So i woke up rather early-ish for me today and saw a video on IGN about the Castle of Illusion remake coming to the ps3 and 360 (link at t he bottom) and it got me thinking about my current projects that i have going.
Most (ok, all of them) came from a piece of concept art from an existing game or upcoming one, or even movies. Mainly Disney. Now since i dont believe in secrets, heres 2.
1) Aladdin, The Mummy and Jurassic Park are the greatest movies ever made. for me at least, i love them.
2) Disney movies have timeless art and are for the most part solid movies, and i have practically all of them.
Now thats out of the way, ill get back on topic. Most of the stuff im working on (slowly, i might add) comes from someone elses mind. Now, if your a student, im guessing your teachers have told you and even forced you to draw stuff and come up with your own ideas, (ive been there) and its all totally valid, im not undermining that. Being able to draw and come up with ideas and concepts is a very important part of what we do, or at least are trying to do.
Heres the problem, and ill use me as the point in case. Im not a very good drawer. I know what i like, i know how it should be, i know what i want and i know how to make it. But the simple step of sitting down and drawing it, kills me.
When i was in college (2011 - 2012) i had a guy in my class that was very good at photoshop and drawing and painting in it and was a good concept artist for environments. Turns out, he was around 30 and went to university to do fine arts. Which means 2 things, he is trained and has experience. 2 things i dont have.
So what did i do? i googled concept art using key words of what i want to work on. In the case of the cottage shot i have (im sure its still on here), the house was modelled of a 2d illustration from a concept artist that worked on one of the Fable games.
So getting back on some sort of track, is this ok? is the idea of using someone elses concept art good for you as a student or even someone that just wants to do 3d? The answer is both yes.
According to Vincent Cirelli, Vice President/Head of Production at Luma Pictures (met him in a portfolio masterclass in June 2013), the use of concept art is a good thing. Being able to take a 2d image and flesh it out in 3d is essentially the skill they look for in the industry. Lets face it, as a 3d modeller, you wont be designing what your modelling, at least not in a major studio. Proving you can take a 2d concept, flesh it out, texture it, light it and renter it, gets you ahead of the class. You need to be able to produce the results that are needed for the production.
Now this doesnt mean to go into everything you like and rip everything off. I for one choose a concept image i like and model it, and by the time im done, the place looks totally different, not because of my modelling, but because at the end of the day, im doing an interpretation of that drawing.
Sometimes having a place to start helps so much, that by the time you finish, you end up with something cool and different.
The rule of thumb is to take something you find cool and to do your interpretation. Youl find that buy copying and image, regardless of what it is, youl start to understand why things were drawn that way, maybe youl decide to change something and take the idea to a cool new place. Not every student in the world has the ability to draw their ideas, i know i dont, the trick is to find something similar that you can use as a stepping stone to get your ideas out. Nothing in the games or movie industries is truly original any more.
Just remember, do your best to take something old and give it your own unique twist and identity. Thats what art is at the end of the day. Identity.
EDIT: I forgot to add this to the body of text above, always make an effort to reach out to the creator of the concept art you are using, if any. In most cases they will say its ok as long as its not for profit and you should be fine. If you cant get in touch, then make it clear in your reel that you used someone elses art as reference, never take credit for anything you didnt do.
Castle of Illusion BTS:
http://au.ign.com/videos/2013/07/22/venturing-back-to-the-castle-of-illusion
Cottage project:
http://vimeo.com/55010346
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