Over time you will develop your own unique design process. You will learn from experience, including successes, mistakes and setbacks. Your process will need to be fluid and adaptable so you can improvise and cope with the changes and surprises that invariably happen in creative collaborations such as entertainment arts.
Understanding the principles and elements of design—in combination with some effective problem-solving strategies—will help you make progress toward original outcomes through what can be a challenging but exciting process.
I have identified a set of general principles that can be applied to the process of Concept Design. These are not new or original, but they are confirmed by my own experiences. I don't always follow all the steps, but things usually go better when I do. I don't necessarily do them in order. In many cases I repeat a few steps, occasionally restarting the whole process until I come up with a solution that satisfies all the key stakeholders in a project.
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| Environment concept for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, © Blizzard Entertainment. |
Sometimes the design problem isn't clearly defined. Sometimes you receive very few directions when starting out. Sometimes the art director or client will simply say, "I don't know. Show me something I haven't seen before."
What do you do with a prompt like that? Rejoice! It means you have a lot of creative freedom. But with great freedom comes great risks.
The downside is that when you don't know what they want—or when they don't even know what they want—you're more likely to get it wrong. And then you may have to start over—even when you did everything right, but it was the client who changed his mind. (Just make sure you're billing by the hour when this happens!)
This can be the most rewarding or the most frustrating set of circumstances to work under as a concept artist. But these things really do happen! You had better be prepared to deal with ambiguity.
With that introduction, here is the process I promised. Your results may vary.
After you have identified the design problem to be solved or question to be answered (which is really step #0), here is a general process you might consider following:
I. R. O. S. A. R. I. O.
1. Ideation — generation of many possible ideas through rapid sketches, thumbnails, brainstorming, etc.
2. Research — collection and study of visual and other resources for expanding and enriching ideas
3. Observation — sketching from life, shooting photographic reference, studying existing designs, etc.
4. Solutions — combination of sources and selection of idea(s) that fulfill criteria of the story
5. Analysis — review of solutions with critical judgment applied to determine their effectiveness
6. Revisions — application of suggestions and changes requested by the art director, client, etc.
7. Iterations — repetition of design process to start over or make incremental improvements as needed
8. Outcomes — successful finished designs and renderings that are impressive and original
Ideation can happen at any stage where new ideas or options are needed, but it almost always has to happen at or near the beginning. Sometimes ideation is preceded by initial research. Ideation can happen in your sketchbook, on a napkin, on plain white copy paper, while talking with other artists, hanging out with friends or family, when you see something that evokes a fresh idea, or when you experience a new thought during some mundane aspect of your daily routine. Always be prepared to recognize those fleeting recognitions and jot them down in a sketchbook. They are the spark of almost every creative work and you never know when they will dawn on you. If you don't record them right away, you will most likely forget them.
Research is an integral and ongoing part of the process. It might involve studying the source text for clues and possibilities; scouring visual reference sources like art compilations, books, magazines, encyclopedias, stock photo collections, image searches, museums, etc. Be cognizant of copyright issues and careful not to plagiarize your sources of inspiration.
Observation is closely related to research, but the emphasis is on direct observation of life and nature through looking, sketching and photographing. While research relies heavily on conducting a review of available sources for creative work done by others, observation is more about doing your own original study of the world.
Solutions are the practical execution of your best ideas, enhanced and shaped by the research and observations you have conducted. All the most relevant elements of your rough sketches, reference images, life studies, color studies and experiments come together with your problem-solving skills in the form of a detailed design sketch, or group of sketches. This stage is comparable to the "comprehensive sketch" phase of an illustration assignment.
Analysis is really just a critique. No matter how brilliant, amazing, or perfect you think your design solutions are, no matter how much you have slaved, sweat, suffered and agonized over them, be prepared to have your precious artwork savaged by your clients and peers. If you are psychologically steeled for rejection, but still confident and hopeful for success, you will be able to handle whatever reaction you receive. You can explain, defend and justify your ideas well when you have done your due diligence by following good creative processes before arriving at this stage, but you still need a thick skin and a bit of humility to make the most of a blunt, withering critique. What does not kill you will only make you stronger, and a good critique will make your design solutions better.
Revisions almost always follow a good, productive critique. You can basically count on having to make some changes. You can be pleasantly surprised if everybody likes your work the first time, and nobody has any changes to suggest. (This is a nice theory, but it doesn't happen very often in reality, so just enjoy it if it happens to you.) Budget your time so you can make adjustments to your solutions and then everybody will be happy. And they'll throw money at you.
Iterations are like revisions, only instead of changing an existing design, you're essentially starting over. Sort of. If you have done your research well, you may be able to skip that stage on the second time through the process. You might go back to an alternate sketch you made, or something cool in your thumbnails that you overlooked the first time. You may have a completely new idea after showing your work to the client and receiving feedback. Sometimes iteration is just part of the process built into a particular project or team. It's something you should view as a blessing, because it gives you the chance to try again and find out just how much better your ideas can really get!
Original outcomes will be the reward for your diligence and patience in the design process. Over time, if you consistently push yourself, you will get better at achieving them more quickly and with greater quality. You will be known as a creative problem solver who has what it takes to show fresh visions to the world!
~ j.k.
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