles in the design are perpendicular to
the radar’s angle of incidence – in other
words, everything has to be swooshed
back or diamond-shaped to reflect the
radar. The tank is more loosely based
on modern units like the Leopard 2 and
Challenger 2.
Refinement
4 Revisions are a fact of life when
 working on video games; often a whole
team of people have input on what a
particular asset will look like. My initial
directions for the VTOL jet proved a bit
impractical in its look and construction.
So after a little more study, it’s back to the
drawing board where I arrive at a much
more practical design. Still, I am unable
to choose between the two directions, so
I take the decision as art director to finish
them both, just so I can get an
impression of what each of them could
potentially be like when finished.
 ehicle design

As si g n
s ho rt  c
 u
  t k ey s 
Shi 
ft  +
  Al t+
  C md 
 / C tr  l +
  K 
Use this shor 
tcuts mana
to assign F u ger 
nction k ey s
to r eplace br 
ushes.

Block the models in SketchUp

5 I find the use of 3D indispensable in creating a product that the client can
understand clearly. SketchUp is a great, accessible piece of software that can be used for
creating simple or detailed models of your vehicles. Once you become acquainted with
the program and start modelling with it, you can assemble a library of components to
add quick detail and i nterest. Just make sure you change the component shapes so that
 you deliver something unique.

Photographing the model

6  Another great by-product of designing in 3D is the ability to move around
the model and find t he best angle to present your concept from. If time is on my
side, I like to make multiple screenshots for collection and review. Finding the
best shot can make all the difference in the world.

Design for aesthetics

Design for function
7  The goal with these concepts is to
incorporate real-world characteristics into  
a fictional design. For the MV-35 and
MV-36, considerations include available
cargo space and the placement of forward
engines for the VTOL capability. The new
F-35 has a special nozzle on its engine
exhaust that points down during take-off
panels are placed over the VTOL lift fan
openings near the cockpit. These doors
will open during take-off and landing,
then close to preserve the aircraft’s
aerodynamic shape during flight, like
landing gear. A side effect of the lift-fan
door arrangement is the appearance of
horns near the head of the craft. It never
hurts to g ive your design some subtle
 
3D geometry
for orthos
With vehicle and tech
designs, it is incredibly
helpful to have 3D
geometry available to
set up your orthos. The
more detailed the
geometry, the less time
you have to spend, since
each detail is repeated in
each view. If you don’t
have a particular detail in  
the model, it will need to
be added in Photoshop.
Bolts and fasteners can
be added in Photoshop
8  The bottom line when doing any
asset for video games is that it has to
look cool (some might say badass, but
that description can’t always describe
everything!). Either way, it has to look
sexy, and that’s especially true with
vehicles. Although I pay close attention
to construction and engineering, I am
always trying to push the design into a
sleek and interesting shape. Distinctive
lines and interesting angles are the order
of the day when working as an
entertainment artist.
Making the asset work and look great
is what it’s all about, because if your
design is lacking in either department it
won’t make it into the game. Ultimately
games, and everything in them, are there
to entertain people. Taking the time to
formulate opinions on what looks cool
 Sci-fi vehicles

Orthogonal views
9  This is the stage where the final
assets are prepared for delivery to the 3D
artists as a plan or blueprint. Each studio’s
requirements for the ortho are a little
different, but overall, more is better. The
more information you can convey with
 your plan view, the better understanding Setting up the
 your client will have about what you 11 final Illustration
intend your vehicle to look like. Orthos Once the whole concept is approved, I like
can sometimes be overlooked as an to prepare an illustration that shows how
afterthought to the concept process; I the vehicle might look in its environment.
prefer to see it as the step where the final  This is as much for me to sell the concept
blueprints are drawn up be fore assembly. as it is for the game technicians to get a
feel for how it could be finished in t he
game. I want a battleworn background for
the tank, so I use a few custom brushes to
paint in the smoke pillars and obscure the
horizon line. Then I use a royalty-free
image to block in the ground plane.
Photo textures are a great way to add
realism to your image. Once the
background is in place, I adjust all of the
 values in both the background and the
tank. All the elements need to have their
 value ranges harmonised to suggest that
they exist in the same space – that means
making sure the image is not too dark in
the shadow area and not too blown out
 where it’s illuminated.
 The best part for me is painting in the

10 Surfacing and detailing dirt and battle damage with custom

For the MV-35 and MV-36 planes, each panel needs to be
designed at an angle to properly deflect radar. After studying the
reference, I notice that one of the coolest characteristics about stealth
jets is the very subtle but complex segmentation of the panels. The
divisions I add might not hold up to an enginee r’s eye, but they’re close
enough to the real thing to make it look authentic. The panelling,
graphics and paint scheme for the MV-35 and MV-36 are added in
Photoshop over a SketchUp render when the ortho is assembled.
brushes. Once I have the dirt in place and
the values lined up, I usually clean up the
edges with normal layers and full-opacity
paint. Look for accents and rim lights to
accentuate when cleaning up. At the end,
decal graphics and lights can be applied.
If something’s not working, experiment
until it does.

PHOTOSHOP
CUSTOM BRUSH: CHISLROK 
BRUSH TIP SHAPE
Diameter: 20px
Roundness: 100 per cent
Spacing: 25 per cent
DUAL BRUSH
Mode: Overlay
Brush: Textured Rocks
Diameter: 17px
Spacing: 25 per cent
Scatter: 0 per cent
Count: 1
OTHER DYNAMICS
Opacity Jitter: Pen Pressure
Flow Jitter: Off

I like this brush for adding rough and dirty

texture to the panels of the tank. Its shape
is that of a long rectangle, making it good
for texturing surfaces that recede in space.
 ehicle design

CREATE YOUR
ART IN PARALLEL
Putting together concept pitches can throw up many problems along the
way. Star Wars: Episode III artist Feng Zhu shows how working on
multiple images at once can uncover a variety of solutions…
Create your art in parallel

 wo is better than one – that’s

T the theme of my workshop.

 Whenever I’m doing client
 work, live demos for teaching Feng Zhu
purposes or personal sketches and COUNTRY: US

paintings, I always focus on producing a Feng has

series of images rather than just one. In worked with
addition, I usually work on all the images George Lucas,
Michael Bay,
simultaneously. For this workshop, I’ll
Luc Besson,
produce two production paintings at the Steven Spielberg and
same time. I’ve found that this approach James Cameron. He
now runs his own
has several key advantages.
successful studio, Feng
First, by working on several images at Zhu Design Inc.
once, it keeps my brain and eyes www.fengzhudesign.com

refreshed. Whenever I get bored with

looking at one image, I’ll switch over to GET YOUR
another. This method will keep the
RESOURCES
 ehicle design
Second, by going back and forth
between images, I can spot mista kes a lot  
more easily. This has the same effect of
 walking away from your work for an
hour: each time I switch images, I’m
essentially looking at it with fresh eyes.  
 Third, I can achieve a lot more in a
short amount of time. Working on a
single image until it’s finished can be
dangerous in my line of work, because  
there’s no really accurate way to measure
 your total production schedule. Clients
rarely ask for just one image – they
always want to see as many ideas as
possible in the shortest amount of time.
Therefore by starting on several images
all at once, I can roughly average the total
completion time.
Fourth, by producing multiple images
you’re essentially creating a series. In a
designer’s portfolio, those drawings or
paintings that fit into a themed project
look a lot more impressive. This shows
your ability to adopt a design language
and solve potential design issues.
Fifth, forcing myself to multitask
images enables me to stay loose. I c an’t
afford to become too focused or waste
time on unnecessary details when there
are a set of images to finish.
Sixth, working on multiple images also
has an evolutionary effect. For example,
I might sketch out an interest ing shape or
find a cool way to render metal. I can then
immediately adopt that technique or
design on another image.
Finally, it’s just fun. I feel more
accomplished when I can finish several
images all at once – which builds
confidence. It keeps the fun factor high
and reduces the chance for boredom.
Okay, now on to the actual workshop!

Sketching the scene contrast with each other. Therefore, the daylight. Finally, one of my vehicles is a
1 I start 90 per cent of my paintings first image takes place in a nightclub or civilian transport while the other is
 with a rough sketch. I find it hard to be bar setting where alien celebrities are military in nature. These contrasting
Set up a creative on the fly, especially if the arriving. The second image (see the points are all related to the key points
save system project has design restrictions. In this boxout below) is a battlefield scenario. that I’ve mentioned previously. These
I always save multiple
versions of my case, I’m designing two vehicles and  The first vehicle faces right while sketches don’t have to be super tight, but
Photoshop files as I scenes that fit into a universe that I’ve remaining stationery, while the second they do need to communicate the design
work. I start with the previously developed (an intelligent bug one faces left and is in motion. One scene package as well as establish the shot with
letter ‘a’. For example:
fzd_imaginefx_
planet). I also want these two scenes to is set at night, while the other is in proper camera and perspective.
demo_01a.PSD, 01b.PSD,
01c.PSD and so on. I use
this naming convention
for two reasons. One, it
gives you an easy way to
view your progress; and
two, I get to have
multiple back-ups just in
case one of the files
becomes corrupt.

PAINT A DAYTIME Create the sketches

DESERT BATTLE
Running alongside Feng’s futuristic nightclub scene is his
daytime image of the bug battle. The primary differences
between the two are the lighting considerations…
 
1
 The initial sketches don’t need to be tight, but must convey the mood
and direction of the artwork. This second of the two images is the opposite of
my main one, so where the first image is set at nig ht and illuminated by all
manner of artificial light sources, this one will be pictured during the day and
so I’ll need to take natural light sources into consideration. Furthermore,
while the first image features a static subject, I want the craft in this image to
 Create your art in parallel

Blocking out values in Defining the Finding some form

2 the scene
 At this point in the process I’m just
blocking in the local values and colours,
trying to capture the overall palette,
lighting and mood. The line drawing is
separated out onto its own layer. The
resolution at this stage is 5,000x 2,128
pixels – which is the ratio for widescreen
films. There are just two layers active. One  
is the line drawing and the other, the
background layer, is where I’m putting all
my colours.
3 light sources 4 Now that the primary values are
Now I start to separate out both local and locked I can start on the first pass,
global values according to the light tackling form details. The goal here is to
source(s). Without good values these define all the major shapes. At this stage,
paintings won’t read well, so it ’s pointless the line drawing layer has also been
to start painting details until this stage is removed and I’m down to just one layer.
completed. For the nightclub scene there
are several primary light sources: the club
window, floor, background city lights,
headlights and cabin interior lights.
I want this scene to feel busy, so multiple
light sources are a plus.

Tips for
Wacom users
I don’t use Wacom’s
sensitivity for Opacity, I
Mirror image
control it manually with
the 1 to 9 keys. You can 5 Once all the major forms are
turn off Opacity by
pressing F5>Other
defined, I can spend the next few hours
Dynamics>Opacity refining the look. On this first image – my
Jitter and setting it to nightclub scene – I’ve mirrored the
Off. To set up random
composition. This is another way to keep
brush patterns – great
for creating textures – things fresh and help spot perspective and
turn on Angle Jitter: composition mistakes. I often don’t
click F5>Shape
decide on the image orientation until I ’m
Dynamics>Angle Jitter.
nearing the end of the painting.

Colour process Defining light sources Defining the form

2  At this stage the sketches are finished and I
feel that I’ve got a sense of the composition, which
is a fast-moving battle scene. Now I can star t
 working on the tone of the piece. I separate the line
art out onto its own layer and t hen create a Color
layer to work from. As before, I only use two layers
3 Unlike my nightclub scene, which features
numerous light sources, I want this battle painting
to have just one primary light source. I decide that
this will be the sun coming in from the right.
However, the desert ground will act as a very good
bounce board, bathing the bottom part of the ships
4 I’ve now reduced my layers to just one. B y
removing the original sketch layer I’m able to give
my full attention to defining the form of my
military vehicles. My goal here is to finalise the
major shapes that will form the bulk of the craft. I
refer back to my night scene to see what design
 ehicle design
C om
  bi ne l ay 
er  s 
Increase the C md +Al t+
6 document resolution
  Shi ft  +
  E ( Mac )
C tr  l +
  Al t+
  Shi ft  +
  E ( PC
  ) 
K eep the nu
mber of lay e
It’s time for the finer deta ils. To reduce dow n by co r s
py ing the
eyestrain and pixellated brushes, I’ve contents of a
ll lay er s
into a new on
doubled the resolution to 10,000x4,256 e.
pixels. This document size can cause
slower PCs to come to a halt, so to counter
this I’m working on a PC with an I ntel
Core i7-960 processor and 12GB of RA M.
 There’s no image or brush delay on this
system; I simply can’t stand lag or stutter s,
and I’m sure I’m not alone!

Work on both images

7  The next two hours are spent adding details to both images.
I tend to work for about 20 minutes on one and then switch over. In
total, I spend about five hour s painting both scenes. The second – the
battle image – is a lot easier to paint simply because of the reduced
primary light source. I have some trouble staging the nightclub scene
because of the multiple primary lights, which can flatten the forms, so  
it takes up roughly three of the five hours to complete.
Final thoughts
8  Well, I hope you guys enjoyed reading this workshop and getting a glimpse into
how I work. Creating multiple images like this can be tricky but also has its benefits:
I’ve often found that problems in one image can lead to solutions in another. Please
visit my design studio website for additional images. We also offer lots of free video
tutorials on YouTube ( youtube.com/FZDSCHOOL). Have fun!

Beginning the Add fine details Dusty dilemma

5 refining process
I begin loosely adding refining elements to the
background and to certain areas of the primary
craft. My somewhat cautious approach enables me  
to see how the scene will take shape. I’m careful
not to spend too much time focused on one area
6  After increasing the resolution of the image
to 10,000x4256 pixels, I can begin adding the
finer details to the scene that will bring it to life.
These include giving more definition to the
combat ship in the background, reflections seen
on the hull of the craft and improving the look of
7  The next two hours are spent on detailing
both paintings. The nightclub scene causes few
problems but, because I don’t work with layer s,
adding the dust-trail onto the second image was
tricky. I knew that if I messed up the dust would
be hard to remove, so I built up the dust layer
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 ehicle design

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   A

Ryan Dening ADD COLOUR TO

A SPACE BATTLE
COUNTRY: Canada

Ryan studied
illustration at
Sheridan
College. His

Ryan Dening conceptualises and paints a space conflict,

first job out of
school was working on
Legoland Germany for
themed-attraction
design firm Forrec in
Toronto, Canada. He’s
currently a senior
concept artist on Star
Wars: The Old Republic.
www.deningart.com
GET YOUR
RESOURCES
See page 114 now!
while making the most of Photoshop’s layering ability
pace in the Star Wars films  
S is typically black with stars.
 The are no nebulae but there
are battles in the upper
atmosphere, in asteroid fields and in orbit
around large planets. For Star Wars: The
Old Republic we wanted to push further,
We explored a lot of ideas and the  
one I’m focusing on here is set in a gas
cloud that’s being vented from a dying
star. Ships are laying mines in the cloud
and your mission is to clear the area and
 
take out the enemy vessels.
I’ll be relying heavily on Photoshop’s
work on the final image maintaining
most of my layers for flexibility.
I’ll also take elements from other art
pieces that we produced for the game.
This can be useful when time is tight,
but getting it to feel integrated can be a
challenge. I’ll finish by using Adjustment
 Colour a space battl

Sun surface
2 I start with a star field, into which
I’m going to place the sun as an anchor.
For the surface I start by creating a Layer
different file, roughly the size I want the selections
To make selections
sun to be, with equal height and width based on the contents of
(square). On my second monitor I’ve a layer from the palette,
collected some imagery of Earth’s sun for hold Ctrl and click the
thumbnail. To modify
reference. I begin by laying down colour, selections hold Shift+Ctrl
using textured brushes, over the whole to add, Ctrl+Alt to
image area to approximate what I’m subtract and Shift+Ctrl+
Alt to intersect. If you’re
seeing. When I’m happy with the surface,
working within an
I open Filter>Distort>Spherize and crank existing layer’s pixels,
it all the way up to 100 per cent. Th is gives making a selection and
doing this will change
the texture the impression that it’s
opacity and give you
 wrapped around a sphere. I turn on crunchy edges, so lock
Rulers and drag some guides off the top the layer’s transparent
Exploring ideas and bottom to find the centre of the pixels with the square
1 I usually begin with thumbnails to get the creative juices flowing. Even if I have image (I have Snap To Guides turned on
grid button near the top
of the Layers palette. To
a clear picture in my head, exploring it further often brings out better ideas. Here I’m so I can do this easily). I use the Elliptical do this in layers, make
trying out a few different settings and compositions. I like to keep these sketches small, Marquee tool and drag from the centre a new layer above then
 ehicle design
Layer effects
3  To achieve a glow outside and
inside the sun I use layer effects. In the
bottom of the Layers palette I select Outer
Glow from the Effects drop-down. This
brings up a dialog box that enables me
to set the size, strength and colour. I
duplicate the sun layer a few times so I
can control the glow colour better, using
a larger, warmer red for the bottom layer
and a smaller yellow glow on the top
layer, giving me a rich colour gradient.
I apply an inner glow to the top layer,
 with the blend mode set to Linear Dodge,
to add heat bleeding inwards.
Asteroid belt
4 I’m using a rock brush I’ve made to
paint the asteroid ring. The brush can give
me different-looking shapes with only a
few strokes. These settings include Scale,
Roundness, Scattering and Foreground/
Background Jitter. After laying in the base
ring, I lock the layer using Lock
 Transparent Pixels, and paint over the
small rocks on the far side of the sun
using a soft brush so they appear lit.
Because the pixels are locked, I don’t
 worry about losing the silhouette and it
doesn’t change the transparency of the
edges. With a Textured Round brush I
rough in highlights on the foreground
rocks to make them feel backlit. The
changing scale from back to front, mixed
PHOTOSHOP
CUSTOM BRUSHES:
ROCK 
This brush has a lot of
randomisation settings,
which enable me to
quickly lay down the
asteroid ring. The
roundness setting is like
using multiple brushes.
CUSTOM BRUSHES:
DRY PAINT
I used this rough paint
brush to add hard
highlights on the clouds
for definition. It looks a
bit like a Dry brush, so I’m
able to produce a lot of
implied detail quickly.
CUSTOM BRUSHES:
RAKE
If you don’t have one
like this already, try it.
The bristles follow the
direction of your strokes.
I used it in the sun
texture, and sparingly in
the thumbnails.
CUSTOM BRUSHES:
SQUARE CHALK 
I use the Chalk brush a
lot in Painter, to sketch
in volumes and lay in
colour. This brush is an
emulation of that for
Brus h s i ze
[ and ]
(PC & Mac )
re bracke t
Use the squa
 ys to inc re ase and
ke
se bru sh size as
decrea
 you pain t.
Painting the clouds
5 I use a rough texture brush to enhance the feeling of depth in the midground
 with clouds. I scale down the brush as I get closer to the sun. I duplicate this layer and
put a copy behind the sun. To help give the sense of a vast space, I squish and stretch the
copy. Because the angle changes due to t he compression I rotate the cloud plane to
match the foreground. I duplicate and scale these a couple more times. I lock all of t he
cloud layers and paint in the colours with a Soft Airbrush. I use the Smudge tool to
soften the texture and imply movement. The clouds in front of the sun still look a little
flat – what they need are shadows, so I duplicate the cloud layer, select it s contents,
contract the selection by a couple of pixels, invert it and hit Delete. I lock and paint this
top layer with a dark colour, move and squish it a little until it looks right.
Sun rays
6  While painting in the clouds, I found that the sun looked too much like our
healthy sun to be venting all this gas. I merged my group of sun layers with effects and
used Hue/Saturation to shift the colour towards red. I also scale it up a little to sit better
in the composition. For the rays, I lay in some rough lines and use the Filter>Liquify
tool to distort and move them around. This quickly gives the lines a fluid feel. I set the
layer blending mode to Linear Dodge and duplicate/transform it a few times to fill the
sun out. At this point the overall image is looking really orange/red, so I duplicate one
of the layers and hue it blue to get the heat colours you might see in a welding torch. I
add a blue burst that I made by putting some coloured dots in a s eparate file, and use
Filter>Blur>Radial Blur set to Zoom and cranked up.
Foreground
7  To give the feel that you’re flying
in the clouds I paint some colour in the
rough shapes using a Chalk brush,
making sure they’re backlit like the
asteroids. I use the Smudge tool to distort
the edges, then duplicate and transform
this layer around the image until it feels
like the viewer is in the middle of them.
I select the layer contents of the asteroids
and erase some of the clouds so the rocks
sit among them. I also add some
 Colour a space battl
Adding a vignette
11  To further focus the viewer, I’m
going to brighten the centre of t he image
and darken the edges. I click and hold the
 Adjustment Layer icon and select Levels.
I bring the light values in from the right
side. I want to vignette the image so I
select the Level layer’s mask and fill it
 with black. I pick the Gradient tool, set it
to Radial and select the second preset.
Cop y merge  This uses your foreground colour and
(Mac )
S h i f t+C tr l+C fades it off to 0 per cent opacity. I pick
 h i   
ft+Cm d+ C (PC )
S
 tion from  white and drag the gradient out from the
Cop y a selec
rs wi thou t centre of the sun to the far left of the
mul tiple la ye
g to f ind  /merge
ha vin image, and repeat this until I get the
ll y.
 them m ua an
brightness I want. The sun has some
blown-out spots so I paint those back in
the mask with black and a soft brush. I
create a new Normal layer and use t he
Gradient tool again – this time with
Linear selected – and drag a little black in
from the edges to enhance the effect.

Ship sketch
8 I start with a really loose sketch of the ship to get the rough
design. I then add perspective lines and block in major zones to harden
out the shape. Some linework is added to frame the design. Nex t,
I paint in the main highlights and shadows to give t he design some
form. For the details I use a Screen layer and airbrush in a brighter
metal, erasing out some of the panels to add some surface variat ion.
I increase the contrast if needed to make the image more dynamic.

12 Sharpening
Photoshop tends to make

Merging in outside art
9  To save some time I’m going to use
some of the game’s concepts for mines
and ships. This doesn’t always work, but
since we’re in space, I can get away with a
lot of potential perspective issues. But you
10 Laser time
I choose blue lasers for the main
ship, to draw the eye in, and add an
explosion for good measure. It needs a
bright edge on everything where the
sunlight would fall. I create a new layer
and paint in highlights – a huge step that
can dramatically increase the quality of
the image. I create Linear and Color  
Dodge layers to brighten areas and add
glow haze. For shadows coming from the
mines, I create a Multiply layer and
use the Polygonal Lasso tool to draw
selections from the centre of the sun
Managing
layers out past the edges of the mines.
Here are a couple of tips
paintings soft, even when using a hard
brush. To sharpen the image I Select All
(Ctrl+A), select Copy Merged
(Ctrl+Shift+C) and Paste. This creates a
new layer with all the layers flattened
together. I select Filter>Other>High Pass
and set it to around 1.2 (if the image is
low res, try selecting a lower number).
This creates an odd-looking grey layer, but
if I change the blending mode to Overlay,
the grey disappears and everything crisps
up. I adjust the opacity of the layer to
finetune the effect. If it’s not sharp
enough I might delete the layer and try
again with a higher setting, such as 1.8.

can see they don’t sit well: they look flat
and the lighting doesn’t match the
environment. To blend these in I create
an Overlay layer directly above, and lock
it to the pixels of the concept layer. (To do
this I right-click the layer name and select
Create Clipping Mask.) I paint in shadows
using a mid-dark grey-purple and use a
light, warm colour for highlights. I create
two clipping mask layers on top: one
Normal to lighten the values and a Color
Dodge layer to pop the surf aces hit by
the sun. I select the source layer again
13 Curves
for working with layers.
Hit V to get the Move
tool. In the Options bar
I want to brighten the image
select Layer and then overall because I noticed on my co-
uncheck Auto-Select.  worker’s monitor that it looked too dark.
With the Move tool
selected, hold Ctrl and
 A powerful way to lighten or darken your
click the image: the top image without destroying your lights and
layer in that location will darks is to use the Curves tool. Create a
be selected. (Check your
palette to make sure it is
Curves Adjustment layer and grab the
the one you want.) Also, middle of the line bisecting the Curves
group layers into key graph. Pull the point up a little and you
components to keep
should see the mid-range start s to become
them organised. Select
the layers you want, then brighter. Once again, I mask out some of
hit Ctrl+G. If I’m working the areas around the sun since they are
Character art 
Paint unique and
compelling heroes
and heroines

 I’ll create a character

that unites contrasting
 worlds into one consistent
and appealing painting
Maciej Kuciara, page 54
Maciej Kuciara
Polish-born Maciej has
been working in video
games since 2004, and
worked on Crysis and
Crysis 2 for Crytek. He
now works for Naughty
Dog on the studio’s next
major project, The Last
of Us.
Design an iconic character with
multiple reference points.
Turn to page 54

 W orkshops
Learn to design game characters
34 Design your own game
hero with Alessandro Taini
Use colour and composition to
create a heroic character.
38 Develop poster art for
Crysis 2 with Marek Okon
Use 3D and 2D to create a high-
quality game promo image.
44 Design a space opera
princess with Kevin Chen
 Add story elements and a bold
design to your characters.
50 Recast a classic comic
character with Kan Muftic
Rocksteady’s artist show’s how he
recreated Harley Quinn.
54 Unify a range of fantasy
genres with Maciej Kuciara
Mix genre styles in one image for
original results.
 Character art 

DESIGN YOUR
OWN GAME HERO
Alessandro Taini defines character with a heroic pose and reveals his
approach for painting the leading man in Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
t the earliest stages of Enslaved: needs to say so much about t he game’s

A
Odyssey to the West, it was character – in this case, Monkey’s
decided that we would base strength and attitude.
Alessandro the game on a 400-year-old In this workshop, I’ll show you how
Taini Chinese novel, Journey to the West. My I’ve taken a character concept through to
COUNTRY: England task as visual art director was to present to final colour illustration, keeping it full of
Italian-born
the team how our game hero would look, personality and strong expression. I’ll
Alessandro  which ultimately determined many of his focus mainly on my stylistic approach but
started his art traits. Even at the very start, a piece of art  will also give you technical tips.
career in Milan
as a creative
designer and
visualiser. Since then he’s
been a graphic designer
and book illustrator, and
is now visual art director
at Ninja Theory, working
on the games Heavenly
Sword and Enslaved:
Odyssey to the West.
www.talexiart.com

GET YOUR
RESOURCES
See page 114 now!

PHOTOSHOP
MONKEY BRUSH
This tool gives a thick,
paintbrushed effect. I’ve
used it in the Enslaved
Adding definition
2 Now it’s time to take your initial
sketch and add more definition. It’s useful
to keep in mind the purpose of your
character. With Monkey, I know he’ll be
fighting huge enemy mechs and climbing
a lot, so I exaggerate his silhouette,
making his back and arm muscles
prominent. I also give him extraordinarily
large hands. With my characters, I like to
take human aspects and really push
them, but not to the extent that they
Initial sketch become cartoon-like. Take one of my
1  The first stage is to create a pencil sketch of the character and try to convey their other characters, Nariko, who features in
attitude and personality. In this case, my inspiration is Monkey from the novel, so I Heavenly Sword. She’s realistic looking
know I have to be consistent with the story and yet give the character a unique feel. I but her eyes are larger than a real person’s,
 Character art 

 i c k   s
 La y e r t r  r l+ V ( P C )
 f t+ C, C t
 C t r l+ S h i  d+ V ( Ma c
 )
 if t+ C, C m
 
 C m d+ S h u r la ye rs bu t
n yo
 To f la t te  lec t t he
 t hem, se
no t lose en press
an d t h
 targe t  bo .
co m
 t h is ke y

Adding a base colour

3 I add a brown Color Burn layer to push through the pencil texture and give
background colour to the image. This provides the image with a rough, chalk-like
texture. Brown is a great skin tone to give a character because you can add lighter hues
to really bring them to life. Once the Color Burn layer is in place, I take the white layer
(layer 1 in this image) to bring t he silhouette to the forefront. Halos of light
In Photoshop, a dramatic
lens flare effect can be
created using the Lens
Flare filter instead of the
Paint one I mention here.

Muscle details
5 I want to make the muscles
anatomically correct, so I refer to
photographs of bodybuilders to ensure
that they look realistic. As long as the
lines themselves are correct, you can
exaggerate the muscles while keeping
a level of realism.

Background considerations
6  At this point, I want to separate the character from the
background and create specific ornaments or designs that will crop up
again and again in Enslaved. I name these ‘art tec heau’: they combine
the curves of Art Nouveau and the composition of electronic circuit
boards. Some of the game’s villains, or mechs, have these designs on
their backs, and they feature in the game menus. The same symbol
style is also used for Monkey’s tattoo-li ke battle scar. For this image, I
 want to use the ornament as a background, giving a small taste of the
game to supplement the character’s frame.

Adding detail
4 I then apply lighter tones to give more depth to t he skin. I work with one of my
own soft brushes, which produces a paintbrush-like texture and look, and use light
shades on the face and body to bring the ski n to life. The eyes are the most import ant
features for showing attitude and engaging the viewer; even at the sketch stage, they can
be powerful devices in terms of conveying character. In your image, find out what your
focus point is and spend time detai ling it and getting it right. In my work the eyes are
the first port of call, followed by the face and then the muscles. With a realistic skintone
 Creating a character 

Tattoos
7 Using the same art techeau style, I
add tattoo-like scars. First, I create a black
tattoo on a white background a nd place it
on the body where I want it – in t his case,
on one shoulder and the back. Then I
change the layer mode to Soft Light. This
gives the perception that the design is
integrated with the body. After this, I add
some light to the edges of the design to
create the perception of depth – these
tattoos are intended to look like deep
scars, branded with hot metal.

S pe  e d
 y
  
s wi t  c
 h
 e
 s  
C tr  l +
  T 
( PC  )  ,  C m 
d+   T ( Ma
U se t hi s  c
  )    Blend the subject
t hen r ig
up t he T 
c ombi nat 
  ht -c li c  k
io  n and 
   t o br i 
ng
11  To merge the character with the
r ansf or m
menu qui 
at io n background, I like to finish the piece with
ck  l y
  . 
The mask a Blend brush and add an oil paint effect.
8 I want to retain consistency with the novel and decide to take inspiration from  This can be done in Photoshop using the
the original Monkey mask. For this, I use a Chalk brush to give a body paint effect. It’s Smudge tool. I also like to import the
both minimal and t ribalesque. It’s also clearly visible but doesn’t intrude on the all- image in Painter and add the details
important expression on Monkey’s face and in his eyes. If I’d painted a full mask, it myself using the Water Rake.
 would have looked too tribal and obscured his face. This is a human being but I’ve
given him features consistent with the book’s simian-like character.

Hair detail
9 I don’t need to paint photorealistic
hair for this image. The most important
thing is to keep the powerful silhouette
 with aggressive spikes – if the mane were
lifelike, this aspect would be lost. I use a
thick brush to make a jagged silhouette
and leave realistic texture by the scalp. It
makes the hair and head seem like one,
resulting in a strong outline.
Choose a
focal point
10 Lighting
In the same way that many photographers do, I like to use one main l ight from
Select a key area for
your work and spend
12 Apply a final texture
Giving the image a uniform
one side (Caravaggio style) and a softer, coloured one on the other to bri ng my time getting it just right. textured effect suggests that it has been
It should be where
characters to life in three dimensions. This is a technique often seen in comic books. I painted on paper or a canvas. There are a
you’re conveying your
have a simple but effective way of using layers to add lighting to highl ight a subject, in message and character, couple of textures I like to use, which I
this case the Monkey character. Firstly, I add a new black layer to the image, then select supplemented by have as separate layers that can be placed
Color Dodge from the Layer menu. Then I select t he correct lighting colour; here, I’ve secondary focal points. over the whole picture. One gives a dirty,
If your background or
used natural colour light around the rim of the character from the left and a red glow to character’s legs aren’t
gritty, rusty look, and is better for the
the back. When you select Color Dodge, the black layer becomes transparent and you a focal point, then you background than the character. I use
 Character art 

DEVELOP POSTER
ART FOR CRYSIS 2
Promo images must be of the highest quality and remain consistent with
an established brand. Marek Okon’s Crysis 2 art scores on both counts

reating a promotional image Consistency is also important at the elements that had to appear were: the

Marek Okon
COUNTRY: Poland
 
Marek is a
freelance
illustrator and
concept artist
who’s been in
the industry for over five
years. He’s most famous
for his work for Games
Workshop, LucasArts
and Crytek.
www.okonart.com
C
for a popular game series is a
prestigious job even for the
most seasoned of artists. It’s
a demanding task that requires you to
work with various media to ensure that
the subject receives the best possible  
treatment. It’s also a high-profile  
commission: the image will receive a lot
of exposure and be discussed by gamers
interested in that particular franchise.
It’s crucial that any promotional image  
must match whatever’s already been
established in the game universe.
technical level: you need to integrate any
production assets with your painted
elements so that they work together well.
 The first thing I do, even before
painting the initial sketch, is to consult
with my art producer Magnus Larbrant,
who will lead me through the image
production process and make sure my  
art is consistent with the game. It usually
starts with him giving me some ideas of
what he’d like to see in the image, and
then it’s up to me to modify and piece
them together. In this case the key
nanosuit; the lead character of the Crysis
franchise; New York in the background;
and a hole in the road that’s dripping alien
biological matter. I suggest that we add a
fire in the background and f lying debris to
turn a static scene into something more
dynamic and eye catching. We talk about
whether there should be any alien
creatures in the picture, but in the end
agree that it would be too much to
squeeze in; the composition might
become too cluttered. With the idea for
the image in place, I start to paint…

GET YOUR
RESOURCES Sketching the idea
1  The first sketch is usually very rough. It should only tell the art director, in the
See page 114 now!
simplest of terms, what’s in the picture. So I don’t worry about anatomical errors, lack of
details and stuff like that. There’s a good chance that I’ll have to overhaul the sketch or
even draw a few different versions of it. Combining the cityscape and broken asphalt
isn’t easy because I have to show elements t hat are low on the ground while looking up
at them. After a short brainstorm with Magnus we decide to use a low-angle camera
shot, looking up from one of the cracks in the ground. This gives us a nice view of the
building’s rooftops while conveniently placed asphalt pieces frame the shot.

Review the two

2 rendered elements
 With the sketch in place it’s time to check
the production assets: Cry tek’s rendering
of the cityscape and the nanosuit. These
could be painted of course, but using 3D
guarantees a high level of accuracy and
consistency with in-game material. It’s up
to me to alter and combine them in the
best way possible. You might think that
having high-res renders at my disposal
makes this an easy task, but it’s not –
they’re very clean and lack atmospheric
effects. I need to make them look more
painterly and natural by adding missing
 Character art 

Painting the
3 background
I start with the background because I like
to have a strong supporting structure in PHOTOSHOP
place before working on the main subject, CUSTOM BRUSH:
 which in this image is the nanosuit. I CHALK2
paint with a broad textured brush that
has jagged and irregular edges to cover
This is an excellent
the buildings with clouds of dust. multipurpose brush
 Another textured brush results in hard- that I use to produce
edged debris flying all over the place. dust clouds and patches
of dirt.
Both brushes were created by Mathias
 Verhasselt and you can download them CUSTOM BRUSH: TM@_
ROUND_BRUSH_HARD_
(along with other great brushes) from TEXTURELEVEL3
this conceptart.org page: bit.ly/91ir9m.
I use the Smudge tool on some of the
clouds and debris to imply that a gusty I use this brush to render
 wind is whipping things up. flying debris. Different
texture scale and soft
edges produce really
interesting effects. Both
of these brushes can be
downloaded from
bit.ly/91ir9m.

Improving the suit

5 Now I start working on the
nanosuit. Although there are plenty of
details, the suit looks too smooth and the
lighting is dull. I start by adding a direct
light source from the upper-left corner. I
duplicate the suit layer, play around with
Curves until the image is brighter, and
then I set it to Overlay mode to pump
up the colours and contrast. Then I add a
mask to this layer and erase any areas
that don’t receive any light. I repeat this
procedure, this time adjusting the Curves
to produce a darker nanosuit and use a
mask to erase all lit areas. Now I have
lighter values to indicate where the sun
Saving time hits directly and darker values for the
4 I use some stock shadow area. I return to t he masks on the
photography to add a Remo ve a lighter and darker layers and create more
r
car and a fire. Again, se lec ted la yeac ) defined edges of light and shadow by
pa ce (P C & M
these elements could be Bac k s  te finetuning parts of them. I repeat this
quick ly dele
Press this to
painted but using stock  the  ye
la r tha t you stage twice, for the ambient blueish light
d.
images saves time – ha ve selec te from the sky and the local orange light
 which is important in source coming from the fire. On top of
production work – and that I make a few minor adjustments and
maintains a high level of detail that’s some local colour corrections.
consistent with the renders. I paint black
smoke pouring out of the fire with the Keeping the
same brush I used for the dust clouds, 6 suit’s details
only with a smaller diameter. Remember  You may wonder why I don’t just paint
that smoke and any particle-based lighter values over the original Nanosuit
objects are volumetric, so they’ll react to layer using a Clipping Mask and different
light and shadows like any other solid blending modes. That would work, but in
objects – that’s why the smoke is the process I would destroy some finer
illuminated at its base by the fire. Finally, details of the original render. After
I perform some contrast and colour combining the nanosuit with the
adjustments to make the background background, the effect is quite pleasing
 Crysis 2 poster art
Grounding the image
7  The texture of asphalt is very fine and distinctive. Because I need to match the
detail level of the renders, the best way to reproduce it is to either use stock photos or a
properly textured brush. I star t by painting simple solid blocks, with basic lighting, that
represent the layout of the cracked asphalt. Next I overlay real te xtures on proper
surfaces. Note that the edge of the asphalt has a slightly different structure to its smooth
surface. If the crack goes deep enough – and in t his case, it does – I have to remember to
paint the different layers t hat are used in road production, such as gravel and the ground
itself. When the texturing is finished, I create a new layer above it and correct the lighting
on any objects that stand out. I also repaint some asphalt elements so all the textures are
consistent – both with each other, and w ith areas of the image that are already painted.
Make use
of masks
Remember that
adjustment layers have
masks, enabling you to
localise changes to your
adjustments. By shifting
hues or values and
masking the effect, you
can easily separate
different planes from  
each other. Grouping
those adjustment layers
in folders will give you
greater control over their
transparency and
blending modes.
Tackling alien matter
8 Searching for proper values for the Crysis biomass, I place
photos of jellyfish on top of an image of sliced meat and play around
 with the opacity and blending modes. I start to paint, attempting to
depict differing biomass structures and density in a number of places
by adding subsurface scattering effects and variations in surface gloss.  
 This randomness enhances the organic feel of the substance and makes  
the viewer feel that it is made from different materials, which are part
of a greater – and as yet unseen – whole. I also add moist, sticky strips
of goo and string everything together, essentially giving the biomass
a more alien look. I emphasise its organic origins by using different
blending modes for yellow/pink hues of colour. Overlay, Soft and
 
Implying depth
9 of field
For the upper part of the asphalt crack I
use the same procedure as before, but
then I notice that planes of different
depth have started to blend in together.
So I reach for a photographic depth of
field effect that basically blurs everything
in front and behind the focus area. This
effect is great for creating a false sense of
depth in the image, but it must be used
wisely or it can look gimmicky.
I separate the foreground into four
different layers, depending on their
distance from the camera. The uppermost
asphalt and biomass with a ll the str ings
hanging from above are on the first layer,
because they’re closest to the camera. The
middle asphalt blocks are on the second
layer, the absolute bottom parts are on
the third and the higher bottom parts are
on the fourth layer. I apply the Lens Blur
filter to all of them, with the strongest
values on the first layer and weakest
values on the last. If you want to avoid
transparency issues, make sure the areas
around the layers’ edges are overlapping
slightly. Because the background is much
further away from the focus point than
the asphalt crack, a single blur depth
Character art 
Aim for a
unified look 
Consistency in your
image’s details is key. So
if you’re using either
stock photography or a
 
texture that has too
much detail, don’t
hesitate to reduce this
using Median or Blur
filters. Applying too
much detail in areas
that aren’t your focal
points will do more harm
than good to your image.
 
Adding moving
12 particles
I need to add some foreground particle
effects. Those include light debris that’s
flying all over the place, and small stones
and dirt falling down into the asphalt
crack. Because most of these particles are
going to be out of focus I’m using the
same brush I used for background dust,
only with larger texture sampling. Then I
use the basic Smudge tool to add a subtle
motion effect to the debris. It doesn’t have
to be too precise – just enough to fool the
 viewer’s eye.
Carrying out final
13 adjustments
I make some minor tweaks to the colour
balance. I warm the nanosuit and the
foreground’s colour tone slightly so that
they immediately pop out from the cooler
background, and make a few minor paint
Distressing the suit adjustments. And that’s it – the image is
10 Because the nanosuit is combat done. Over to the marketing team!
 i ng
armour, it should look worn – dirt y,  S ta r t c l i p p  )
( PC
scratched and dented. First I paint a C t r l+A l t+G
A l t+ G ( Mac )
C md+
dirt layer, using a Clipping Mask over s or releases
 This a t tache
the base suit layer. For the dirt texture I as a clipp ing mask
a la ye r
la ye r t ha t ’s
use two brushes: one broad with  to the
belo w  it.
smoother edges and one that’s slightly
rougher, which produces a subtle noise-
like pattern. You can use any blending
mode for the dirt layer, but I prefer to keep
it on Normal with reduced opacity. I
sample the colour of dirt from all over t he
canvas. The next worn layer is dents and
cuts, and just like before I create a Clipping
Mask over the base suit layer. The best way
to create believable dents is to sample light
and dark values in one area and paint
them next to each other while referr ing to
the light source. I often use dents as a way
to differentiate areas of a uniform surface,
such as the strips of nanomaterial on the
shoulders. The final layer is made up of
hard scratches. Once again I create a
Clipping Mask and then paint scratches
with the Hard Round brush. Most of the
abrasions are on a material’s hard edges so
I ensure these are the most visible. I also
add a mask to my hard scratches layer and
apply a grainy texture for extra realism.
Finally, I add few blinks of light on the
main reflective surfaces, and make some
minor lighting and colour balance tweaks.
Checking the
11 colour balance
I match the colour balance of the im age
with the reference colour palette used in
Crysis 2, using a combination of Colour
Balance and Hue/Saturation adjustment
layers, with masks separating different
planes of the image. I want to achie ve a
gloomy, yellowish-bluish cast over the
 TAKE YOUR DIGITAL ART
SKILLS TO THE NEXT LEVEL
 Character art 

DESIGN A SPACE
OPERA PRINCESS
A bold personality and readable silhouette help to make a character
memorable. Kevin Chen walks you through the design process

good character design creates they’re storytelling archetypes as well as rendering isn’t as important because it’s

Kevin Chen
A an iconic image that helps to
establish a project’s identity,
its storytelling and the clarity
being great interactive avatars that enable
the player to immerse themselves in and
interact with the game world.
the final game model that counts. As
character designers, we’re the least
expensive way to explore many ideas
COUNTRY: US needed for a smooth production. In this Illustrating a character for CG early on and to establish interesting
A freelance
tutorial, I’ll share some of the design tips production is also slightly different to designs that will help inspire the team
concept artist and working processes I’ve learned while creating a print illustration. Our goal is to be excited about the new project.
and founder designing characters for video games. to communicate the design clearly to the My demo for this workshop illustrates
and director
of Concept
Designing for games is different to modeller in terms of form and texture as how I’d take a rough design idea from line
Design Academy, Kevin’s designing for film or animation. The quickly as possible. We often use many to colour finish for early pre-production
recent projects include characters have to play a double role – photos to speed up the process, and the pitches. Let’s get started!
character and costume
designs for Bulletstorm.
http://ifxm.ag/k-chen
Do some research
GET YOUR
1 Before starting the drawing, I like

RESOURCES to spend some time thinking about and

researching different ways I can approach
See page 114 now!
the character. Other than knowing that
she’s a princess for a sci-f i project, I’m
asking myself questions such as: Who is
she? Where does she come from? What
job does she do? Why is she in the story?
 When does the tale take place? Asking
myself these questions helps me get to
know the character better so that I can
come up with some interesting answers
to design around.

Pose the character

2 I pose a generic mannequin that’s
both accurate in its proportions and has
the right gesture to help convey her
personality and attitude. In this case,
I want the princess to be proud, so I give
her an arching spine and shoulders to
push her chest out and show her
confidence. When posing a game
character, it’s a good idea to keep the
limbs away from the body so that there’s
a clear view of the design. Classic
three-quarter front and back views of
a character are ideal for this purpose
 Character art 

Define the face and body Flesh out the design

3 Personality is paramount when creating a character design: it
motivates everything and is what will leave a lasting impression on the
 viewer. I want to define my character with a distinctive personality,
facial structure and body build. I’m focusing on making the face
interesting just through the larger skull structure. I want to give her
a European, aristocratic face along with a fencer’s body type.
5  At this point, I find that the mechanical left arm needs to be clarified, so I’m
sketching some ideas on the right to help resolve the design. The overal l costume is
looking a bit busy, so I’m doing a small thumbnail sketch on t he left to help me see the
big picture more clearly. (I’m also thin king about how her blade can break into a whip.)
I usually take at least three design options to this level for the art director to pick from
before I move on to the colour phase with the chosen design.

T h i n k i n 3D.
 gn i n al l vi 
D e si   ew s

rm
Free Trans fo
C tr l+ T (PC )
 )
Cmd+ T (Mac
k t he top o f the
Righ t-clic
add Warp
selec tion to Mask the character
and s tre tch
an image
o ver a r fac
su e.
6  To help shorten the clean-up time,
I paint a selection mask so I can separate
the character from the background easily.
I like doing this phase because it helps
me see how well the silhouette of the
character is working without the internal
details. You can do this same process with
the Lasso tool, but I prefer using the brush
because it gives me more control.

Amplify the
animation
Often in a platform
game, you’ll see a
character’s full body as So  f  i   t 
 t L  gh 
it moves quickly around
the screen. To help the
o r Ov er la y
animation read better,
a common trick is to
have the important
animation areas
amplified in shape, value
or silhouette. This way, it
will echo the animation
Compose the costume Ambient lights
read whenever the
character moves, so the
4  When designing the costume, it’s important to think of both front and back 7 Using the mask as a selection, I
viewer can track the  views – especially for a third-person platform title or first-person shooter, where the start to add a gradation to the background
movement easily. A
character is seen from the back for 80 per cent of the game. For clear composition, vary from dark to light. To help the character
good example of this is
Shinobi’s scarf in the the costume into small, medium and large shapes. Thi s will create a nice stage for the pop, I use a reverse gradation on her. To
eponymous series, which areas of detail to become the focu s. The face, hands and upper back of a major game keep the drawing showing through the

 
 s t u m e  i n 3 val u e s
Pl an  co 
Design the local  
8 value pattern  
Before I add any fancy lighting, I want to
paint the character as if she’s in ambient
light. This helps to guarantee that she’ll
look good in both shadow and a well-lit
scene. When designing the local values,
I use three values in small, medium and
large proportions for clear staging.
Design a space opera princess
Render the
11 major forms
To help me save time on rendering,
I’m painting a cylinder and ball to
superimpose on top of the major body
forms using Soft Light or Overlay. You
can see them to the left and right of the
character in this image. Using this
technique, I can very quickly establish
the big masses wit h light and shadow.
In situations where I need to pai nt more
quickly and when time is of the essence,
I’ll use photographs at this stage of the
process. The photographs provide me
with many subtle details and colour
variations that are time-consuming to
replicate by hand-painting.
Cu rv  es f o r sk i n t on  e 

Co l o ur  
 e
 t 
 pal  e t 

Test the colours

9 I try to use colour palettes that will
evoke an emotion. I’m using the royal flag
colours as a base for the design to reflect
her personality and heritage. It’s crucial to
organise or desaturate your colour base to
a warm or cool tone so you can stage up
an accent colour. As a general rule, keep
colours simple if you have a sculptural
form and complex if your forms are flat.
C ur ve
  s 
C tr  l +
  M ( PC  ) 
C md +M ( M
ac )
Quick ly v ar 
y satur ations
and add neut
r al gr ey and
satur ated sh
adow s to
a f lesh tone
 en  t 
 spar 
 s t ra  n 
F  el sh i  .

Begin to create
10 the flesh tone
I start to rough out the flesh tone to help
me key the rest of the colour saturations
around it. Skin is an interesting material
because it’s a neutral warm grey sheet that
 will take on any colour you shine on it. Establish the materials
It’s also a transparent material – the light 12  To start the material rendering, I like to first establish the softest and hardest materials. In this case, it’s
can pass through the fleshy areas, giving the skin and the metallic armour. For skin, I use the Curve tool to help control the saturation of the shadows
it a rich red tone in the sh adows. The key and introduce the subtle grey into the skin tone. For the metallic parts I use the Lasso tool to give a clean edge,
 Character art 

Design for
gameplay
In game production, the
gameplay experience is
F  el sh 
the core that all designs
need to follow. When
creating enemies, it’s
important to give them
a clear shape hierarchy
Gu n M e t al 
so you understand Co lo r Do d g  e t o 
 crea t     t 
 e r i m l i gh 
who’s the boss and who
are the grunts. You need
 e x 
L a t 
to design with a clear
sense of direction, so the
players know which is
the danger side and
where to find the blind
spot. When designing
main characters, the
back and weapon are
o  h   p p er o r Go ld 
Co 
important because they
often serve as a display
Cl  t 
for player health and
weapon quantity.

Three layers, three materials Adding drama

13 Once the extremes are established, I focus on the different materials in between. 15  To give the character a dramatic
For a believable costume design, there are always at least three layers of clothing and feel and make her pop out from the
three types of material present. When I have a hard time indicating a material, I often background, I apply a kicker light behind
paint it separately as a ball to figure out its colours and reflective quality. Once I solve her to give a nice rim light and show off
the rendering problem, I can t hen colour pick and apply it to my character. her silhouette. To paint the rim light, I use
the Paint Bucket tool to c reate a black
Colour gradations layer and assign it a Color Dodge layer
14  To help unify the colours further and give a better sense of lighting, I often apply property. When I paint a warm white on
another gradation layer over the character and background. In this case, I introduce a top of that Color Dodge layer, it gives
 warm to cool gradation to mimic the natural fall-off that occurs in a lighting situation. a nice glow effect that mimics the
For lighting up a subtle gradation, Soft Light is my favourite tool to use because it has saturation that happens when strong
a very gentle effect on the colour and value. light hits an object.

i   t 
 t L  gh 
So  f 

PHOTOSHOP
CUSTOM BRUSH:
ELLIPSE BRUSH

Final adjustments
16  After a few more tweaks, the design
The Ellipse Brush, set to is ready. Often it takes several revisions to
a spacing of 1,000 per
get a main character approved for 3D
cent, is a simple but
useful tool. I use it often modelling. Once approved, it is standard
to help me clean up to create a material call-out sheet for the
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 Character art 

RECAST A CLASSIC
COMIC CHARACTER
How do you paint a compassionate portrait of DC’s villainous Harley
Quinn? Rocksteady concept artist Kan Muftic shows how it’s done

he world of DC’s heroes and and the world’s finest comic book artists

T  villains is incredibly rich,

offering a fantastic variety
of interesting characters for
any artist. Having the privilege to work
and illustrators have all contributed to
their evolution.
In this workshop, I’ll paint a portrait Kan Muftic
of Harley Quinn. She’s famous for her COUNTRY: England

on such exciting characters on a daily extreme mannerisms and affection for Kan is a
basis would turn me into a 10-year-old the Joker. What I aim to do is contrast th is concept artist
boy every time I sat down at my desk image and present her more personal side. and illustrator
with extensive
at Rocksteady Studios. I pick a moment when she’s on her own, experience
 Working on countless concepts for lost in her thoughts. The events of in the video game,
Batman: Arkham City has taught me one  Arkham City are dramatic and the love film, advertising and
music industries.
thing, though: you can’t just go in and of her life, the Joker, is ter ribly ill. She’s
www.bit.ly/kanm
mess around with these characters. Some changing her outfit and gearing up for her
of them have been around for 70 years upcoming mission.
GET YOUR
RESOURCES
See page 114 now!

Composition
1 If you want to tell a story with your
image, you have to spend time exploring
the composition. In Painter, I take the
idea of Harley changing outfits and start
roughly sketching some ideas. I don’t
 want to make a pretty drawing here (I
never go into any detail at this stage). I  
sketch several versions to explore different
ideas, angles and poses. At this stage, once
Sketching out
2  The first sketch has the strongest
impact, so I crop the image and double
the size (Canvas>Resize>Width 200
Percent) while making sure the Constrain
File Size box is checked. Next I start
picking colours and laying them straight
down on the first and only layer of my
painting. It’s a bit unconventional but
I have a good reason for doing this: it
keeps me focused, while improving my
skills for painting edges and exploring
colours. I’ve found that when working
with many layers it’s easy to drift away in
an endless set of options, and of trial and
error. Working with a single layer forces
PAINTER
STANDARD BRUSHES:
OIL PASTEL
This brush was used for
99 per cent of this piece.
BLENDER BRISTLE
 
Another favourite
of mine, this creamy
Following design and
3 adding elements
I block in some basic design elements
of the costume, adding smudged mascara
to her face, which gives a subtle hint to
the game’s backstory. I also roughly add
some other elements to the sketch. These
will be detailed later – I only wish to
position them at this point. I think it’s
important to avoid fleshing things out
too early, because at this stage it should
Recast a classic comic characte

G 
 A MES
 A RT
  I  S
  T 
Disc ov er   mor 
e of 
w or k on R oc k  K an Muf ti c ’s 
st e 
Bat man: A rk    ady St udios’ 
ham C it y on
pag e 13 and
be in
by g re  a  t c onc  spir ed  
ep
  t ar t…
 
 Character art 

It er at iv
 e
  s av e
C tr  l +
  Al t+
  S ( PC
  ) 
C md +O pt io  n  +S ( Mac )
A gr eat, sim
ple w ay to
sav e sequen
tially 
number ed v 
er sions
of an image.

Fleshing out
6 I feel like I’m on the right track
at this point, so I decide to enlarge the
image. The reason for this is that I still
Cropping and blocking in  want to work in swooshy strokes even in
4 I decided that the image has too much space opposite Harley the detailed areas, and not fall into the
so I crop it. Remember, composition is king in visual storytelling. My habit of scribbling minor details of the
Oil Pastels brushes are working a treat and I’m getting some wonderful picture. I start fleshing things out and add
edges, even at this rough stage. When using these brushes I make long, Harley’s purple boots that she used to
broad strokes across the canvas. It’s a very therapeutic process.  wear in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Purple
gives a nice touch to the overall palette.
Moving things around
5 I realise I have to make some changes to the image. I find that Putting it all together
once you start putt ing down colours it’s hard to go back and work on 7 From here on I work on the
 your composition again, so it’s probably best to go back now and get smaller elements of the figure and the Facial expression
things right. Using the Lasso tool, I select the left part of the image and environment. I try not to zoom in 8 I add a cheeky little smile on her
move it away. I then block in Harley ’s missing shape, which reveals because I don’t want to lose the overview face; she looked too angry and slightly out
more of her costume. of the image. I have enough colours on of character before. Again, thinking of the
the canvas, so I can pick them instead overall story of the image always helps
of mixing them from scratch. Still, every  you come up with interesting details. I’m
stroke is bold and confident. It’s crucial to still relaxed and my arm moves loosely
place your strokes into each other instead across my tablet, even when I’m creating
of scratching them in or carefully placing intricate details such as the character’s
them next to each other. face. Strangely, I produce better strokes
 when I just let go.

Edge economy
9  This fancy term – edge economy –
refers to the relationship between the soft
and sharp edges in a painting. Using Pen
Pressure, I create sharp edges and, as I
slowly lift my pen up, the edges become
soft. Here you can see an example of edge
economy in Harley’s hair.

Adding
personality
Painting superheroes is
really good fun, but it’s
a good idea to make
them as human as
possible. That way, you
give them personality
and the viewer can

Stockings
10 These stockings were an iconic part of Harley’s outfit in the first game, Batman:
 Arkham Asylum. As I start blocking them in, I realise that I’ve never painted stockings
before. It’s a delicate material with a flexible shape, so it’s not easy to get right. I try
searching for some references online, but find surprisingly few pictures of loose-
hanging stockings. It becomes rather draining browsing through loads of irrelevant and
obscene images to get to the right one! I don’t have time to get some real-life reference
so I just tr y to use common sense and make it up.
The boot
11 I put some details into Harley’s
boot design while trying not to destroy it
because I like how the edges look so far.
 The material is smooth and shiny, so I use
some nice specular reflections to make it
pop. I try to ensure the boot looks and
feels different from the cloth next to it.
Boost up the contrast
12 I quickly switch to Photoshop
and add an Adjustment Layer (Layer>
New Adjustment Layer). I push the
contrast up by moving the outer sliders to
both ends of the ‘black waves’ that
represent tonal information. This could
also be done in Painter, using the Equalise
function, but I f ind Photoshop more
accessible for this stage.
More details
13 I change Harley’s smile to look
a bit more natural and add some details
such as black nails that help flesh out
her character a bit more.
Corset
14 Having enriched my image with
contrast, I switch back to Painter and pick
some creamy Blender Bristle brushes from
the Artists’ Oils menu. They’re great for
rendering leathery surfaces and skin,
so I zoom in a bit and start working on
the structure of Harley’s corset. This is one
of the most difficult and time-consuming
parts of the process, and it shows just how
Recast a classic comic characte
Seek feedback 
If you’re getting paid to
draw, that means you’re
not drawing for yourself
but for your client. Send
back a lot of progress
shots and request
extensive feedback.
That way, you can make
sure everyone is happy
and you won’t need to
change much of your
piece as you go along.
Highlights
15 Clever positioning of highlights and their edges can make or
break an image. That’s why it’s important to know what materials you
apply the highlight to. In this case, I have a leather corset and that
means that I can’t just add some random specular reflections – the
surface has a texture that absorbs parts of light and doesn’t reflect it in
the same way as metal, for exa mple. So my highlights are slightly
smudged and muted, which gives t he impression of leather.
The armpit saga
16 Until now it’s been easy to get her posture, the facial expression
and the colours right, but I’ve been delaying working on this area…
and now it’s time to solve the difficult armpit/shoulder area. I know I’ll
struggle because I’m not exactly sure what the arm looks like behind
the obstacle. This is one of those moments where I regret not doing
more figure drawing from life. I push paint around, trying to find
something that’ll look right. If you get stuck, do some proper research,
shoot some reference photos or ask someone to pose for you. It sounds
like a lot of work, but it will take more time to struggle with the
mistakes you make if you don’t.
The face
17  After having spent too much time
painting the ar mpit, I move on to her face.
 This is the most interesting part for me:
I find faces to be challenging but
rewarding if you get them right. Even
though I zoom in, the strokes are still
placed on top of each other loosely. Her
face needs more form but I have to keep
her looking young and pretty. A delicate
touch is the key here. Sculpting the paint
gently gives me the result I’m looking for.
Outside intervention
18 Just as I’m finishing, my art director asks me to crop the image
C us t  i  so that Harley Quinn’s costume more accurately represents the one she
 Character art 

UNIFY A RANGE OF
FANTASY GENRES
Maciej Kuciara shows how to design an iconic heroine, encompassing
several different elements and unifying the concept with colour
or this workshop I’ll be guiding and appealing image. I’ll take a look hot, badass blonde pilot wielding a

F  you through a few simple

steps on how to create
at a couple of different aspects, such as
presentation and brainstorming ideas
submachine gun, with a katana sword
strapped to her back, riding a tamed
Maciej Kuciara an interesting and unique into concept sketches. Finally, I’ll take dragon and destroying anything that
COUNTRY: Poland character design – one that’s not tied my preferred sketch through to a stands in her way.
down to any specific genre. I’ll try finished image. But there are still issues to overcome.
Maciej is an
art director to break down the boundaries by  The subject for this workshop is I’ll show you how a strong control of
and concept dropping interesting elements into the a heroine – a mistress of all the genres. colour can unify the disparate genre
artist who’s
mix and creating a character that unites I have a strong idea in mind of who ideas into one image. Are you strapped
spent six
years working in the contrasting worlds into one consistent she is and how she’ll look. She’s a in? Hold on tight!
video game and
entertainment design
industries, specialising
Brainstorm
in creating concept art
and matte paintings
1 some ideas
for Crytek and First you need to consider how you’re
Naughty Dog.
www.maciejkuciara.com
going to present your character before
 you start thinking about specifics
GET YOUR such as value, colour and detail.
Depending on your chosen subject,
RESOURCES the character design can be shown
See page 114 now!
either as a standard portrait shot, or
as an action/cinematic shot that puts
our hero/heroine in a specific
situation. Each option has its own
strengths and weaknesses.

Choose the right

2 idea for the subject
PHOTOSHOP
 Taking a brief moment to sketch
CUSTOM BRUSHES:
HARD SOFT EDGED
a few dirty strokes on paper, or in
Photoshop, will help you to make
 y our decision. For this workshop
This simple brush I worked up three different sketches
works like a charm for – two were passive and active
sketching purposes.
Its opposing sharp and
cinematic shots, and one was
soft edges also help a simple portrait sketch. I tried
to enhance surface to think about different subjects that
specular highlights.
go together well: fantasy, sci-fi, post-
CHALKY TEXTURED apocalyptic fallout, vintage and the
modern world.
I found that my third portrait
This simple Chalky brush
is ideal for bringing an
sketch held my attention the most.
oil paint texture into the It gave me the opportunity to show
artwork. It blends nicely interesting costume details, revealing
with paint that’s already
part of the heroine’s environment
 Character art 

References
3 Before I get my hands dirty and
S 
 k 
  y  c 
start digging more into my sketch, I
o l  
o ur 
 
always try to spend some time
researching the subject. I find it helpful
to have a decent collection of photos and
photo-textures on hand when painting.
Because I like my art to have a realistic
look, I’m always studying photography
and nature to try to understand the way
  h
  g  t
light and colour work.
 
  l i
Work on values
 S u n
4 Once I’m happy with the story
my sketch is telling, I start to work up
some detail. This helps convince me that
the idea I’m planning to work on for the
next couple of hours is heading in the
right direction. I continue building up
 values, creating mood and a lighting
scheme that will strengthen the ideas. Bouncing light 
I try to put enough detail in black and
 white to know where I’ll use my colours.
Using a few custom brushes to build up
interesting shapes and patterns helps me
include the key ideas that will evolve in
the colouring and detailing processes.

Time for some colour Custom brushes Pay attention to

5  When I’m happy with the values
and detail in the sketch, I start colouring
the image. For my pilot heroine character
I try to create a lighting scheme that puts
the viewer in mind of a World War One
aerial battle. I add a dramatic sunset that
lights my character with sharp rim
highlights. Blue ambient light beaming
through the clouds gives the scene a range
of contrasting dominant colours: blue/
teal and yellow/orange.
6 Once the major colour strokes are
in place, I continue to add colour on top
of the sketch with my custom brushes.
I use these brushes to slowly build and
integrate the colours into the lighting
scheme I have in mind. At the same time
I start to fill the
artwork with
detail that will
enhance the
main character.
7 light sources
 As I build in the colour, I pay special
Spot mistakes attention to what my light sources are and
Bind the Flip Canvas how the light will play on the character.
option to easily
accessible keys. Seeing
In this case I’m using strong, sharp and
your canvas in the  warm sunlight, combined with a soft,
mirrored view will reveal cold sky colour, to create ambient light.
composition, value and
detail balance mistakes.
I continue on this path for a while, trying
to unify the amount of work I’ve put into
the image so that the various elements all
hold nicely together.

E nhanc e a
c us to
 m
  br us h
F 5 ( P C & Mac 
)
Edit y our cu
stom br ush’s
tex tur e. Selec
t tex tur e
lay er , then Ed
it>
D f i
 Unify fantasy genres

Add details
8  When I’m satisfied
satisfied with the 10 Touch ups
I adjust the colour through Color
Final touches
11  After I’m
I’m happy
happy with overall
overall colour
colour
amount of detail in t he colour values Balance, Levels, Hue/Saturation, Selective grading results, I add a few more touch-
and shapes, I begin to add details into Edit your Colors and Vibrance until I reach ups in areas that could use more detail.
the focal areas. I always like to keep sharp colours something close to what I had in my I also try to fix some of the dirty brush
You can easily tweak
edges and clearly defined textures in or push specific colours mind. I don’t limit adjustment layers to strokes I applied in the early sketch stages.
areas that are central to the image. In my that you’re not happy general settings – instead I play with Finally, I try to make sure that even the
sketch, the focus lies on the character, with by creating a Hue/  Photoshop’s
Photoshop’s advanced options, such as dark areas of the image hold some
Saturation adjustment
 while the dragon’
dragon’s skin
skin and the sky
sky are layer, and choosing the
controlling levels per channel (blue, red, definition. I sample colour from the
kept loose. With this technique, even with colours you want to work green) or hues per colour (green, yellow, darkest values of the image and use a
the intense lighting of the background, with from the drop-down red and so on). I spend time making sure custom Noise layer, which I paint on
menu within the settings.
I can keep the viewer focused on what’s You can also tweak the
I end up with colours I’m happy with.  with my
my custom
custom brushes.
brushes.
important in the picture: the character. hard and soft range
for the colour on
which your changes
9 Colour correction will operate.
 The image finally has enough
detail to consider it close to being
finished. At this point I usually take a few
steps back and try to gain a fresh
perspective, to see if the result is satisfying
or if it still needs more love. I decide that
I’m not yet happy with the colours – they
don’t fully embrace the idea in my head.
In this situation, I usually try to see if
there’s any way to enhance the values and
contrast using the Channels.
Creature
concepts
Paint expressiv
expressivee
monsters for games
 Daryl Mandryk
 These creations often Having worked in the
entertainment industries
help to inspire the team, since 1999, Daryl has put
his name to many
or to generate discussion projects, including Turok,

 within
 within it SSX and TRON. In his
workshop, he reveals
Daryl Mandryk, page 64 some of his secrets to
creating dynamic
creature art. Put your creature in a scene
to inspire the art team.
Turn to page 64

 W orkshops
How to paint amazing creature art 
60 Paint an epic alien battle
with Luke Mancini
Compose a vivid showdown scene
between two alien combatants.
64 Paint dynamic concept
art with Daryl Mandryk 
Create an action scene to showcase
 your
 your creatu
creature
re desi
design.
gn.
Creature concepts
 Paint an alien battle

Luke Mancini
COUNTRY: US

Luke is an
Australian
concept artist
who moved

Discover how to get close to the action as Luke Mancini

creates a vivid clash between two powerful combatants
n the real-time strategy game
I StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty,
the player has an isometric
bird’s-eye view. This works
 wonderfully for masterminding your
opponent’s defeat, but it can leave
I’ve decided to show a single moment in  
the midst of a battle. The image is of an
encounter between a Protoss Archon –
a massively powerful warrior – and the
most terrifying ground unit in the Zerg
swarm, the Ultralisk.
across the
world to sunny California
to work at Blizzard
Entertainment on the
video game StarCraft 2.
http://ifxm.ag/luke-m
warriors collide, and emphasise the
GET YOUR
contrast between the feral, organic power
of the Zerg beast and the pure, focused
energy of the Archon. While battles in
RESOURCES
See page 114 now!
StarCraft 2 regularly involve hundreds of
units, I’ll focus solely on this duel, relying
 History Eraser
Holding Alt/Option while
using the Eraser tool
enables you to erase on
your current layer to an
earlier version of your
image – you can set the
destination in the History
Tighten the
palette to any point in
your process to clean up 4 underpainting
new work easily. You can
Next, I delete the pale layer and start
also set your Undo levels
quite high and set your refining the colours underneath in a new
History Options to Normal layer to match the decisions I’ve
Automatically Create
made with my linework. I start thinking
New Snapshot When
Saving to make full use about the lighting here, alt hough I’m not
of this tool. doing anything too dramatic in that
regard in this image. I want a general ‘sun’
Rough it in light over most of it, with the energetic
1 I start with a quick rough sketch to get the composition sorted out, and after blue glow from the Archon supplying a
doodling a bit I settle on a shot that gives the two characters a roughly even presence in dramatic second light source.
the image, while still emphasising their dramatic difference in scale. I keep my strokes
broad and loose at this stage to try to capture the energy that I’ll aim to maintain all the Begin to paint
 way to the final composition. 5 Now I begin the stage that takes up most of the work in an
image such as this – rendering it! I start painting over the top of the
tighter lines, trying not to go too high with highlights. I’m focusing
on getting the forms reading right at this stage. It’s better to get this all
 worked out first and then add your brighter specularity and lighting
later, to make sure it stays consistent.

Lay colour in early

2 I already have a fairly strong idea of where I want to go in terms of colour, but
I need to lay it in as early as I can to see if it’s going to work. I darken the sketch layer so
it receives colour better, and then block in my first pass on a Linear Light layer. The
blending mode I use here varies from piece to piece, but will always be an Overlay type
because this enables you to push lights and darks with the colours you’re using.

Start working in
3 some of the details
Once the basic colour stage is complete,
I go back in to add some more details
over the top. Since the rough sketch that
I drew of the Archon and Ultralisk in the
first step is so basic, some more decisions Continue to flesh
about the design and composition need 6 out the details
to be taken before I can make a start on I normally try to avoid painting in effects
the painting proper. I add a white layer so early in an image, but considering that
at around 80 per cent opacity, just to be the Archon is a being of pure energy,
able to see where I’m drawing, and then some of that needs to be taken into
I begin to flesh out the character’s details account at this stage. To that end, I
in linework. At this early stage in the compromise between rendering some of
painting, I’m still not going too far with his armour as if lit by the general scene
the detail – I’m focusing on the main light, and having the rest illuminated by
 C o 
op  y mer ged 
Shi f  ft 
t  +
  C t 
tr 
r  l 
l +
  C ( P 
PC 
  ) 
C
Shi f 
ft 
t  +
  C md +C ( M
ac )
Separ ate, tr 
ansf or m
and a ad d j
 juust ar eas of  f a
a
lay er ed ima
ge w ithout
f lat
lattening it.

Details and light

Work out the background
7 Before I start on the effects stage I want to get the image feeling more whole, so
I move on to the background in order to pull it together. With a smeary opaque brush
and judicious use of the Smudge tool to keep a sens e of movement, I roughly paint in
the swirling energy around the Archon and the hooked claws of the Ultralisk, which
form something of a fframe
rame for the centre of the piece.
PHOTOSHOP
CUSTOM BRUSHES:
SMEAR
I use this to paint clouds,
glows and effects. This
soft, oily brush gives
a subtly painterly feel
that’s a great choice for
creating backgrounds
and blending.
10 Now it’s time to go back and finish
off the rendering on the Ultralisk and pull
the piece together. On a new Normal
layer I add specular highlights and finish
details such as his eyes, teeth and some
extra spikes. I also add some secondary
blue lighting from the Archon’s energy,
 which helps to pop
pop his
his face
face and upper
shell out from the background.
Final effects
11 Using two new Effects layers with
the same Linear Dodge layer properties as
earlier, I add the rest of the energy effects:
the Archon’s bolt of psionic lightning,
the transparent tendrils extending from
his armour, and a s econd pass of blue
lighting across the Ultralisk. Again, it’s
important here to use dark colours in this
layer so that these effects don’t wash out.

SQUARE

The angle jitter on this

brush can give more life
and texture to your
painting than a regular
round brush. I use this
brush for the majority of
the painting in this piece.
Get energised
8 Once the Archon’s armour and basic cloudy glow are all painted in, I can start
 working
 working on the psionic
psionic energy that surrounds him. I use a new new layer
layer set to Linear
Linear Dodge,
Dodge,
 with a dark blue
blue Outer Glow also setset to Linear Dodge,
Dodge, to start painting in the energy
lines on his armour. Depending on the colour underneath it, a Linear Dodge layer can
be very harsh, so I stick to dark blues at this stage to stop it blowing out to white.

Pushing the
9 Archon’s energy
 When I’ve got the surrounding
surrounding glow
painted just how I want it, I start to work
on the energy that forms the Archon. This
creature embodies the pinnacle of the
Protoss’s psionic technology, so the
energy is a key feature. Using the same
layer, I paint in his hands and the power
arcing off and between his armour Tweak, texture and sharpen
plating. At this stage, I also use the 12  As a finishing touch, I add
add a low opacity
opacity Overlay
Overlay concrete
concrete
Gradient tool set to dark blue at a very texture over the image to provide some grain, and use a Levels
low opacity to push the saturation  Adjustment
 Adjustment layer.
layer. I mask
mask off both of
of these to be
be stronger
stronger over the
around the character. This helps to Ultralisk, where the contrast needs to be pushed further. The last step
emphasise the brightness of the Archon’s is to flatten the image and apply a light Unsharp Mask filter, which
Creature concepts

Daryl Mandryk  PAINT DYNAMIC

CONCEP
ONCEPTT ART
COUNTRY: Canada
COUNTRY: Canada

Daryl has
worked in the
entertainment
industry for
over 11 years,
first as a 3D modeller
and texture artist, then
as a concept artist. His
clients include EA. Daryl Mandryk  shows
 shows you how to get imaginations fired up
www.mandrykart.com
as you take a game scene idea from sketch to completion
GET YOUR
RESOURCES
See page 114 now!

orking in the games industry
W
developing concept art, part
of my job is to visualise
moments in a game. These
creations often help to inspire the team,
or generate discussion about the project.
Sometimes these ideas will be provided
Paint dynamic
dynamic concept
concept ar 
In this workshop I’ll develop a quick to help give your image a photographic
doodle from scratch then develop it into feel and find out why more detail isn’t
a finished product ready for presentation always better.
to a client. I’ll take you through t he steps  You
 You don’t
don’t need to be an expert in
in
I use to flesh out an idea and, as I go, I’ll Photoshop to follow this workshop – in
share my thought processes regarding fact, many of the concepts explored here
idea development, composition and  will transfer
transfer over
over to any program you
 Creature concepts

Maintain
momentum
Paint as much as you can
in one sitting. If you
constantly start and stop
a painting, it’ll take you
a long time to finish it
and you’ll end up losing
creative momentum.
Take the time to really
get absorbed by the
Make a quick start The finished sketch Try to work the
painting process. This
approach will also teach
1 with abstract forms 3 I’m happy with the composition 5 whole painting
you to work more quickly For this image, I imagine a moment in and don’t have to make any drastic I tend to zoom out and work on the image
and efficiently.
my head. When I don’t have a specific changes, so I continue to flush out the as a whole, picking out areas that need
idea or brief that I’m working towards, sketch and quickly paint in a face for the attention and tightening them up a little
I like to start very loosely, almost painting monster. This might change later on, but before bouncing around somewhere else.
in an abstract manner. I try to get because it’s a focal point of the image it’s  This keeps me from getting too obsessed
something on the canvas quickly, just important to get something in there  with a certain area and lets me see the big
using a few different texture brushes, quickly to set the mood. I’m keeping the picture. I add another character, who is
exploring and trying to see something image greyscale for now – taking colour being smashed by the giant fist. I really
emerge from the fog. When I think I find out of the process early on can simplify  want to sell the impact and capture the
something in the shapes, I know I'm things and help you concentrate on just action. I make a mental note to add more
ready to move on to the next stage. If building a good composition. dust and debris at a later st age.
nothing appears then I'll just keep
exploring in this way until something
does. It’s okay to take your time here;
eventually an idea will spark but
sometimes it just takes a while.

 
PHOTOSHOP
CUSTOM BRUSH:
DUST BRUSH
 
This is a versatile brush
that can be used for
 
many different effects.
For this image, I used
it to create the dust
clouds, as well as some
atmospheric effects.
 
Composition and
2 idea development
I start to see an image in my head of what
this could be, so now I choose a standard
chalky brush and start refining a few
areas. I picture an angry monster laying
waste to an unfortunate adventuring
party. This could be a boss encounter that
the party is a bit too low level to take on.
This early on, the details aren’t important
– I’m just trying to make sure the big
shapes and composition feel correct, and
offer a sense of movement and action.
There will be plenty of time to detail and
render later on, but for now I just keep
things sketchy and messy. I’m most  
interested in creating a strong base to
work from.  
 s ad d ed 
Co l o u r i    a
   t h ro  u gh 
 s
 co mb i n   a t i o n o  f m an  y l a y er 
First colour washes Use dramatic lighting
4 6
Digital tools make adding colour I try to keep my lighting dramatic
easy. Here, I use a combination of several and interesting. This usually means strong
Colour and Overlay layers to quickly add lights that are at a pleasing angle to the
life to the painting and establish a basic subjects, and cast good shadows. I don’t
palette. It isn’t exact ly what I want but it’s feel it’s necessary to light the entire scene
a good base to work from. Colour can be – instead, I’ll have certain areas fade out
very tricky and I find it evolves as the into darkness or fog. I try to use lighting
painting progresses – I treat it the same as a tool to guide the viewer’s eye and
way as any other part of the painting. highlight the focal points of the image.
 Also, lighting is the best tool you have to
describe form, so if something is feeling a
bit flat, cast some light on it to help it pop
off the page.

Pr im
  a   y d 
r  i e 
r  c 
  t io n  a  l l  gh 
i   t 

 e…
  si  t i o n h  er 
T hi   k i  ab u  t o v er al l co m po   Se co n da   y po     gh  t 
r  i n t li 

Check the composition
7 I quickly flip the image (Image>Edit>Flip Horizontal) to see if it works in
reverse. If the composition is strong, it should work just as well when mirrored or upside
down. I usually flip the canvas a number of times as I work, to give myself a fresh
perspective on things and check for errors. I tend to wait until the very end of a painting
to make a final decision on whether to keep it as is, or mirror it. There are really no rules
here and I just pick what seems the most natura l to me.
Push the light
8 I make a new Curves Adjustment
layer and brighten everything up a bit.
 Then I fill the box beside the layer (the
Layer Mask) with black to hide the layer ’s
contents. With a Soft Airbrush selected, I
can go back in and start to paint white in
the mask channel to reveal the brightened
layer. This is a good technique to brighten
certain areas of your painting in a non-
destructive fashion. It’s more of an image-
editing technique than a painterly
approach, but I believe in using whatever
tool gets the result you want. Tr y it out.
Paint dynamic concept ar 
Inv er se  
s el ec ti o
 n 
C tr  l +
  Shi ft  +
  I ( PC
  ) 
C md +Shi ft  +   I ( Mac )
P aint w ithin
and ar ound
a selection qu
ick ly .
10 Spell special effects
I mock up some special effects for
the hero’s magic blast. I draw a pattern
in 2D and use the Free Transform tool
(Ctrl+T) to position it where I need to.
I mess around with some layer effects and
overlay layers to give it a magical glow.
Add debris
11 I try to imagine the forces of cause and effect in the image.
I want the viewer to feel the force of the impact, so I paint in some
blocky shapes and then add Motion Blur (Filter>Blur>Motion Blur)
to give the impression they’re being sprayed upwards. Little touches
such as this can really help to give your images a photographic feel.
Add atmosphere
9 I want to create a bit of distance
and scale, so I pick a big, blobby airbru sh
and start lightly painting in some foggy
atmosphere here and there. I do this on
a new layer so I can easily dia l it back if
I overdo it. This also functions as a form
of contrast control – adding a layer of fog
brings the values of the paint below it 12 Perspective puddles
I use the Lasso tool to make some
closer together, reducing contrast and quick selections to paint within. These
pushing it backwards in space. Using this Actions are  will be puddles of water on the ground.
technique, I can pick out parts of the your friend  They serve a dual purpose: they help to
Use custom actions to
image that I want to jump forward, such automate time-intensive
give the ground more interest, and
as the monster’s knee. tasks. For example, if you smaller puddles in the background work
have a set of brushes you to push the space back, and help to sell
like to use for specific
tasks, make an action
the illusion of a 3D space.
that loads them with one
keystroke. Another good
example is making an
action to flip the canvas
horizontally, which I do
all the time. The seconds
you save add up when
you find yourself doing
the same thing a
thousand times.
 Creature concepts
g h
Scro l l t hrou
 la yers
& Mac )
A l t+[, ] (PC
m y La  yer tab on m y
I keep
r y mo ni tor, so
seconda
selec t
I can quick ly
rs.
 various la ye

Use photographs Don’t overdo it

13 Here and there I like to composite 16  While detailing an image I constantly remind myself not to overdo it. This figure
parts of photographs into the image. is in motion and, although he’s close to the camera, how much deta il would your eye
 These are either pictures I’ve taken myself really pick up? If I were to go crazy and detail out every last bit of armour, the result
or photos I’ve found online. They’re a  would be stiff and unappealing. Sometimes you just need to get across the impression
quick way to add detail in certain areas of something and the viewer’s mind will do the rest.
that would otherwise take too long to
paint, and in production these little
time-saving tricks are very important.

Put in dust and light

14 I add some more dust, filling the bottom left of the image,
and start to play with the strong light coming from the side. I use an
Overlay layer to show some of the light-bleeding effect. I try to imagine
the light travelling through all the dust and debris that’s being kicked
up, and the way it would scatter in the scene. It’s a tricky balance – the
light should be diffuse enough to suggest atmosphere, but bright
enough to suggest daylight.

The home stretch Fresh perspective

17 One way I know my painting is
nearly done is that the law of diminishing
returns starts to kick in. Brushstrokes are
having less and less impact, so eventually  
it just feels like I’m overworking things if
I continue. Now is a good time to put the
painting aside for a day or two, and look
at it later on with fresh eyes. I’ll usually  
see something I want to change.
18  A day later, I make some final
adjustments to the focal points of the
image – the monster’s face and the elf
wizard. I don’t necessarily add more
detail; instead, I want to concentrate on
making sure their designs read well and
are strong contrasts to one another.
When I’m satisfied with these last
changes, I call the painting done.

Refine the image

15 I start to feel like everything is in
place and working well together. Now
much of the painting process turns to
refining and improving my ideas. I start
to add some details to the elf’s armour
and begin to think about how to refine
the design. It’s time to tackle the
micro-issues in the painting – but I’m
 ESSENTIAL ART
RESOURCES
 Videos, images, brushes
and more are available
 with your digital
editions!

i  
P 
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 d 
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.

 Try out a digital edition

for FREE today!
Just search for ‘ImagineFX’ on these selected platforms…
Environment
painting 
Master the rules of
composition for
better art 

Knowing the landscape of

the real world helps to create
better environment art
Jung Park, page 76
 Jung Park
The awarding-winning
concept artist, who has
worked on God of War
III, Starhawk and Guild
Wars 2, shows how to
create a unique video
game environment to
establish a scene for
gameplay designers.
Create an exciting, believable
video game environment.
Turn to page 76

 W orkshops
How to paint original game worlds
72 Make a setting feel
believable with Robh Ruppel
How to guide a player in your world
 with Uncharted 3’s leading artist.
76 Establish the scene of a
game with Jung Park 
 The God of War III artist shows you
how to paint an emotive, real scene.
82 Introduce unique visuals
with Stephan Martiniere
 Add story elements to your
environment painting.
84 Visualise a game world
with Joe Sanabria
See how one of the key locations
from Fallout: New Vegas was made.
Environment paintin

Turn a street into a compelling game

location by following the expert advice
of Robh Ruppel, as he shows how
to generate rich, detailed scenery

Robh Ruppel
COUNTRY: US

Robh designs t’s a common misconception  work out the details. In this section, of what we do involves making these

I
for films, that concept work is all about  which is based on Yemen, the player races look alive, purposeful and believable.
video games,
theme parks
blue-sky problem solving – across the bridge but shouldn’t be able to In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to
and print meaning that anything goes. leap down. The designer added long bars set the scene for a video game. I start by
campaigns. His clients  This couldn’t be further from reality, as an indicator that gameplay needed to creating a rough layout, then lay in some
include Naughty Dog.
because most design work has some kind be blocked here, but none of the details textures and add background detail,
www.robhruppel.com
of restriction involved.  were worked out – that’s our job as artists. before refining the image with lights and

GET YOUR Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is

a realistic game, in that most of the
 The designers finetune the playing
experience and we figure out how to
set dressing. Along the way, you’ll also
see how I give life to a scene through the
RESOURCES

Rough draft
1 Before I start the painting, the first
step towards creating my scene is to make
a very quick colour rough. This sets in my
mind the mood, colour, time of day and
tonality required for the final image, and
means I don’t spend hours floundering
and searching for the right look. Now that
Make a setting feel believabl
Lay in textures
2 I start laying in textures but they
need modifying: details have to be added,
taken out and repainted. Working flat
helps to speed up that part, and then More texturing
they’re ‘tipped in’ using a range of 3 Here you can see my first pass on the texture on the underside of
transform tools – mostly Free Transform, the buildings on the left; I also add more to the right side of the image.
Perspective and Warp. No photo texture  There’s no easy way to do this other than painstakingly adding and
 Environment paintin
Work with
your grids
Always check your
perspective against the
grids you make. Solidity
and believability come
from consistency and
that’s based on the forms
working with your
established vanishing
points. Remember that
this affects everything
from the thickness of
a wall to its texture.
D is tor t mode
C )
C tr l+ T, C tr l (P
Cmd+  T, Cm d (Mac )
rans form
Bring up the T
rm, then hold
 tool, trans fo
 /C md to flip
do wn C trl
e.
 to Dis tor t mod
Add the fence
4  This is my solution for the wrought
iron fence: it’s ornate but pointy to
discourage the player from scaling it.
I start with a flat design that, once the
section is set, I duplicate and add to until
I have a full-length structure. Then I use
Free Transform to fit the perspective of
the scene. You can also see the beginning
of the stairs on the right. The tonality is
critical: if they feel real in this version,
the details will just enhance them later.
The occlusion pass
5 Next I work on some more details,
adding pipes, beams and supports to the
buildings. Most of these are stroked paths
to which I add a little light a nd shadow.
 Then it’s time for an occlusion pass.
Occlusion is the subtle darkening that
happens when surfaces meet and the
light rays bounce less and less between
them. I do some simple airbrushing on
a separate layer, set to Multiply.
Hanging lights
6 Once that’s done I can begin
adding the hanging lights, which will
be strung in a few rows between the
buildings on the left and right of the
image. I’ll be using lots of them, so this is
not the time to make things complicated
for myself: the wire is a stroked path and
I keep things simple by making one bulb
and duplicating it. I take some time
placing them correctly in the scene. I’m
still thinking about other aspects of the
composition as a whole at this stage, and
Let there be light
7 Now I can turn on the sets of
hanging lights that I added in the
previous step. A radial gradient set to
Color Dodge gives them a nice glow and
adds to the atmosphere of the scene. Light
travels so, once they’re lit, I need to add
the effect on the pavement below. This is
done on an airbrushed layer set to Screen.
Create the car
8 I want an older European model
of car, so I use Google’s library and make
a simple render inside SketchUp for
perspective. All the reflections and details
 will be painted in later. Adding the stairs
needs precision and care, so drawing and
perspective are the next things I need to
concentrate on. I work out all the stairs’
thicknesses in perspective by using paths
to accurately lay them out.
Flatten the image
9 I add more details on the stairs,
and at this point the file is over 1GB in
size. I feel good about my progress so
I flatten and rename it, then continue to
add more levels. One disadvantage to
painting everything flat is that when you
tip it in perspective, the depth is thrown
off. I go back in and add thickness to the
cobblestones and pavement trim: these
extra steps sell the reality of the image.
10 Set dressing
So far it’s just a lot of f lat planes
and textures – it needs life! My typical
procedure is to work in flat shapes first,
and then add modelling,
texture and so on. I block
in bins, boxes and other
elements you might find
in a real location.
More details
11 Keeping the solidity of the simple
geometric shapes in mind, I add lighting
and detail to the objects on the pavement.
 This is all very loosely
done and indicative, but
the illusion makes it seem
like there’s more going
on than there really is.

Wear and tear
12 I continue to add set dressing,
 which helps to make the environment
look inhabited – and therefore more
realistic. You can see bits of paper and
other rubbish on the pavement, and I
also work on some subtle wear and tear
on the road. This is all hand painted.
The streetlights
13 Now I add the streetlights, using
the same workflow as before. I design the
light flat, work out the basic colour value
and then tip it in perspective and add
modelling, lighting and so on. There’s
more set dressing too – some electrical
conduits along the shops on the left. I use
the same procedure here as for t he pipes.
Make a setting feel believabl
Add lighting effects Hand painting
14 Here are the streetlights blended 17 It’s time to add the group of people standing in the street and
into the scene with some lighting effects the effect of the lights on the ground. Lots of hand painting marries
and subtle modelling added. I take the characters into the scene. It’s worth remembering that no reference
particular care to get the perspective right, is ever perfect – a good artist sweats these details.
and to consider the viewer ’s eye as I do so.
I use a little Transform Warp to get the Give it character
ellipse of the lamp to seem as though it’s 18 Next, I add another character in
above our eye level. the foreground. I keep all the people
looking into the picture – they’re there for
Work on the car scale and ambience, and this stops the
15 It’s time to make that car sit in  viewer focusing on their personalities.
the scene. First, I add the reflections –  This is primarily an environment study.
having drawn a lot of cars at art college,  Also, there’s a subtle three-point
this is pretty easy to fake. I also darken perspective going on here that I have to
it down the sides and add the reflection conform to. The broad strokes sell it and
of the light sources. Then I make a the details support it. You need both!
subtle perspective shift based on my
grids to finally tweak the object into the
perspective of the scene.
Distant detailing
16 I correct the perspective on the red
awning and begin to add distant details
such as adverts, posters, trucks, cars and
pedestrians, all of which flesh out the
scene. None of these can be faked or done
haphazardly because that will blow the
illusion. This is where a lot of artists don’t
follow through and the work ends up
looking ill-conceived or unfinished. I add
far away lights, making sure they recede
in the distance and maintain the same
height as the foreground ones.
The final image
F in
  d a l ay er  19  When I’ve made the finishing
V , C tr  l -  c li c
 k   ( PC  ) 
V , C md -c li c touches to the environment and the
 k   ( Mac )
In Mov e mode
( V)  , foreground character, my image is
C tr  l/ Cm
  d-click o
something to
n complete. Here’s the final piece with all
instantly 
f ind its lay er . my grids turned on, so you can see
how they relate to the composition.
Solidity and believability are grounded
Environment paintin

ESTABLISH THE
SCENE OF A GAME
Jung Park’s expert advice will ensure your concept
art really sells the setting of your proposed game
art of my day job at Sony  you produce different kinds of concept

Jung Park 
P involves coming up with
environment art for video
games. Presenting my ideas
art. Thinking too much about your image
can slow your progress, and makes the
painting look stiff and boring. I guess it’s
COUNTRY: US
to either external clients or Sony’s art the same for character art, in which you’re
South Korean- directors isn’t always easy, but coming up using silhouettes to come up with
born Jung has  with cool design and fresh, unique interesting shapes. Simply pushing and
spent the past
eight years
images in the first place is easily the most pulling your values enables you to create
working as a challenging part of the whole process. the illusion of depth.
senior concept artist Nothing is more daunting than starti ng My inspiration comes from looking at
on a range of titles,
 with a blank canvas. photographs and watching movies, and
including Guild Wars and
God of War III. I believe that any successful concept studying organic matter. Knowing the
www.jpconceptart.com starts with visualising an abstract shape. landscape of the real world helps to create
I usually start by throwing down large better environment art, and in this
GET YOUR brush strokes here and there to create  workshop the process will be aided by the
RESOURCES  volumes and shape the environment,
 without straying too far from the client’s
use of different Photoshop brushes and
lighting to define the space and mood of
See page 114 now!
brief. Painting abstract shapes can help the composition.
Establish a game’s scen
 Environment paintin

Paint abstract shapes Introduce colours

1 I explore the canvas by painting abstract shapes with big texture
brushes while keeping to my basic idea for the image. Texture brushes
help to break up the large, flat areas on a blank canvas, and I use
between five and six different brushes to add visual noise. This step
helps me to get a feel for the painting. It ’s important to keep the
thumbnail size small at this stage: I rarely zoom into the image,
instead preferring to see the overall shape and concentrate on creating
a decent amount of contrast.
3 I start adding some colours to my black and white sketches. I dec ide that a colour
palette that implies metal and a rusted bronze material is suitable for my steampunk
factory environment. I also introduce a human figure just to show the scale of the
building. As you can see, I have layered images of background, mid- and foreground
elements; I keep these aspects separate when painting because it’s easier to see the
image’s depth of field.

PHOTOSHOP Draw a rough sketch

CUSTOM BRUSHES:
SKETCHING BRUSH
Great for a painterly feel.
Note: the default Round
Brush looks too digital!
TEXTURE BRUSH
 
I use this brush at the
start of a painting to
create textures and
introduce levels of noise.
SMOKE BRUSH
This brush enables me to
paint softer edges or
2  After playing around with the
abstract shapes, I start to roughly develop
my scene. My favourite fantasy setting is
steampunk, and I’m keen to paint
something from the genre so I decide to
depict the exterior of a lava processing C ol o
  r   Bal anc e
C tr  l +
  B ( PC
  )  C md +B ( 
factory. I’m pretty satisfied with my Use Mac )
this to access
the C olor 
sketches that I have because I already have Balance men
u, w hich w ill
large, medium, and small shapes. You help y ou to ch
ange
colour s on y 
will probably want to have these different our 
image quick 
sizes of shapes when you start painting ly .
images, to make your environment more
interesting. I’m pleased at how the shapes Adding to the mood
are laid out. Sometimes these shapes also 4  The colour that’s present is essentially monochrome, so I want to introduce
define the scale of the look, but at this some warm colours originating from underneath the factory. It’s an industrial building
stage I’m not locked into this design. that handles red-hot materials so I primarily use yellows, oranges and metallic shades.
Instead of getting stuck with what I have  This injects mood into the piece and gives it a dramatic voice. Here, I’ve overlaid a grid
right now, I keep on exploring the onto my image to ensure the perspective is correct. A lack of realism can seriously
 Establish a game’s scen

Vary your
shapes
It’s crucial to include
large, medium, small
and more detailed
shapes in any painting
of an environment. Every
design that you see in
the real world – be it a
computer, phone, printer
or even a house – has
those shapes in the
design. If you start
introducing too many
similar sizes of shapes
into your image, it’ll end
up looking boring and
even cartoony.

Painting pipe details

5 Many modern industrial buildings feature pipes and ducts, so I start to add some
pipes to the factory exterior to make the painting more realistic. Previously, I noticed
that the building was mostly made up of large shapes – t here aren’t enough smaller
elements, and the introduction of the pipes is the solution. I flip the image frequently to
check for mistakes and to ensure that it is well balanced.
Stepping into the focal point
7 I realise that there’s no focal point to the image. The focal point
is an area that needs to contain more contrast and is the point that I
 want the viewer to see first. It needs to be eye-catching and interesting.
So I add a bright light to t he lava that’s dripping down from the dome-
shaped machine. In this way I can tell a story: this is the area where the
lava is processed. Getting a feel of when to use different brushes is
always important, so you can get the most out of them. Here, I use the
Soft Cloud Brush to c reate smoke from the lava.

Masking the shape The Warp tool

6 Masking the shapes while you paint is important, because it’ll save you time and 8 Having my perspective grid t urned on helps me to find mistakes,
help to create both clean and sof t edges. It’s also a good habit to get into. You might if any. The ellipse on the harvest machine seems a little off – I want to
 Environment paintin

Check your
values
Create a New
Adjustment layer of Hue/ 
Saturation and place it
on the layer to check
your values regularly –
values are the key to
creating believable
environments. As long as
your values work in your
image, you’ll produce
Check the Navigator palette
9 Once I’m satisfied with the progress I’m making, I start zooming in to add details
awesome visuals – no
matter how badly you
colour them! I always
to different areas that I want to work on. At this st age it’s important to have your Lighten layers
Navigator palette open. Otherwise you can end up overworking certain parts and
remind my students to
check their values.
11 I want to have a little bit more lava
upsetting the balance of the painting. Always keep the big picture in mind, even when dripping down in the background, so I
 you’re working on the smaller elements. I also try to follow the values of the area where duplicate the image and transform it into
I’m painting, otherwise it’ll mess up the entire value structure. a smaller version. Then I choose the
Lighten layer mode to create noise in the
background. This will save me a lot of
time rather than recreating each lava flow.
 This technique comes in useful when you
 want to pop out some light areas.

More dynamism
12  When I started painting this image it was a two-point

10 Add real-world details

I realise that the image has too many hard-edged shapes, so I add some
perspective view. I now realise that it’s not dynamic enough, so I
transform the whole image into three-point perspective view
decorations such as wires, screw bolts and fences to the surfaces. These decorations will using the Distort tool (Edit>Transform>Distort). This introduces
 Establish a game’s scen

C ur ve
  s d ia
  l og
 
C tr  l +
  M ( PC  ) 
C md +M ( M
ac )
Quick ly acc
ess the C ur v 
scr een w hen es
alter ing y our 
image’s br igh
tness
and contr ast.

Painting light rays

13 I still feel that the environment is too dark, so I decide to introduce a secondary
light source. I create five soft brush dots, then transform them and make them look like
 vertical light beams. It enables me to paint light coming down from the sky. Again, I set
the layer mode to Lighten and erase out the part where the light doesn’t hit. It gives the
painting a more natural feel. In this way, I can have nice highl ights on top of the Almost there...
harvesting machine, which redefines the space and shape. 15  To make the building look more imposing and reduce the sense
of emptiness, I add bridges high up above the factory floor. Even
though I’ve added them at this late stage I still try to make them look
 very subtle by using values that are appropriate for the area, so they
don’t change the whole composition of the painting. Right before I
finish the painting, I notice that my image seems a little sharp and has
too much noise. So I apply filters and use Smart Blur tools to soften
some of the edges; I also erase some areas that need a more clean and
sharpened edge.

Use the Marquee tool
14 I’ve already mentioned the importance of having hard and soft edges in painting.
Because the harvesting machine is one of my main focal points, I want it to have more
crisp and sharp edges on top of the dome area. So I select the Elliptical Marquee tool
Finished!
16  After eight hours’ work I’m quite happy with how the image has
turned out. Once I tackle one side of the factory I can develop more
designs of the industrial space through the use of different viewpoints.
For instance, painting the scene from the top of the factory would take
 Environment paintin

Composition considerations
This is my first step towards establishing the composition
of a ship graveyard. I often think of an environment as a
two-dimensional abstract painting: this helps tackle

 g  t 
h    
e  
st a b li
    
 e
 sh  s n
 co  t 
  ra  st ,
mass, colour and balance of shapes rather than details.
Na t ur al l m  i    e  sh a o
d  w
  s i n 
Negative spaces are as vital as positive spaces. I’m careful
to overlap shapes without cluttering the scene.
 e o
 t   p a
l  c
 en ab li  n g   rea s an d d raw t h e  vi  ew er  s’
 c er t ai n a wh  er e  t  i   s
 ’  
 e
n  e  ed 
d  .
a t  t  en  t i on   

INTRODUCE GET YOUR

UNIQUE VISUALS
Stephan Martiniere hints at events to come with
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this exclusive look at his concept art for RAGE

n the second half of our game landscape and introduce new  This particular painting was the first

Stephan
I RAGE I wanted to introduce
something visually different.
 As the tension in the story
Martiniere
COUNTRY: US builds up I was keen for the environment
to reflect that tension and give the player
Stephan is art a sense of danger. The clear blue sky from
director on id
Software’s
earlier in the game gradually changes and
latest game, is overshadowed by ominous dark clouds,
architectural elements not seen in the
other part of the world, as well as
reinforce the game’s post-apocalyptic feel.
I started from the idea of dried-up
seabeds and imagined devastated
coastlines and ruined shipyards. A
graveyard of boats seemed like a great
idea: carcasses of cargo ships buried in the
one to introduce and explore the visual
language such as mood, light, texture and
detail that would define the second part
of the game. This image was also a
narrative exploration; I tend to consider
the visuals and the gameplay intricately
connected. As such, the visual vocabulary
is used for aesthetic purposes, but is also
 Unique visuals

 t 
Na t ur al l i g  h 

 t 
i  h 
Na t ur al l  g How I create…

A METAL
CANYON

1 Warning signs
Graffiti and tags are a big part of
the RAGE landscape: they are the
territorial markings of the many bandit
clans infesting the land. From a
gameplay standpoint they can give the
player some clues and warnings, but
they also serve to bring colour accents
to the monochromatic palette.

Visual flow
In RAGE you walk, run, fight and shoot, but
you also drive, and so it’s important to
establish a composition that enables the
player to quickly understand and navigate
their surroundings. I also choose to use a
variety of boat pieces to create visual
diversity in scales and shapes. This helps
make the area more natural and interesting. Vehicular activity
2 Other details such as tyre marks
are a good visual clue to tell the player
where to go, as well as introducing
human presence. Detail such as oil stains
or rubbish give the scene scale and also
add realism and narrative.
Research and
references
The first step is to undertake some research.
I spend several days looking for references
of ships and deserts, and anything that
relates to the ideas I have in mind for the
scene. I never take
anything for granted.
There are some
incredible references
on the web or in
books and I’m
Down to size
always looking 3 I always include a character or a
for something that
recognisable element to set the scale.
will surprise and
 Environment paintin
VISUALISE A
GAME WORLD
Speedpaints are vital for giving direction to the team
that’s working on a game, as Joe Sanabria explains
orking on a real-life video
W game like Fallout: New Vegas
can throw up odd demands.
My role as art director is to
offer direction to the team and define the
final look for everyone to work towards.
During production of a game it’s not  
unusual to rely on visual reference from
 various sources, such as Flickr, books and
DVDs, to communicate an idea.
However, there are times when a more
direct image is required to deliver the
Through the
1 player’s eyes
My first step is to work on a rough sketch.
 To approximate an in-game view I create a
new image at one-quarter-size of 1080
pixels. My goal is to visualise the gate from
the player’s perspective and, in the time
allocated to me, I need to focus on the
critical parts rather than trivial details.  
right message, and a speed concept
usually does wonders for getting a team
heading in the right direction.
In this workshop I’ll detail the steps I Joe Sanabria
used to create this concept of the main COUNTRY: US
entrance of The Strip in Fallout: New Joe Sanabria
Vegas. I’ll also demonstrate how it’s is a 15-year
important to create the scene a player will veteran of
the games
see as they play the game. This is useful
industry. He
for the whole team to see, and to get a feel dropped out of college
for what the final in-game experience as a physics major and
moved to southern
should feel like.
California to focus on a
career in art. Currently
Joe is an art director at
Composing the scene Obsidian Entertainment,
2 I use the traditional ‘rule of thirds’
busy working on Fallout:
New Vegas.
and place the focal point in the upper http://ifxm.ag/j-sanabria
right quadrant. At this early stage I think
of ways to frame the sign in an interesting GET YOUR
and appealing way. Working quickly and
loosely to flesh out the idea, I try to avoid
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sweating the little details otherwise they
will eat into my work time.
Working on
3 perspective
Once I’m happy with the initial layout
and components of the sketch, I create a
new layer. Then I select the Gradient tool
and draw a gradient using one of the
default presets to define the horizon. I
also put down a wash of colour to start
establishing a palette that will suit the
scene in the game. At this point I lay in a
perspective grid on a separate layer, and
set it to Multiply Blend mode with a low
opacity setting. Now the real fun begins
as I build up the painting, using the grid
 isualise a game world

Adding textures
4 Over the years I’ve found that tool
presets come in handy for adding texture
and details to my concept art, as a
realistic alternative to introducing
photographs overlaid in layers. There
are plenty of Tool Presets that
come with demos or they
can be found online, but
Q ui ck   
it’s just as easy to create T ra   ns fo   r  m
 
them yourself with just a C tr  l +
  T ( PC  )  C md +T ( 
Mac )
little work. For this Hold C tr  l/ Cm   d af ter the
tr ansf or mation
example I start with a appear s and
dialog
pull on
digital photo source, in th
 Environment paintin
Defining a source image
5 I invert the image and then, in the Channels palette, select the
channel with the highest contrast. I then Select All, create a new layer,
paste in the channel selection, set the Blend mode to Overlay on the
new layer and then merge the two layers. Now I remove the colour and
convert it to greyscale: go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation
(Ctrl+U) and reduce the satu ration all the way down. To give it some
pop I sharpen the details using an Unsharp Mask file with the
following settings : Amount 127, Radius 1.0, Threshold 2.
Use presets
Tool presets are one of
Photoshop’s many hidden
gems. By using presets,
the Brush tool is capable
of doing more complex
operations: scaling, dual
brush, scattering and so
on. Like faux-finish
brushes they’re great for
creating texture or
details, and when used
correctly enable you to
quickly paint the details,
rather then scrubbing in a
bunch of brush strokes.
 
 
Tidying the texture
6  To remove the rest of the noise in the background I create a
quick selection with Select>Color Range, then select the Eyedropper
tool and click the paint drips. I set the Fuzziness to a level that gives me
enough of the details without the unwanted concrete texture.
and name it. As you create other tool preset s or acquire them it’s a good idea to organise
Hi de
  Sel ec ti o
 n
C tr  l +
  H ( PC
  )  C md +H
( Mac )
T his enables
y ou to r emo
the ‘ mar chin v e
g ants’ that
y our  selectio
n cr eates,
w hile still ho
lding on
to y our  selec
tion.
Creating a brush Adjust the settings
7 I invert the selection and fill it with 8 I now create a new document at
white, and then clean up any stray pixels 1920x1080 pixels to test the brush and
with a plain brush. I adjust the contrast by play with various settings unt il I’m
going to Image>Adjustments>Levels and satisfied with the effect. What I’m looking
tweak it until there are some rich blacks for is area settings that create interesting
present. This image is quite large, so I’ll patterns and textures, and let me work
change the canvas to 1000x1000 pixels quickly and loosely. I finally arrive at the
and then Select All>Edit>Define Brush results shown here. In addition, in the
Preset and name the brush. The new Scattering menu Scatter is 30 per cent with
brush should now appear in the Brushes a Count of two, and Other Dynamics has
palette, ready for use. Opacity and Flow set to Pen Pressure.
Practise brush management
9 I save the brush as a Tool Preset, then in the palette menu select New Tool Preset
 isualise a game world

Setting the lighting

12  As I’m building up the detail in the
image, I usually find it helpful to establish
a lighting direction at this point and start
 working in with values, to begin creating
depth in the scene and help separate
elements spatially.

Managing layers
13  After a few sips of coffee and some
time, the layers start to build up.
 Although keeping everything on a
separate layer offers me a great deal of
flexibility, it can become difficult to
manage. So I use a little-known
Photoshop shortcut: press V to switch to
the Move tool and then Crtl+click on an
area you want to edit – Photoshop will
autoswitch to the layer that pixel is on.
 This saves me the hassle of naming layers
and organising them into group layers,
 which lets me stay in the zone and keep
things f lowing.

Flip the canvas

14  As I work on fleshing out the
details I periodically flip the canvas
 vertically and horizontally to help spot
Focal points any problems or errors, so that I can
Whenever possible, try
to use other elements in address them sooner rather than later.
the scene to draw the Flipping the image is also a good way to
viewer into the painting look at your work: it gives you a fresh
and help create a strong
overall composition.
perspective and forces you to view it in a
different way to your initial sketch.

10 Painting large shapes

Using a few various brush tool preset s, I create a new layer and star t to build up
the paint while at the same time changing the brush size using the square brackets – [
and ] – to vary the texture. I then select the entire layer, pick the Transform tool (Ctrl+T)
and then right-click in the Transform bounding box. I select Distort from the drop-
down menu, use the grid to get the right perspective, and then try different blend
modes and opacity settings until I find something I’m happy with. This process is
repeated over and over until all the large shapes are blocked in.

The final stretch

Tackling the details
11 Now that all the major shapes are correc t – value, edge, colour and so forth – I
start to break down the large shapes into smaller ones, starting with the largest details
and working my way down to smaller ones. I adjust the opacity of the per spective grid
to make it more pronounced now that the contrast is building up, just so I can see it
15  As I work my way down to the smallest elements, I regularly
zoom in and out and then dec ide to call it a day when I reach t he point
of diminishing returns. Now I’m ready to add some of the finishing
touches. I sharpen the layers and soften others in the background and
foreground to create depth and a focus and, after some overall contrast
and colour adjustments, the image is finished. At this point I feel the
concept communicates what we’re expect ing the game asset to look
like and how it’ll relate to its surrounding in the game. I can now walk
away from the concept satisfied that it has ach ieved its main goal. It’s
Production
design
Learn how concept
components work to
create a unified project 

 All hell has broken loose,
and it’s time for the villagers’
sole hope, Nate McCready, to
step in and save the day 
Matt Allsopp, page 102
Matt Allsopp
Freelance concept artist
Matt has worked on
Fable 3 and Killzone 2,
among other titles. Here
he adds his ideas to the
pot to show how to
create a pitch document
for a new video game.
Add all your designs together to
showcase your video game.
Turn to page 102
 W orkshops
Put together a video game project 
90 Lead character design
with Christian Bravery
Use photo reference to create a
hero pose and character design.
94 Environment design
with Pete Amachree
Create an exotic island setting for
the game’s action scenes.
98 Create the enemy
with Matt Allsopp
How to design a creature to fit
an existing game world.
102 Develop the story
with Matt Allsopp
Create a key frame illustration to
set the video game’s mood.
 Production design

PART ONE OF FOUR

LEAD CHARACTER
Christian Bravery takes you through his thought process and concept
designs for a prospective video game, starting with the hero
here’s so much talk and

Christian
T hyperbole about the term
‘concept art’ that the phrase
has almost become
Bravery meaningless. In this four-part special I’ll
COUNTRY: England try to unravel the mysteries of concept art
Christian runs for budding artists.
Leading Light,  Actually, make that four and a bit parts.
an art and Back in ImagineFX issue 40 I designed a
design agency
that provides
futuristic vehicle called the wasp-copter
character and (it’s in my workshop folder on the disc).
environment concepts In this instalment I’ll be designing the
for the video game and
entertainment industries.
 wasp-copter pilot, who’s also the hero
http://ifxm.ag/ll-design character in our production – as such, he’s
an important one to get right.
GET YOUR I’ll be following a fictitious brief that use when approaching a character design.

RESOURCES suits the purpose of this workshop series,

 which also mirrors the kind of
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commercial brief that the Leading Light
team regularly works to. This means that
I can give you an insight into the various
stages of production design for video
games, rather than simply churn out a
piece of nice-looking art that lacks context
– the big picture, if you like.
Once the team gets the brief, the first
task is to design and visualise all the key
story elements. I’ll be expanding on these
over the four instalments of this tutorial,
and so you can look forward to seeing t he
So, let’s get started!
Bring on the brief
the enemy – weird, giant insects that  This production design brief was created
attack the village. The final task is to for a near-future sci-fi action adventure
create a key moment production  video game. Part of the story takes the
illustration that draws all these elements player to a sleepy, backwater island
together, depicting the battle between our archipelago in the tropics. The scene starts
hero and the invaders. in a small fishing village where our hero is
 There are many great workshops enjoying a relaxing break. Suddenly the
published each month in ImagineFX, and  village is beset by strange happenings that
most of them cover the specifics of culminate in an invasion of weird giant
painting and finishing techniques. Rather insects that are hell-bent on devouring
than go over old ground, I want to offer the villagers. Our hero is pressed into
 Lead character 

IS IT ENOUGH?
If we’re going to capture the essence of
the hero, we’re going to need more details

This is a typical character brief, but where possible

I ask the client to tell me more about the character,
their background and personality, their motivation and
their role in the story. Sometimes this information
comes easily, but occasionally my requests make the
clients realise that these are questions they also need
to find the answers to.
There’s a huge difference between a character
design and a costume design. For example, everyone
knows that Conan wears a loincloth and carries a
sword, but if you put that outfit on Woody Allen, he’s
not going to convince you he’s an invincible barbarian.
So, character design is about describing the person,
their demeanour, lifestyle and the role they play in the
game, book or film; it’s not just about what they’re
wearing. So after the client has expanded on its initial
brief, we can add the following information:

Nate is a military pilot who has come to the

archipelago on R&R.
He’s seen and done a lot in combat that he’d
like to forget and he’s here to do just that.
The last thing he wants is more action and
excitement, but as events unfold he realises
that it’s up to him to save the day.
Nate’s persona sits on the cusp between
youthful cockiness and the dawning cynicism
of early middle age. He’s the reluctant hero,
perhaps even an anti-hero.
It’s important for the character design to
exemplify not only his costume design and
general look, but also his inner character.
 Production design

Creating the character  wrong. Once I have my references, I create a set of

1 I set about collecting images of existing flying
suits, from World War One examples through to space
suits. Always avoid referencing existing entertainment
industry designs or imagery, otherwise you’ll quickly
end up with a copy of a copy of a copy, which is plain
colour thumbnails with the aim of finalising the
costume design and colour scheme as early as possible.
Here I’ve taken inspiration from various eras and used
my reference materials as well as my imagination to
help me come up with a good selection of options.

The benefits of real-world poses

2  After selecting a shortlist, I enlist my right-hand man
Matt Allsopp for modelling duties. For tasks that require realistic
proportions I use photos to capture character poses. This isn’t
always applicable, but in this instance I find that photographing
someone captures the subtleties of character. The danger of
drawing from memory results in the repetition of preferred
poses and a less realistic, more stylised finished piece.

Finalise in pencil detail references for the flight suit. I do

Capture some action photos 4 I import the best photos into three drawings, taking different
3 I use a Canon 50D and shoot in spor t mode. I like to keep Photoshop. Sometimes I work directly elements from the references, mixing
the model moving, directing him as we work while keeping the onto these, but in this case I want to them with my ideas but staying
camera rolling. The shots I get have the movement and life that do a further stage of drawing before I focused on invoking the demeanour
most posed shots lack – it’s really useful for capturing action commit to a pose and costume design. of the character and incorporating
shots if the model can move freely. I can achieve the kind of So I start drawing in pencil, using my them into each design. I select one
shots that are impos sible for a model to hold for a picture, such studio photos as reference for the design and scan it in. This is the one
 Lead character 

Commit to a a second layer, set it to Colour

5 colour scheme
I now have all the elements
together I need to finish the
painting. Next comes the
underpainting. This is based
on my earlier colour  
thumbnails and provides the
groundwork and colour plan  
for the detailed painting to
come. For this stage I open the
drawing in Photoshop, add a
new clean layer, and lay in
some quick greyscale shading
as a Multiply layer. Then I add
Burn and quickly add some
colour. At this point I just ca n’t
resist putting down some
alternative colour schemes
before committing to one.
With this method of working,
the shaded greyscale layer
works hand in hand with the
Colour Burn layer and offers a
speedy way to lay in what
amounts to my underpainting
for the piece, but it’s also
another great way of quickly
trying out colour options.

Make your character memorable

6  A great art director once said to me that a good character
design is one that an eight-year-old can draw after seeing it only
once. It’s not always applicable, but it’s a great adage to b ear in
mind. It’ll help you differentiate your designs from the plethora
of others out there. Here I wanted to use the archetypal white
scarf worn by World War One pilots as a motif for two reasons.
First it harks back to those bygone days of early flight, which Render the finish
evokes feelings of heroic bravery. Second, by simply changing t he 7  With the detailed design
signature colour of the scarf from the typical white to red marks and the colour plan in place it’s a
him out as a unique character but he’s still clearly a pilot. question of working into each
element to render the type of
required finish. When painting
each material that makes up the
character, I spend time thinking
about the texture, environment
and local colour, as well as the  
lighting and shaded areas.
Snapshot of a
8 hero character
I’d like to wrap up this instalment
by commenting on the pose and
attitude of Nate McCready, the
game’s hero. I’ve tried hard to
evoke the persona of a troubled
spirit. Hopefully any observer can
quickly tell that he’s a brave man
with a dark past. Here I’ve pictured
him gazing off into the near
distance – he’s clearly thoughtful
and somewhat melancholy, but his
stance is strong: he’s a man for the
moment, someone to rise to a
challenge. He’s more than simply
a costume design, he’s a fully
formed character!

TURN OVER FOR THE NEXT INSTALMENT…

The project focuses on the game’s environment: an
 Production desig 

PART TWO OF FOUR

THE ENVIRONMENT
After establishing the game’s lead character, Christian Bravery passes the
art baton over to Pete Amachree, who tackles the exotic island setting
reviously Christian Bravery My first thought was for the islands found rich pickings in the design ethos of

Pete
P established the character
design for Nate McCready,
the game’s hero, who gets
themselves. Although sci-fi gives us
licence to depart from the real world, I
thought I’d rein this in and base them on
a shanty town or favela, like those found
in Brazil. These ramshackle places grow
 without the guidance of a town planner.
Amachree caught up in an alien attack while rock formations that we’re used to seeing.  With quality building materials at a
COUNTRY: England recuperating from his latest military I think fantasy works best when one foot premium, ingenuity must take their place.
Pete’s an exploits. All this happens on a tropical is firmly planted in the familiar, while the Furthermore, from an elevated point of
industry island on a distant planet, and this is other rests on something unexpected.  view there’s also a strong horizontal bias
veteran who’s  where I come in. My brief is to create the So, where do the inhabitants of this in many of the source images of shanty
worked for
Electronic
rag-tag fishing village that’s set on this fishing community live? Their traditional, towns that I collected for this project:
Arts, Lionhead Studios lush, off-world archipelago, which is basic lifestyle rules out anything grand or flat, corrugated iron roofs that stretch off
and Blade Interactive.  where Nate first runs into the hostile or even firmly established. Indeed, their into the distance. This should work well
He’s been a concept artist
for the past five years.
aliens. On the opposite page is the client environment must reflect their own  with the compositional arrangement that
http://ifxm.ag/pete-a brief for the game’s setting. precarious existence. Aesthetically, I I’m developing.

GET YOUR
RESOURCES
See page 114 now!
 he environmen

SOURCE
MATERIAL
Pete has this vital piece of
advice when generating
concept art for a client…
In this tutorial I try to show the value of
research and looking for inspiration in
unexpected places. If time permits,
give your client as much source
material as possible. Loose sketches
will show the direction that you mean
to take the project, while mood boards
of inspirational images from the
internet or your own photo collection
will add clarity to the story you wish to
tell. This groundwork is always time
well spent, and will help the project
develop smoothly.

Project:
Leviathan
Brief
The action takes place in and
around a village situated on a
tropical island archipelago. The
setting is far in Earth’s
future, or perhaps on an alien
planet, so you can go pretty
 wild. Try to come up with
something new – a fresh take on
the typical tropical paradise
image, but with recognisable
roots in that archetype. Just
remember that this is a real
physical and natural place, and
above all else it needs to feel
viable and believable.
Production design

Get the basics

1 right
 At this stage I’m not committing
myself to any detail. I’m simply
blocking out the composition of
the larger elements and establishing
the light source. A thumbnail like
this will usually be enough to set
the scene, and give the client a
chance to project their own ideas
onto the canvas. Compositionally,
the edge of the foreground island
and its shadow provide a pleasing
frame for its neighbour, which will
be the main focus of the painting.
 There’s a horizontal bias developing
here: the painting will be divided
into distinct horizontal bands of
tone, to improve the flow and
break up the broad expanses of
 water and sky.

Add colour seemingly narrow guidelines.

2  A college tutor once told
me that there’s nothing more  
daunting than a blank canvas;
it was possibly the best piece of
advice I’ve ever been given. So,
 with that in mind, I’ve slammed
down some really basic colour.  
But even with strengthening the
tonal arrangement a bit more
and loosely blocking in some of
the manmade structures, the
palette is still far too limited.
 The setting is tropical, with
azure skies and turquoise seas,  
but there’s still considerable
chromatic scope within these
See Caspar David Friedrich’s
The Sea of Ice for a great
example of this. For now, the
ochre of the rock formations
contrasts well enough with the
deep blues, but at some point I
will need to introduce much
more variety. However, most of
the middle of the island will be
covered with manmade
structures, so time spent
painting subtle, nuanced
rock texture would be time
wasted. Now is not the time
for fancy brushes or layer
blending modes.

Channel tab. Because this is a greyscale

image I can drag-select the red, green or
blue channel down to the Create New
Channel button at the bottom of the
Channel tab. I name this new channel
Midground Struts Mask and, with it
selected, go to Image>Adjustments>
Invert. Now I hide the Midground Struts
Mask layer group and create a new layer
called Midground Struts. Next I load
the Midground Struts Mask channel
and click the Add Layer Mask button.
Before I start painting, I make sure I have
the layer – and not its corresponding
Build some scaffolding  with 100 per cent opacity white and hide mask – selected.
3 I block in some more broad structural e lements and it. I also drag this group to the top of the  With my layer mask in place I’m free
composite a water image from CGTextures.com. This is a quick way stack. Now using the Line tool I alter the to have as much or as little colour and
to get some realistic texture into the water. The art director likes the  width, change the colour to black and tonal variation along the length of a
idea of the settlement being supported by rickety scaffolding. How begin dragging out lines where I want scaffolding pole as I wish. Some parts
can I create an intricate network of spars and poles quickly with them with one eye on perspective and may be in bright light, with others in deep
naturalistic lighting, and integrate it convincingly with the rest of another on creating a ramshackle pattern. shadow. To avoid any unwanted overlap,
the structure? The answer lies in Photoshop’s channels feature.  After I’m done drawing I reveal the white I create a separate Foreground Struts Mask
On the Layer Options tab I click New Group and name it background layer (this must be at the layer group and go through the same
  The environment 

Add points of interest

7  At long last, the clouds get some much-needed attention,
and I’m tightening up other areas that have been neglected: the
Vary the colours foreground landing platform and a perky little island-hopping
4  The limited palette is starting to jar. So I introduce some more subtle variations, copter perched on one of the landing platforms of the main island.
conscious of not letting any one colour dominate the mood and of my w ish to keep the  We’re almost there.
loose horizontal banding of colours a chromatic theme of the painting. Occasional
flashes of vibrant colour on the tarpaulins and rooftops of the buildings also add to the Finishing touches
palette. The introduction of the boardwalk at the bottom of the image also helps to 8  The copter needs a bit more sparkle, so I add some highlights
break up that expanse of water, and guides the eye into the central focus of the painting. to the tailfin and engine housing. I also increase the brightness of
the areas in direct sunlight by going to Select>C olor Range and
clicking Highlights. This creates a select ion marquee around the
Break up the areas of the image that Photoshop deems are highlights. With the
5 foreground selection still active, I go to the Create new fill or adjustment layer
I’m not yet convinced with the direction button and select Levels. This increases or reduces the luminosity of
the buildings are going in, so while I’m the selected part of the image. I’d like to restr ict the boosted light
mulling that over, I concentrate on the levels to the island, boardwalk and jetty, so with the Brush tool I
foreground sea element. It’s not bad, but I paint out the areas of the Adjust ment layer’s mask that I wish to
think it would benefit from being broken remain unchanged. I also add another quarter or so to the right of
up some more. I introduce some giant the image. It opens the image out more, and provides a greater idea
 water lilies that break up the expanse of of scale and distance. And that’s me done.
blue, introduce some new colour and also
strengthen the sense of depth. The
speedboat moored at the jetty also helps
give a sense of scale.

Introduce a sense of character

6 I’ve hinted in my initial sketches that much of the building materials were
salvaged from derelict vehicles, advertising hoardings, cargo containers and whatever
else was available. This gives me a chance to tip my hat to some of my heroes, t he titans TURN OVER FOR THE
of sci-fi and fantasy art from my childhood – namely Ralph McQuarrie, Chris Foss,
NEXT WORKSHOP…
Our artist tackles the
Ron Cobb and Angus McKay. Their weird and wonderful environment and ship designs  project’s creature design…
 Production design

PART THREE OF FOUR

THE ENEMY
It’s Leading Light’s Matt Allsopp’s turn to work on the game, as he fills
the alien archipelago from part two with a hostile insect creature design
o now we have designs for the hatched, just like frog spawn, the long, spindly legs. Peter Amachree has

S game’s hero, Nate McCready,

and his vehicle, along with
the island environment in
creatures will begin their lives as tiny
tadpoles before developing legs and
leaving the water to wreak havoc on the
already laid down the aesthetics of its
environment, and I can quickly see how
this long-legged creature idea will fit in.
Matt Allsopp
COUNTRY: England  which the game takes place. My task is to surrounding populated islands. I will still explore the idea of a smaller
explore and develop designs for the Looking at Christian Bravery’s concept and more compact bug that’s reminiscent
Starting off at
Alpha Star
enemy creatures that Nate and the for the copter design, I can see that it of the copter vehicle, but the stick insect
Films,  villagers face. At the beginning of the resembles the anatomy of a wasp or a approach definitely appeals at the
Lionhead project it was decided that these creatures dragonfly. It’s small and compact with moment. Essentially it’s going to be a
Studios and
 would spawn from giant eggs that have short legs, so my instinct is to design an mechanical fly versus a naturalistic and
now at Leading Light
Design as a concept appeared overnight in the ocean. Once enemy that is bigger, elongated and has beastly fly, which should be fun.
artist, Matt’s ambition is
to work in the movie
industry with his favourite
directors, including
James Cameron and
Christopher Nolan.
http://ifxm.ag/m-allsopp

GET YOUR
RESOURCES
See page 114 now!

Matt says, “The design should

lend itself to being more like a
  The enemy 

Project:
Leviathan
Brief – The enemy
One morning the villagers awake
to discover that the sea is
covered with what looks like
giant frog spawn. Soon the eggs
hatch to reveal huge, hideous
and aggressive insectoid
creatures. The task is to
concept and refine these
creatures. A blend of sea
crustacean with insect would
be a good launch point. Key
defining words are insect,
crustacean, ugly, horrific,
alien, winged and multi-
legged/multi-eyed.

Visualising ideas
1 Here are my very rough initial bug
sketches. These are just two-minute
doodles on paper that I make after first
reading the brief. I’m not too worried
about the quality of the illustration; it’s
more about just getting the ideas down.
 This part is really fun and enables me to
freely experiment with various concepts,
shapes and techniques.

Cross-bred species A chunkier bug

3  This is more of a classic fly 4  Another spider-based approach,
approach, but with a twist. He’s more like this time with an unusual head design.
an arachnid fly, with loads of small,  This sketch enables me to see what a
pincer legs at the front. He can swoop shorter, stockier-looking bug can offer.
down, pick up prey and inject them with I want it to contrast with the insect
poison, or maybe implant them with a copter, and so I prefer my visualisation
flesh-dissolving v irus. of more delicate and lengthened
Readable silhouettes design features.
2 I move over to a digital canvas and
start throwing down some values. I’m
trying to find some nice shapes and
readable bug silhouettes. This sketch
sticks as closely as possible to my initial
idea, and takes references from the stick
insect and praying mantis.

Plotting its evolution

5 I like my first sketch, so I’m going to make a quick evolution board to tr y
to get my head around the creature’s growth process from sea to land. Watching
real-life documentaries on the transformation of insects is fascinating, if a
little grotesque. This provides great inspiration for
the progression of something vulnerable into
a more mature and deadly beast.
Production design
Iron out the
6 design kinks
So let’s take my first sketch: I think I
pretty much hit the nail on the head
Get flipping
Flip your canvas
 with this design. There are a few things horizontally to check
that I don’t like about it, but I can iron your perspective and
composition. It’ll quickly
them out along the way. For starters it
show whether your
needs to look a little less like an Alien perspective is leaning to
Queen from the films. I really like the one side. It’s also good
to flip your painting to
look of the arachnid fly – it’s fresh
make things a little less
looking and pretty gross. But I think awkward for the wrist.
the longed-legged stick insect will fit
the environment a lot better, and so I
decide to develop this creature further.
Form and function
7 I feel that the body proportions and anatomy of the creature
are dynamic and engaging. The large muscular strength of the
forearms have a kind of gorilla-like aesthetic about them, while
adding a rather unpredictable array of legs provides an interesting
contrast. Converting the initial sketch to greyscale helps define the  
design intentions and strengthen the silhouette, dimensions and
features already present. I make the hind legs taller and exaggerate
them to imbrue the creature with power and aggression. These legs
are important for making the subject appear more agile and speedy.  
 To generate a convincing beast, it’s vital to understand the
functionality and purpose of each part.
Injection of colour
8  Adding the colour to a greyscale
piece is when your concept can really start
coming into its own. Even just by adding
a quick colour pass, you can start to build
a narrative and focused intention for your
creature. For example, I originally
envisioned the creature to be relatively
dark in tone, fierce and shadow-like.
However, to build a narrative suggestion
I started to consider the insect among its
intended island location. It seemed far
more feasible that the creature was
camouflaged and deadly – here I start to
make colour changes that suggest it’s well
equipped to remain visually undetectable.
Adding earth tones and colour choices
that are similar to its habitation helped
define the colour key for my next process.
If you’re unsure of finding correct tones,
you can reference from a photograph and
use the Eyedropper tool in Photoshop to
extract the exact colours you need.
Make the concept
9 readable
Now that I’ve got a clearer image in my
mind about the creature, it’s time to draw
a concise and readable concept. First I
create a nice linework over the top of what
the rough sketch. To do this I fade out the
rough and on a separate layer generate
clean, confident and definite line
markings. Then I use my reference
material of insects to define its skeletal
and muscular structure. I want to make
the creature look threatening, so by
introducing certain features I’m able to
capture the creature’s character a little
more. Things like the strange and delicate
pincer-like feet that project from those
massive untouchable forearms, and spikes
and spear-like points that emerge from
otherwise vulnerable points around the
body – all these are great snippets of
design ideas that lend themselves
perfectly to the game’s storyline.
Light and shade
10 I make the background dark to
offset the bug and make it stand out. Then
I duplicate the layer and use a Glow brush
to define light sources. On this light layer
I use an eraser to reveal darker tones and
create a shadow effect where necessary.
 These highlights and shadows ensure that
the creature looks three-dimensional,
  The enemy 

Textures
in Painter
A great way to add
texture without
overlaying a photo is to
use one of Painter’s
preset textures, but I
often find it best to make
my own. To do this, load
in a photo and mask out
the section you want to
act as the texture. Then
select Capture Paper in
the drop-down menu on
the Paper tab. This will
Real-world textures add your new texture to
11 Here I’ve painted in some skin your Paper library. Now
using a brush that
textures with a Chalk brush after looking interacts with the Paper,
at natural skin patterns and insect you can add some
markings. You could go a step further and suggested detail and
subtle texture.
create a distressed and organic-looking
finish by setting up your own custom
texture in Photoshop. I usually scan my
own handmade textures – it can be fun
having an element that’s physically in
 your hands one minute, and then being Adding wings Apply some
 worked on digitally the next. When 13  Wings suggest a huge advantage for 14 finishing touches
combined with my painted skin markings the bug over mankind. It also brings up Finally it’s time to introduce some
the effect is pretty successful, and prevents the possibility of a swarm of the things, details. I put in darker skin markings,
the bug from looking too flat. or an aerial battle. I referenced some and on an Overlay layer paint in some
insect wing shapes and found plenty of  very subtle blue and darker tones on the
 variations that suited the design. Once head to draw attention to the focus
I’m happy with my chosen painted shape, point. I’ve also put in some nice touches
I lower the transparency to make it look of hair that can be created using a fine
slightly translucent. Then I add some Hair brush. These final touches give life
highlights to the wings, noting the light to the creature and make it look tangible
direction and light source for the piece. and convincing.

Refine the design

12 Using the Chalk brush again, I layer in some highlights and
darker shadows between the shell-like tail articulation joints. If you’re
struggling for where exactly these should be, try looking at a similar
creature that possesses these aesthetic traits, such as an armadillo,
 which has a comparable configurative function within its natural TURN OVER FOR THE NEXT STAGE…
In the final instalment of this workshop series,
design. I’ve also used dramatic highlights and shadow to further
 Production desig 
PART FOUR OF FOUR
STORY DEVELOPER
Matt Allsopp highlights the importance of cinematography as he creates
a key frame illustration for the game using the existing designs
Matt Allsopp
COUNTRY: England
Starting off at
Alpha Star
Films,
Lionhead
Studios and
now Leading Light
Design as a concept
artist, Matt’s ambition is
to work in the movie
industry with his favourite
directors, including
James Cameron and
Christopher Nolan.
http://ifxm.ag/m-allsopp
GET YOUR
RESOURCES
See page 114 now!
 
t’s time to take all the concepts First I draw some thumbnails. I’ve got
I for this project and merge
them into one epic key frame
illustration. Christian Bravery
all the previous design references up on
screen, so I just need to composite all the
elements together in these thumbnails.
Project:
Leviathan
BRIEF 4 - The Battle
has established the design of both our I don’t want to cram too much visual This production illustration will
hero and his vehicle, Pete Amachree has information into this single shot, so I’m bring the design elements together
and show our hero in his copter,
created the tropical environment and I’ve going to concentrate on the hero and the
engaged in a battle with the
realised the aesthetic of the enemy creature; the interaction between them is creatures. The aim is to punch up
creatures. So for this piece I’ll be thinking the main focus of the piece. I’m going to the flavour and impact of your
about atmosphere and mood. It’s hint at the islands in the background to concept. A set of good quality
production images will tell the
important to show off as much of these avoid confusing the readability of the
project’s story, attract investors,
designs as possible while creating a image. So, now that I’ve got an image in inspire the imagination of your
cinematic shot, but I don’t want to overdo mind, let’s crack on with some sketches. team and tantalise your public.
it – the client can always refer back to the
original design sheets for more details.
 As far as the story is concerned, the
creatures have hatched and are causing
havoc on the surrounding islands. All
hell has broken loose, and it’s time for
the villagers’ sole hope, Nate McCready,
to step in and save the day. With t he
narrative in mind we need to create a
battle scene between man and insect.
The temptation to adhere to bright,
tropical environment colours diminishes
as I see the piece as dramatic and
powerfully dark. I decide to go for
a strong enemy creature silhouette by
creating the shot at dusk. I want to make
the bug look invincible and deathly
frightening, overshadowing and
overpowering our hero. I should be able
 Story developer 

Down to earth
1 I draw some more quick
thumbnails that picture Nate crash-
landing his craft. Giving the creature a
more domineering pose expresses a
strong narrative. I’m going with the top-
left thumbnail, but will alter the camera
position to put the viewer at the heart of
the action. Thumbnails are invaluable;
they enable you to experiment with
 various concepts and techniques freely.

An aggressive stance
2 I scan in my chosen sketch to
develop it further. I’ll have to reposition
the legs of the bug to allow for a more
aggressive stance while keeping it realistic.
 The legs mustn’t affect the silhouette of
the copter either, as conflicting shapes
could be a problem. Finally, adding some
 wings fills the space, giving the creature a
much bigger and more powerful presence.

Picking the time of day
3 I’m not sure what time of day to set
the scene: midday or dusk? Taki ng a saved
template of the scene, I quickly paint
some colour tests. The bottom-left image
is certainly the strongest: it allows the
foreground to be silhouetted nicely, but
 will also shows up some of the details on
the bug and hero. The misty atmosphere
 will also help to create a frightening
presence. I might lose some island
background detail, but I think I can live
Clean up the sketch,
4 ready for painting
I keep my chosen greyscale sketch and
colour palette open as I prepare to start
my final version of the painting. They’ll
provide essential guidance and ensure
that I don’t stray from my intended vis ion
for the piece. The bug is looking powerful
and dynamic, even though the
arrangement of legs differs slightly from
the original design. It now towers over
Nate, putting our hero in a vulnerable  
me a chance to iron out those sloppy
marks that I made during the creation
process. I drop a white tr acing layer onto
the original greyscale sketch and redraw
the bug. Keeping my creature concepts to
hand, I can get the shapes of the huge
forelegs correct, as well as those long
extruding pincers… and the rest! I’ve also
got the reference material for the hero and
his copter. Finally I tilt the horizon and
add some skid marks from the crashed
vehicle to bring energy and momentum
Tie things up
Adding a photo filter at
the end of the process
can often help tie all your
colours together. If you
want something to look
a little more realistic, you
could add a cool blue
filter. Make sure you’re
not too heavy with this
though, or else it’ll look
a little contrived.

 with that – this shot is more about situation. Now, before I start the painting to the piece, as well as providing the basis
cinematography than design. I first need a linework drawing. This gives of the narrative.
Production design

Establishing the narrative
5  Adding value and tone alongside colour starts to bring the
shot together. Nate is the first element to be read, which is great for
the illustration’s narrative – because he’s now the primary focus of
the piece, the viewer can participate in the story. He has crash-
landed underneath this giant bug he’s fighting, which for all we
know was the cause of his downfall. We’ll probably need to put
some sort of aerial battle in the background to help strengthen this
storyline. I mask off the image into three layers: the creature, the
foreground ship and the background. Using the chosen colour
palette I start to paint in the backdrop, using an Airbrush for the
graduation and the Glow tool for the sun . I’m keeping it a little
more muted compared with t he colour test… for now.
Creature feature
7  The creature is the most prominent
character, so I’ll tackle him first. I paint in
the details and lighting with the Chalk
brush. I wasn’t completely happy with its
skin detailing in the original concept, so
I’m going to improve the finish and
texturing. I also add a beach in the
foreground to help define the crash site.
Identifying a problem
8 Referring back to my original
configuration of values, I can see that
something is affecting the composition;
it’s not hard to see where the problem lies,
though. The ground is lit intensely and
the colour saturation is far too high. A
quick Multiply layer using the blue/grey
sky tone should do the trick.

Strong
outlines
It’s always a good idea to  
have strong silhouettes
in your concept or
design. A concept for a
film or game will only be
seen for a second or two,  
so it’s important that the
image reads well first
time. The key is to nail
this during the sketch
stage and try not to stray
too much from it during
the colour phase.
Adding the
6 background
I’m already starting to stray from the
colour test. I’ve made the image a little
warmer by extending the glow of the sun.
I like it for now, so I’ll see how it goes. I
also add some distant islands; keeping
these subtle with just a two-tone value
will allow them to sit nicely in the
background and not interfere with the
foreground battle. To add to the mood
and make the sky look a little less
airbrushed, I add some smoke and haze:
this is also a great way of knocking back Painting the insect’s wings
detail when two objects are conflicting in 9 Until now the wings have been lighter in value to their backdrop, but I think
the same space. I find that Painter’s Chalk they’ll read more coherently if I make them darker. I lower the transparency to make
brush is usually best for this job. I’m them look translucent and add some texture. I also crop an insect wing from a photo
happy with the simplicity of the different and lay it over each wing. I set the layer’s attribute to Difference to kill the white of the
elements so far, but I’ll have to start photo. Once I’m happy, I reduce the opacity to make this te xture subtle, then set about

Adding detail to the
10 downed copter
 The one area that still needs addressing is
the crashed copter. I want to maintain its
form as a silhouette at first read, but I’m
going to have to add some detail to sell it
on closer inspection. Using the Chalk
brush I mark in some lighter grey tones
 where the light would be catching the
surfaces. The rear lights could also do
 with a little extra glow to help pick out
the vehicle. It’s nice to have a little
artificial light, rather than all natural, but
it’s best not to overdo it. Finally, I’ve been
a little cheeky and changed Nate’s scarf
and coat trim to blue. It should be red, but
Story developer 
Finishing touches
11 It’s almost there, but detailing and
colour tweaking can make all the
difference. Again with the Chalk brush,
I’m putting in some sand marks, shine
and dinks on the craft, and extra
markings and highlight details on the
bug’s legs and face. You don’t have to
spend long doing these extra touches, but
they really give the piece life and make it
look more convincing. Finally, I make a
colour tweak. I much prefer the bluer,
morning feeling that was present in the
original colour test sheet; I’ve changed my
mind about the red. So using Photoshop’s
photo filter and colour adjustments tools,
 Artist Q&A 

GOT A QUESTION FOR OUR EXPERTS? LET US

EASE YOUR ART-ACHE AT HELP@IMAGINEFX.COM

Remko Troost 
Born in Amsterdam, Remko is
a senior concept artist and
illustrator with several years’
experience, he currently works
for Ubisoft.
www.remkotroost.com

Philip Straub
Philip is a highly experienced
art director with more than 17
years in the industry. He
currently works for Warner
Brothers game division.
www.philipstraub.com

 Jonathan Standing
Jonathan is an English artist
and illustrator. He’s currently
based near Toronto, Canada
and works for a developer in
the video games industry.
www.jonathanstanding.com

Gary Tonge
Gary is concept art director
who has worked for everyone
from Ocean to Capcom. He is
the author of Bold Visions: A
The industrial design – the craft’s
Digital Painting Bible.
function – must work with the image’s
www.visionafar.com overall mood, and the two can be
worked on hand in hand.
Daryl Mandryk
Daryl is an experienced
concept artist in both video
games and film and has Question
worked for EA, Lucasfilm and
Propganda Games.  What’s the typical process when designing
www.mandrykart.com
a vehicle for a sci-fi game?
Daniel Dociu
Transylvanian-born Daniel is a
video game art director and
concept artist. He lives in the
US, and is currently working on
Guild Wars 2.
 Answer 
www.arena.net
Phil replies
I’d say there probably isn’t a typical experience on the job, I’ll be applying my speed
 Aly Fell approach for designing a vehicle for a painting technique. The goal will be to create a
Aly Fell is a UK-based concept
artist for Eurocom Software.
science fiction game, since I’ve seen it consistent design that melds with the environment as
He has created some stunning tackled in a number of different ways. quickly as possible.
pin-up images, including a
cover for ImagineFX.
Usually I like to handle this type of assignment with a I also start to think about the design by thinking of
www.darkrising.co.uk  two-pronged attack, focusing on both the overall mood the ship ‘in the round’, as the saying goes. This is
and attitude of the vehicle along with the industrial industrial design terminology for thinking about the
 Andy Park design, form and function. In many cases creating the object in three-dimensional terms but it’s still valid in
Andy is a concept artist who
works for Sony. He has worked isometrics (typically the front, side and back views) can fantasy artwork. I like to try to imagine walking around
on games including Dungeons be handled simultaneously with t he mood piece. the object I’m going to depict, as if I’m physically there,
& Dragons: Dragonshard, and
God of War 2 for PlayStation 2.  To keep things simple for this question, I’ll focus on surveying the overall design from all angles. The more

Step-by-step: From
simple shapes to fully
furnished spaceship
I usually start with very simple shapes,
1 trying to find the overall look and
design of the vehicle without going into
any amount of detail. Using large brushes
and keeping the image at thumbnail size,
I rough in the basic image background and
colour palette.
As I begin to finesse the overall shape,
2 I decide to go with an organic design
that has a silhouette resembling a bird or
other winged creature. With the overall
design working pretty well, it’s time to
begin detailing the ship further.
Let’s create some additional visual
3 interest. I do so in this image by
introducing some abstracted pieces of
machinery, air vents, and designs on the
Core skills advic
Question
Do you have any tips on creating mood
paintings?
 Answer 
Remko replies
Mood paintings are fun to c reate and
are an excellent way to generate ideas
about atmosphere. They can also be
a very useful way of finding colour
schemes that could contribute to giv ing a place a
recognisable identity.
 With mood paintings, you can create emotions
 within a scene too. You might, for example, be
 working with dark, desaturated colours and very
little light, perhaps on a forbidding canyon scene.  
Or you might be working the other way around
– with bright, joyful colours and in ful l summer
light, for instance.  
I start by gathering as much documentation
and reference as I can, either by getting out with
 
Keeping your canvas at a low resolution helps
you to avoid losing time on details, leaving you
to concentrate on the mood. Here, I’ve used a
custom cubic brush with Texture and Pen
Pressure on.
or a mood-board focused on the atmosphere
I’m searching for. Then, often while listening to
some epic movie music and squinting my eyes,
I start observing these pictures while keeping
them quite small. This helps me to feel what
I actually see.
 That’s exactly the way I work on mood
paintings too – with music on, a low-resolution
canvas and some reference beside me. I try not to
worry about forms or details. I paint what I feel as
quickly as I can, and not what I see.
I try to stay away from the Colour Picker as
well. This helps me to choose the colours on my
own and thus better understand them. I generate
several moods (spending around 10-45 minutes
  Artist Q&A 
Question
How do I design quick decals
to add to military armour?
Using gradients on the flat colours of the decal
gives it some volume. Without this, it would
look flat and fake.
 Answer 
Jonathan replies
First, put together some reference materials to fuel
 your ideas. What kind of military unit are you
portraying? Is it one with a rich history of pageantry,
or one that’s primitive or tribal in nature? There are
millions of images in books and on the internet that are good
examples to inspire you.
For my design, I begin by making vector design elements in
Illustrator. The wings, bulldog, handprint, banner and skull
are among many separate graphic elements that I create. Then,
referencing what I’ve seen in a book, I combine the different
pieces to make the Flying Bulldogs insignia. I import the vector
art into Photoshop and then skew and warp it to conform
roughly to the curvature of the armour plate. To make it look
less clean, I place an Overlay texture of lumpy, stippled paint
over the design and then begin to try to mirror the distress on
the armour on the design as well. Successfully integrating a
 vector graphic into a painted image can be tricky and it’s often
best to run a filter on it or dirty it up a bit.
Finally, I add a highlight that’s cast over the metal and the
paint, which helps to blend the images together.
It’s important to make the insignia appropriate to your
Question
How do I create modular characters
that share assets but look different?
 Answer 
Jonathan replies
 The most important element to
consider here is a character’s
silhouette; it’s what the player’s
eye will read first. There are
many examples of games that have tried
too hard to rely on other visual elements,
such as texture and colour, and have ended
up with repetitive characters as a result.
 After making your initial thumbnails, it’s
generally a good idea to find out what
Question
I can never seem to get my ideas right on
paper. Where should I start with concept
design?
 Answer 
Remko replies
 A concept often begins long
before you put pencil to paper.
It’s important to have a story
behind it, so brainstorm and try
to find out about the role it will play. What’s
it for? Where will it be used? Understanding
 your subject will help you when drawing
 your first lines.
I usually make a few rough sketches
before I start looking for reference, to avoid
being influenced. If I need real-world
examples to make my design more
parameters the game’s engine has for
supporting modular characters. It’s also
helpful to have some idea of how the
characters will be put together.
 Assuming that the game engine is quite
basic, I divide up my character into parts
that can be joined together. To make the
task easier I try to address the character’s
extremities rather than his torso, which
affects his silhouette less.
I use a drawing of two different bodies as the base
for these game character thumbnails. This way their
proportions are identical, which means that they
can share the same rig and animation sets.
Here, I’ve started a concept for a futuristic
two-seater jet fighter. To achieve the
technologically advanced-looking shapes,
I use the straight line Lasso tool to create
several small black silhouettes. Once I’ve
found acceptable forms, I like to focus on
one or two. I redo a select few thumbnails
and add some detail to them.
Sometimes, I play around with my
thumbnails by flipping them, mirroring
them and placing them on top of each
other with different layer modes. Doing
 Core skills advic 

Question
I hear the term ‘concept artist’ all the time,
but what exactly does a concept artist do?

 Answer   A r   s sec r e t

 t  is t’
Gary replies
 A concept artist comes up
GE T EMO T IONAL     t 
r 
 e t h e so  r  o evo k 
r , t  y t 
Wh   en  cr    o n c  ep t a t 
 ea t in  g c
 with ideas and solutions to
o io n   i n t h e  i  m a
   
ge t  h  t 
a
   ca  psu la t 
 en   e s t h e 
a design brief or ‘problem’.
o  em  t 
 f   ca t iv e i ma g er   y
i n t    en d ed    gam in  g e    x  i   c e. Evo 
 p er  en 
 There are several different  s an d pl a y er 
 ev el  po er   s al ik  e.   If an ar   ea  si 
r s d 
i n s  pi  e  s t il  
roles within a concept art team, and
o  n d ar id  ,  o r co ld   an d d an k , sh owo  w   t ha  t . Di 
concept artists come from various
h  t a  e rld
    d   
 s
i   i
t n  c t 
 t h e e o  h a t m ak 
 c e  f w
    ss en   e s a g am 
backgrounds. In my job as a concept art  t h cl  ev er u   s e  f 
o   co  lo
  u
  r
  ,
   gh 
i
l    t ,
an d i n di v i du  a  l wi     
t  co  m    t 
 si 
 po  io n   .
director, I work with t he concept team
 e x 
 t   t u er   an d,  m  so  t i m po  r an 
   t   t ly, g ea r 
as a whole, helping them to generate a
Gar  r  i er  c t or  
 y T on  g  e, co n c  ep t a t d 
 variety of imagery and ideas that can be
anything from illustrations that show
how areas fit together, to colour keys
and much faster pencil sketches that are
invaluable to the modelling teams for
creating cohesive shapes and details in
game worlds. When creating art myself,
I tend to focus on either colour key s or
principal images.
 These images are imperative to game
art production, as they are intended to
draw together the basic ideas and shapes
for an area into a cohesive illustration suggestion of how lighting, shadow work Concept art shows the
productionartists
that encapsulates the essence of how that and special effects (such as subsurface which direction to take.
part of the game world will look. scattering or volumetric effects, for
Because they are so important, these example) should be balanced.
images can take a lot longer to produce  A couple of my principal images,
than regular concept images – in fact, I combined with a cluster of other
find that anywhere from 10 to 20 hours illustrations and sketches, can be put
of painting time can be spent on creating together into a solid ‘pack’ of art info that
these pieces. can then be taken into production, to
I try to encompass the textural feel show the teams the way forward in the
 within these images, along with a strong next stages of game development.

Step-by-step: How to make concepts easier to design

I use the Lasso tool to create my Don’t forget to identify your Now I play around with my shapes to
1 2 3
forms quickly. It’s also a handy way to thumbnails with a letter or number. increase the chance of finding new
create masks inside your forms to pull out It’s easy to get carried away and forget ideas. Here I duplicate my layer, double the
some perspective, if needed. This is an that a client or art director may need to background, rotate it 180 degrees and put
  Artist Q&A 
Question
I’ve heard that production artists need to be very fast – how can I improve
my painting speed?

 Answer 
Daryl replies
It’s true that artists in a
production environment have
to pump out high-quality
artwork within very tight
schedules – something a lot of new artists
have trouble adapting to. Whi le I don’t
advise anyone to rush their artwork, there
are certain things that you can do to make
 your life easier and increase your speed in
the process.
Before you even boot up your software,
make sure you have a clear understanding
of what you want to accomplish. Draw
some quick thumbnails on scrap paper,
 write out a few rough ideas, give yourself a
bit of a roadmap to follow. Unless you have
 weeks on end to iterate on an image, having
at least some sort of plan is vital to the
 whole process.
 The next practice I would recommend – basically any of the functions that I know important to nail your composition and Don’t get bogged down
by small details when
 would be to configure your workspace to I’ll be using frequently. This all sounds overall values initially. painting. Focusing on
meet your personal needs. Spend some pretty obvious but it ca n save you huge Finally, practice! The more familiar you the big shapes and
overall design will
time setting up hotkeys and actions for all amounts of time. become with your tools, the faster you will enable you to work
 your frequently used operations. I have  When painting, try to concentrate on the be able to work with them. Try to arrange a much faster.

hotkeys and actions set up for creating big shapes and the design as a whole; don’t schedule for yourself that includes a little
layers, flipping the canvas, running filters  worry about the details yet. It’s more art workout every day.

Step-by-step: Four simple ways to become a faster painter

Set up your workspace. Alt/Option+F9 brings up
1 Alt/Option+Shift+Ctrl/ 2 your Actions window.
Cmd+K in Photoshop brings up Actions can be used to simplify
your keyboard customisation repetitive tasks, and are great
options. Memorise the really for anything that has multiple
important ones, and try steps involved. They work by
customising them in ways that recording the steps, and then
make sense to your workflow. playing them back with one
The less time you need to keystroke. You can even save
spend hunting through menus, out your actions and import
the more time you will have to them to another computer, in
concentrate on the act of the same way you would with
painting itself. custom brushes.

Try to think about your Improving your knowledge

3 4
painting in broad terms: of your tools will definitely
sometimes it helps to zoom out help you paint faster, but not
and look at your painting as a necessarily better. Do studies
simple thumbnail image. Train from life, anatomy books,
yourself not to get caught up movies – basically anything to
in unnecessary detailing that help you build up the visual
doesn’t add anything to the library in your head. Here is a
overall picture – it’s a waste of fast sketch I did of an action
time. If you zoom closer into shot from the Russell Crowe
one of my images, you can see movie Gladiator. Speed
 Core skills advic 

Question Question
 What are the expectations from the  When creating environmental
production team with regards to the space concepts, how
translation of your concept designs important are technical
into 3D game art? specifications?
Lighting plays a significant
 Answer  role in the look of a game.

Daniel replies The atmosphere of many titles

depends on the successful
More often than not, my coding of a lighting model.

concept work leaves a lot of

scope for the 3D artists to
contribute. I encourage them to
interpret the t heme I’ve established, to add
layers of depth that I hadn’t envisioned.
Of course their contribution needs to be
based on a thorough understanding of the
functional and stylistic requirements of the
design. It’s a risky path to ta ke as you can
get very different results from different
modellers. This is where an experienced
This concept piece was the basis for an in-game
artist with good knowledge of the game design, although the details were loosely adapted.
and sharp intuition can take a half-baked
design to the next level, while someone It’s this ability to analyse, understand
lacking those skills can’t see its potential and build upon an idea that separates t he
and may totally ruin it. true 3D artists from mere modellers.

Question
Because video games are a digital medium,
is it necessary that concept art for them
should also be digital?

 Answer 
 Answer  Gary replies
 Aly replies My experience with video games has taught me
 Although video games are many things, the earliest of which was to
digital, concept art is just what it understand technology, at least on a technical
says it is, concept art – and, as a artistic level. Some of the most important factors
drawing, it doesn’t exist in the  when working on conceptual illustrations for game
game. As a result, concept art can generally environments are understanding the target platform (console/
be produced in any medium the artist PC), the likely interaction the player will have in the game
prefers, although the client or team may  world, gameplay ‘real estate’ (area sizes) and how the code is to
have specific preferences, so being able to be written (or, in many cases, is already written) to visually
 work to requirements is essential. represent the game world.
 These days, however, it’s better if the  This final part can include a plethora of rules that control the
artwork can initially be presented digitally, options you have for environmental representation. Lighting
so the designs can be easily swapped systems are a big factor in this – a g reat many games have their
between the different departments. A hard look dictated by how well coded the ‘lighting model’ is.
copy can always be printed out later if  When painting conceptual images early in a pre-production
needed. A lot of artists start their image cycle, it’s important to work with te ch to develop the code so
traditionally, sketching in pencil, and then that certain looks can be achieved. A few years back the options
scan the image into the computer and work for distinctive game worlds were restricted greatly by platform-
it up digitally. specific deficiencies, but the recent jump in specifications for
In the end what the digital medium has next-generation consoles greatly increases the scope for
created is greater flexibility in the options interesting ways to use shapes, materials and lighting.
for artists. Personally I vary my work In many cases, it’s important to be able to supply these
process, sometimes sketching on a lightbox artistic ideas and requirements early on to the code
and scanning the image, but often I create department. In turn they can write systems to accommodate
a quick sketch that can be easily emailed the new visual skews. Communication is all-important when
once completed. I work with Photoshop it comes to working up new ideas, so that code and art f ully
  Artist Q&A 

Question
 What are the goals you set when starting
on a new piece of concept art?

Bonedog is intended
as a production-
ready creature
design. Depending
on the skill level of
the modeller,
orthographic views
may not always be
necessary.

The idea is to first concentrate just on issues such as design, form, silhouette
and values. After those problems have been solved, you can focus on
introducing colour.

Question
 Are there any methods to help
me reduce my fear of colour
 when approaching a concept
or painting?

 Answer 
 Answer  Daniel replies
 Andy replies  The criteria that determine the standpoint of how this particular moment
 Well, I believe I can offer you one approach that can help. approach are multiple, but I’ll is integrated within the larger exper ience.
My first recommendation is that you sketch out the just touch on a few aspects Production designs are intended to be
design in black and white initially, especially when doing here. It is unlikely to satisfy handed out to 3D modellers to be
concept artwork. all design requirements as well as self- materialised into game-ready assets. The
It’s a very good idea to approach a design in this manner because imposed standards equally well, therefore delicate balance here is to provide an
it’s unrealistic to try to solve all those challenging issues of designing it is important to prioritise them. amount of information that is sufficient
all at the same time. Breaking things down into steps will only make  The concept pieces I generate usually  yet not redundant.
the process more manageable. fall into one of three categories, with Depending on the category, I try to
Of course, there may be times when it makes sense to incorporate rather arbitrary and fuzzy boundaries. identify the elements of visual expression
colour into the initial design phase, but I find that most of the time High-level concepts involve addressing that best serve the purpose of the piece,
black and white sketches or paintings work really well. product positioning, style and t he nature and make early decisions accordingly.
It also tends to be good for the production process. The art director of the world that the game takes place in. I choose the perspective: anywhere from
– or whoever is going to approve the designs – can then concentrate  These are intended as dialogue starters the forced, three-vanishing-points type
on the design itself, which makes their job much easier. So it’s and inspirational pieces for both game (for the sake of drama) to a mundane
helpful for everyone. design and the art team. three-quarters view (for good form
 After you have painted up the design, create a new layer above the Look-and-feel concepts focus on description); the composition: from
black and white painting in Photoshop. Set the blending mode of location-specific environments. They dynamic, tense and conflict-suggestive
that layer to Colour. Now you can paint in that layer with whatever touch on the general overall movement to static, serene and objective; texture:
colour you want and it will colourise your black and white painting of the terrain within the scene, the level realism versus illusion, generic textures
 without covering up any of the detail you’ve created up to that point. of technology and the complexity of  versus material-defining ones and accents
 And because of that, you can experiment with your colour options to architectural structures, colour palettes  versus supporting surfaces; and lighting:
find the right choices, and thus lose the fear. and lighting. The focus at this level of from moody, dramatic and capricious, to
 The Colour Mode layer is just the foundation for the colouring zoom is to assess the piece from the even, impartial and descriptive.
process. It’s there to give you a solid base to work with and, now that
 you have that base, you can continue painting and refining.
Question
 When designing game characters, are there
any specific rules to follow?

 Answer
 Aly replies
Initially, you should be given a
brief by the client that will  
outline the basic features of the
character and its role, the time
period, the personality and the degree of
freedom you have in designing the
character’s outfit and accessories.
If you are simply producing a one-off
character piece, which usually has a  
straight-on view, five main points to keep
in mind are:
1. Ensure the whole character is in view.
If the understanding is to be able to see the
character from behind, then a second
drawing showing the rear view would be
necessary. Ultimately, a three view
‘turnaround’ or orthographic would be
required to see the character from all sides.
2. Keep the lighting simple and revealing.
The priority of any character concept work
is to present the maximum amount of
information to the next stage of the process.
3. Research details. Don’t just think you
know what something looks like when a
quick internet search will confirm accuracy.
4. Expression. Get an idea from the client
what the dominating traits are and try to
represent that in the artwork.
5. Posing. You could draw an action
pose, but initially the best bet would be
something more relaxed that enables
maximum information to be presented.
Make sure your character is
presented in full view; don’t be
tempted to draw only from the
waist up. Details count.

Step-by-step: Create a detailed game character from scratch

This design is based on a specific
1 brief. The female character that I’ve
been asked to create is a desert-dwelling,
‘savage’ sort of character in a future
setting. She was intended to have a
After a couple of changes to the first
2 sketch, the idea was approved by the
client and I started blocking in some basic
colour. At this point, I looked for some
reference materials for the clothing and
This is the final design with a texture
3 overlay added, which tightens up the
image, making it easier on the eye against
the original white background. Further
development may be required from this
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