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parkurtommo In reply to Yowhatsupbro [2018-04-29 20:04:00 +0000 UTC]

Thanks man! First of all, your stuff is pretty great so far Keep it up please! For this kind of stuff, it's mostly about seeing compositions in random shapes, I don't have any ideas before any of the thumbnails. So it's all about learning how to arrange shapes and values in a pleasing way without any narrative thought yet (and that's what you learn to do by making a lot of these). So basically just go wild with brushes, filters, and transform tools to make arrangements that you sort of like, and then make them readable as concrete compositions (with a figure or recognizable stuff). 

It really helps to train your eye for spontaneous compositions. 

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Yowhatsupbro In reply to parkurtommo [2018-05-01 01:40:06 +0000 UTC]

I've done comps a couple times but not in a while. Can I ask you what art school u went to? Or how did you get so good? Anyway, thanks for the reply! Your artwork is honestly something I aspire to replicate one day.

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parkurtommo In reply to Yowhatsupbro [2018-05-01 09:18:27 +0000 UTC]

Here's something from when I was 16 for example: 

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parkurtommo In reply to Yowhatsupbro [2018-05-01 09:07:03 +0000 UTC]

I haven't gone to an art school, I decided to skip that since there are no good ones in Europe, and studying in the US is too expensive (though I could since I'm also a US citizen). I'm mostly self taught with the help of the internet and going to art meetups! You could easily be better than me once you reach my age (21), I was certainly nowhere near as good as you at 16 and I have very irregular output/ lots of art blocks. Just keep doin stuff and experiment a lot, try to learn traditional mediums and 3d also! Keep doing stuff you enjoy and feel kinda proud of and then in between push yourself and don't worry about it not being as good as you wanted it to be. 

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Yowhatsupbro In reply to parkurtommo [2018-05-01 23:47:28 +0000 UTC]

It's really cool that you're self taught! I'm thinking about art schools with dedicated concept art programs, but I'll continue to be self-taught until then. I don't think I do enough traditional, which I've seen you're also really good at. Do you think it's a necessary to do a lot of it, to be better at digital? I've never done 3D, but I hear it is a nice skill to have as a professional concept artist.

One more thing, I promise lol: is being a freelance concept artist a good job? I mean, has it ever been necessary to partake in another job or something? I honestly know nothing about freelancing .

Sorry for throwing so many questions, but I sincerely appreciate your time to make these replies. Cheers!

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parkurtommo In reply to Yowhatsupbro [2018-05-02 00:41:41 +0000 UTC]

Oh and make an Artstation account soon! I feel like DeviantArt is losing it's steam and is getting outclassed by newer services (especially Instagram), so branch out a bit at some point! 

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parkurtommo In reply to Yowhatsupbro [2018-05-02 00:24:48 +0000 UTC]

About traditional, I guess only do it if you can imagine enjoying it (it can be kinda impossible to enjoy in the beginning since it's so hard when starting). I think it has really really helped me in learning colors, because you have to think a little more for each brushstroke when you're painting and you can't just press undo!

For freelancing, I was doing pretty small stuff for a long time, my first paid freelance thing was for a card game when I was just ending highschool haha. So it was a lot of mainly illustration for a while, this is because my portfolio has always been relatively open-ended and painterly (it's not like full of hard surface mech concepts and props or anything). My first proper concept art job was just last year for Axis Animation, which was mind blowing. So in my experience, it took a loooong time to get anywheres. I can't really say that it's been a good job yet because I only just started But the freelance gigs that I've had have mostly been super rewarding, it feels like high-fiving my 12 year-old self who was staring at concept art in the Uncharted 2 menu. If you mean purely financially, it certainly can be good money but it totally depends on your portfolio and the kind of work you're doing. I'm pretty uncertain about the whole industry atm, i.e I don't know which type of concept art is more wanted, because it has always seemed to me that doing hard surface and photoreal photobashy kinda stuff is always in demand but 99% of portfolios are FULL of that. At the same time, painterly concept art is not that common anymore. So my advice would be, try to tailor your career goals around your art style (or the direction that you seem to be going in) as opposed to the other way around, because every time I talk to studios in person they always want something really unique and uncommon. Concept art is ABSURDLY competitive so this makes sense. The only way you will stand out is by developing yourself in a unique way. 

Also this might be a bit of a hard pill to swallow: If concept art doesn't work for you, there are SO many other avenues within the industry. I've been steadily getting more in to color keying recently and this means that at this point, if I got a job offer inhouse for doing just that, I would take it over being a freelance concept artist. Like I said it is absurdly competitive because everyone always just wants to make the cool vistas and robots, but at some point if that doesn't work out you can easily shift your eyes a little bit to the left and you'll see tons of interesting positions e.g Illustrator, Texture Artist, Color Key artist, Look Dev/Vis Dev (slightly different from concept art because it's less about functionality and more about just visual stuff), Storyboarding, or if all else fails become a Teacher xD The world won't end if you decide not to be strictly a concept artist, so just keep that in mind and let that remind you that the most important thing is still going to be your personal artistic development. 

So my final advice to you from someone else who was also super in to painting at a young age, make sure you're having fun and enjoying it, because it will be so easy to become cynical if you already start pigeon holding your art this early. So stay open to stuff, talk to a lot of people and try to feel around the industry and enjoy it please! If you can go to Art Center that would be amazing (depending on the debt you'll be getting in to), but even there you'll probably still need to be on your toes and staying open minded. 

Ok, that's enough rambling Hope it made some sense. 

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Yowhatsupbro In reply to parkurtommo [2018-05-02 07:11:21 +0000 UTC]

Your "rambling" made a lot of sense lol. For traditional, I think I'll just stick with graphite (I want charcoals soon too). When I graduate high school I might get into oil painting or something then. I read, write (love classics), a lot and also hit the gym daily, so I can't use all my time for art which I wished I could. Oh, and that thing called homework? An awful nuisance at times XD.

I remember I made an Art Station last year when I was 15 and not that great, before I promptly deleted my account, lmao. It's also for 18+ y.o. as you know, which I understand why. I was going nowhere then. Although for platforms like Instagram, I was suggested by a family friend that I should consider it, and maybe in a year or so I will definitely do so.

All that you've said is really good advice, especially on career choices. I hope I do get what I truly will desire, but in the end, I just want to be happy with my artwork and life. In the end, it may not depend on what I truly want, but that's life, and I only wish to expand upon and become the artist and writer I really am. That'll make me the happiest. Thanks anyway for helping out! I wished all concept artist were this communicative lol.

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